Class notes
POLI 243 Lecture 4
- Course
- Institution
POLI 243 Class notes for lecture 4
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
claudiageorge
Content preview
Lecture 4 - Jan. 14th, 2019Marxism
Rudolf Hilferding, Finance Capital, 1910, ch. 25
3 different versions of Marxism:
Karl Marx - originator of the core principles
Rudolf Hilferding - applies Marx’s ideas in new ways, deals with new questions
Vladimir Levin - led revolution in Russia
Marx observed what was happening in Britain in the late 1840s/50s.
Marx vs Liberalism
- Liberals argued for free choice and voluntary exchange
- Marx criticized liberal policies for failing to deliver the promised results.
- In Britain, you could receive charity by showing proof of birth. This was stripped
away in 1840, and people were encouraged to enter the labour market.
- Marx felt that the markets were not fulfilling their promise
- His arguments use dialectical logic (i.e. events are driven by contradiction) (there is a
thesis, counter thesis, synthesis, etc)
- He uses this logic to explain how society evolves into a capitalist system.
- Contradictions are logically identified inconsistencies which may or may not appear
obvious.
Marx used the Labour Theory of Value (i.e. all value originates from labour)
V = K + W + SV
^Where V stands for value, K stands for capital, W stands for wages, and SV stands for surplus
value.
V: what someone is willing to pay for something; SV the return to the entrepreneur (i.e. profit)
Is SV really the product of labour? It is the product of the entrepreneur and their ideas.
Through a Marxist lens, however, the
V should equal W , so what about SV? This is the contradictory element of capitalism that Marx
build his argument around.
Core Assumptions of Classical Marxism
1. Social classes are the primary actors. The bourgeois, the working class, landowners, etc.
Individuals are not key actors unlike liberalism.
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller claudiageorge. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $9.49. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
67096 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now