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MARXISM

Understanding Marxism and its important aspects in reference to Gramsci and

Althusser

(Dibrugarh University, CBCS Syllabus: 6^th Semester)

Presented by: Aditi Ghosh, Assistant Professor, Maryam Ajmal Women’s College of Science & Technology, Hojai (Assam)

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What is Marxism?

Marxism is a social, political, and economic philosophy named after German Philosopher Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Marxism figures out the dominant power structures of society and as well examines the effects of the practice of power structures of people within society
Marxism encompasses a great historical influence on the organization of countries as well as numerous theories in sociology
Marxism differentiates between two groups of people in society: the proletariat, and the bourgeoisie; this resulted into the uprising historical class struggle
According to Marx, the bourgeoisie exploited the labor of the proletariat for profit. The bourgeoisie are also differentiated from the proletariat for owning the means of production — everything needed to produce goods in a society. This inability to control their own work results in alienation among the proletariat and a loss of creative autonomy.

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Let’s briefly know about Gramsci and Althusser

Antonio Francesco Gramsci, an Italian Marxist Philosopher, is familiar for his theory of Cultural Hegemony, which describes how the state and ruling capitalist class ,the Bourgeoisie, use cultural institutions to maintain power in capitalist societies
Gramsci’s key intellectual contribution to Marxist theory is his elaboration of the social function of culture and its relationship to politics and the economic system.
He thus focused on understanding how culture and politics might inhibit or spur revolutionary change, which is to say, he focused on the political and cultural elements of power and domination (in addition to and in conjunction with the economic element). As such, Gramsci’s work is a response to the false prediction of Marx’s theory that revolution was inevitable, given the contradictions inherent in the system of capitalist production.
In his theory, Gramsci viewed the state as an instrument of domination that represents the interests of capital and of the ruling class. He developed the concept of cultural hegemony to explain how the state accomplishes this, arguing that domination is achieved in large part by a dominant ideology expressed through social institutions that socialize people to consent to the rule of the dominant group. He reasoned that hegemonic beliefs dampen critical thought, and are thus barriers to revolution.
Gramsci viewed the educational institution as one of the fundamental elements of cultural hegemony in modern Western society and elaborated on this in essays titled “The Intellectuals” and “On Education.” Though influenced by Marxist thought, Gramsci’s body of work advocated for a multi-faceted and more long-term revolution than that envisioned by Marx. He advocated for the cultivation of “organic intellectuals” from all classes and walks of life, who would understand and reflect the world views of a diversity of people.

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Gramsci on Cultural Hegemony

Hegemony can be defined as leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others.
Gramsci has introduced the concept of cultural hegemony as a process of moral excellence and leadership towards the dictatorship of the ruling power.
Gramsci conceptualizes the Cultural Hegemony to be the domination achieved through ideological or cultural means, referring that a particular social group has the ability to retain the power over the social institutions .
Through practice of hegemonic power, the social group can influence everyday thoughts, behaviour of the normative ideas, values and beliefs that become the dominant ideology of the society.

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Civil Society and Separation of Powers

Civil Society is significant to identify the relationship between structure and superstructure.
Gramsci states that
Marx had a strong economic determinism in the separation of powers in the civil society, however, Gramsci separates the state(political society) and civil society from the economic structure.
Gramsci opines for an organic relations between State or Political Society and Civil Society.
The synthesis between Political Society and Civil Society integrates the relation of coercion and consent to retain the social formation.

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Civil Society and Separation of Powers

Political society operates through physical supremacy or compelling force and control, however, Civil Society functions through intellectual or consensual control.
The framework of the relationship between oppressors and the oppressed are based on both coercion and consent in the integral state hegemony.
The struggle in the hegemonic society is the struggle to rise a platform for the working class and its potential ideological structure as the process of construction for the transfer of power, the elements of the new society which will develop after it.

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Formation of Intellectuals

Formation of Intellectuals refer that each social group produces its own Intellectuals which perform as the intellectual head of the group.
The Intellectuals represent the group with a moral excellence and leadership.
The Intellectuals are divided into ‘organic’ and ‘traditional’ strata which perform for the homogeneity of the particular social group.
Organic intellectuals serve as the catalyst for the economic development such as an elite entrepreneur, one who creates jobs and necessity. Thus, an organic intellectual emerge organically for the group. They advanced the consciousness of the oppressed social strata.
Traditional Intellectuals are the already existed intellectuals, one who is historically emergence of traditional dominant class such as aristocracy. They are the inheritors or sustainers of the established superstructure.

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Function of Intellectuals

Both the strata of Intellectuals together serve for the creation of new consciousness for a social strata that can justify one’s position in society.
The Intellectuals act as a primary agent or a propagandist to harmonize the social formation.
The intellectuals creates narratives for the class consciousness by establishing the ideologies and the superstructure.
Gramsci opines that intellectuals not only represent the social group but only diffuses the ideology of the other dominating group.

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Althusser on ISA & RSA

Althusser has documented the essay “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” in context of Social Formation and the relationship of production and reproduction of productive forces.
The productive force i.e. the labor power needs to be reproduced to retain the autonomy of the ruling/authoritative force (incase of labor power, it is ensured through labor exploitation).
In the reproduction of the productive forces, the existing relations of the production is maintained to form the Social Whole.
Althusser has introduced ISA(Ideological State Apparatus) and RSA(Repressive State Apparatus) to complicate the relationship between base and superstructure.
Diff between B and Super
RSA (Repressive State Apparatus) enforce dominating behavior directly such as the police functions or practices.
ISA (Ideological State Apparatus) conditions people thinking in terms of the values that are propagated by the ruling ideology(ideology of the ruling class).

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What is Althusser’s addition into Marx’s theory?

Althusser complicates Marx’s understanding of the relationship between base and superstructure by adding his notion of ideological state apparatus.
Marx divided into two major distinguished levels in a society: the infrastructure or economic base and the superstructure, which included political and legal institutions(law, the police, the government) and ideology (religious, moral, legal, political, etc.)
Althusser has not rejected Marx’s notion of social formation but he explores more ways in which ideology is more material existing and acknowledged, for which he proposed to distinguish between RSA and ISA.
Althusser has added his contribution to the theory of Marxism to the notion of Superstructure from the preview not of production but of reproduction.
Althusser demanded Marxist's theory to be upgraded by the addition of ISA, the ideas which he put in theory as such.
He upgraded the descriptive theory into theory as such to understand the mechanisms of the State in its functioning as State Power might change but State Apparatus remains the same.

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Althusser on Ideology

Ideology is a set of ideas or theory of ideas which dominates the mind of a man or a social group.
Ideology has no history, its status is similar to dream which is conceived as a pure illusion and thus, has no concrete relationship
Ideology represents the imaginary relationship ( false consciousness) to the real conditions of existence such as the absent presence of God and thus, ideology has a material existence through material practices.
It is discriminated in material spaces but done concretely but so much embedded in our consciousness as true beliefs.

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