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MARXIST EXPLANATIONS OF SOCIAL INEQUALITIES - Coggle Diagram
MARXIST EXPLANATIONS OF SOCIAL INEQUALITIES
CLASS
Marx
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The structures of capitalism create exploitative relationships.
All systems of society work together for one goal which is the preservation and prosperity of the ruling class at the expense of the working class. Society if fundamentally exploitative and oppressive.
Milliband
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The ruling class perpetuate ideologies that reinforce a false class consciousness.
The media is the new opium of the people. The old was religion. Media is made by the ruling class to create biased media from their backgrounds to entertain and distract the proletariat. Creates a false picture of reality. The working class are socialised into thinking inequality os justifiable and inevitable.
Gramsci
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Class inequality is justified through hegemony.
Institutions use media and education to control peoples ideas, values and beliefs to make the ruling class power seem natural. To create change, individuals need more than just an economic reaction to impoverishment. Hegemony describes the ruling class' use of cultural and political means to encourage enough of the working class to side with the ruling class and capitalist system to ensure the stability of an economic system.
Westergaard
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Power is becoming more concentrated in society.
There is little evidence of class divisions disappearing, in fact they are widening. Due to the gradual process of production being expanded and technology rendering the workforce obsolete will create a polarization of classes. The rich will get richer and the poor poorer.
GENDER
Engles
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Women must be submissive wives to ensure a pure bloodline.
Bourgeoisie men. Women's subordinate position is a result of the ownership of private property and the development of the nuclear family. Men requires to gain ownership/control of one woman to pass private property and inheritance down to their legitimate children. Wealth is passed down by generations. Women's sexuality is restricted by forced monogamy.
Zaretsky
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Men need to exercise their control in the home of they do not have control in other areas of life.
Proletariat men. Men are able to exercise their power and be 'in control' within the home by controlling their wives and taking their frustrations out on them. This prevents them from walking away from their jobs where they are alienated and exploited. This makes it harder for them to resist the oppression at work as they need their wages.
Benston
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Women do unpaid labour in the home and this is essential to the smooth running of capitalism.
If women were paid for their domestic work then there would have to be huge redistributions of wealth. Women renew men's ability to go out to work and create profits for the ruling class. Women also socialise and care for children, reproducing the next generation of workers at no cost to the capitalist employers. If a man has to be the main provider for his family then he is less likely to challenge capitalism and his exploitation at work.
Bruegel
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Women act as a disposable and cheap part of the workforce which benefits a capitalist society.
Because of women's unpaid domestic labour, they're readily available to work outside the home when society needs them too. The ruling class makes women join the workforce when needed and send them back to the role of housewife when unneeded. Women become a cheap 'reserve army of labour'
ETHNICITY
Cox
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There is a direct relationship between capitalism and racism.
Racism has been developed by exploiters against he exploited to justify exploitation. Early capitalism went hand in hand with colonialism, as European nations conquered other areas of the world they were able to exploit the workforce in those colonies and justified it with racism.
Castles and Kosack
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Immigrants act as a reserve army of labour in a capitalist society.
Most immigrants are in low skilled, low pay jobs in bad conditions or are unemployed. In Britain, this treatment of immigrants comes from the capitalist need for a reserve army of labour. Surplus of labour keeps wage costs down. Capitalist societies undergo booms/slumps so a reserve army of labour is needed to be available to be hired and fired.
Miles
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The ruling class promote racial and ethnic tensions between the working class to encourage structural divisions in society.
Dividing the working class along ethnic lines weakens potential for unified resistance against exploitation. Prevents workers coming together over common economic interests. Racism/ethnic inequalities are structurally produced. Race used to perpetuate class domination.
Hall
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The ruling class use the media to detract attention away from capitalist failings.
Newspapers said there is an increase in mugging in young black men but it was actually growing more slowly than in a previous decade. Moral panic over black criminality at the time created a diversion away from the wider economic crisis.
AGE
Phillipson
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The young and the elderly act as a reserve army of labour in a capitalist society.
Groups like the elderly and young serve as a labour reserve for capitalism, often ending up in low pay/low skill work (McJobs). Growing market of zero hour contract jobs where employees are given work when it is available but have to be free to work regardless and benefits such as sick pay/pensions are not provided.
Gramsci
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Individuals are kept in a false class consciousness about their exploited position.
The capitalist state is made up of two overlapping spheres:
1.
Rule through force (army, police, prison, courts to force other classes to accept its rule).
2.
Rule through consent (ideas and values to persuade the subordinate classes that its rule is legitimate)
Phillipson
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The elderly are forced to become dependent to create space in the labour market for young, productive workers.
Elderly ae placed as a burden on the economy. Capitalism needs to continuously renew workforce to ensure greater profits by hiring young, productive workers. Elderly are institutionally marginalised through institutionalised dependency (elderly forced to retire to make space for young workers).
Vincent
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The capitalist class manipulates the elderly into retiring and uses them as a scapegoat for societal issues.
State pensions create disadvantage because they're too low especially for women who are less likely to have worked full time and saved for private pension. Retirement age is a social construct to ensure the elderly have a clear idea of what age the state would prefer them to retire to make way for the younger workforce.