Marxist Criticism

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Marxist Criticism
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Background to Marxism

• Historical Criticism with a political philosophy
• Marxism developed by Marx and Engels
• Marxism as a way to see social movements as
  objectively as possible
• 5 stages of societies hunter-gatherers, slave
  society, feudal, capitalism, communism

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Major Terms

• Substructure the material or economic order
  that organizes the world (stages of society and
  material beliefs)
• Ideology the common thread that runs through
  society. This hides the conflict that we are all
  unequal
• Superstructure organizational structures that
  we use to perpetuate the ideology and
  substructure (e.g. government)

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A Marxist Look at Schools
Capitalist society hierarchy of a school
Substructure
The more education that you have, the more
successful you will be!!
Ideology
Schools, universities, diplomas, requirements for
jobs
Superstructure
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Other Terms

• Commodification giving something a monetary
  value
• Social class A status hierarchy in
  which individuals and groups are classified on
  the basis of esteem and prestige acquired mainly
  through economic success and the accumulation of
  wealth
• Proletariat working class

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Assumptions of a Marxist Critic

1. Literature reflects the substructure
2. Literature is rooted in a moment in history
3. Literature itself is a superstructure

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Strategies for the Marxist Critic

1. Try to find the ideologies behind the text
2. How do the ideologies try to mask the suffering
   or inequality
3. Ask whether the text supports or challenges those
   ideologies
4. To be effective, we have to look at the
   historical context of the writer, and the
   biography of the writer