Assignment reminder for the students:
Weekly blog posts and comments: each week you are expected to post a commentary on the readings assigned for that week on our blog and make a comment on another student's post.
As you are expected to do the assigned readings FOR the lecture they are assigned to, you are also expected to post your blog and comments BEFORE that lecture. Deadlines are:
- for Monday readings: Saturday, midnight, for main blog posts and Sunday, midnight for comments
- for Wednesday readings: Tuesday, 6.00 pm, for main blog posts and Tuesday, midnight for comments
An ideal commentary should be about one page in length, divided intro three sections in which you: 1) summarize in your own words of materials you read; 2) mention of any new, interesting, or unusual items learned; 3) identify at least one question, concern, or discussion angle that is either problematic in some respect or could have been elaborated more. This question is likely to be incorporated into our class discussions. You are allowed to quote interesting passage from the text(s) you've read, but the quotes will not count toward any length requirements.
You should also make at least one constructive comment about another student's blog post. Note the word “constructive”. Just posting “I agree” or such will NOT be counted.
Note that for this assignment you will need to create a Google Account (https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount). Also note that unless you configure your account to do so automatically you will need to sign your blog posts with at least with your first name and initial – so I know who is posting. Unsigned blog posts and comments will not be counted.
This assignment constitutes 30% of the grade.
Late posts and comments will NOT be accepted. Nothing stops you from doing them IN ADVANCE if you think you may be busy in the upcoming week.
As an exception, students who have joined the class after we have started will be allowed to make up late blog postings until May 23. Add the note “LATE POSTING - ADDED” to such posts and inform me that you are doing so in class.
Class struggle will always be a prominent issue in society. The lines may appear to have blurred but in reality social lines dictate to us who is powerful and who works for the powerful. Although our society is constantly changing and progressing, in areas such as technology and science, people will always encounter class struggles. The struggles have and always will evolve over time, dictating to the public who is powerful and who will be controlled by the powerful. As society constantly changes and progresses the need for wealth and power has intensified. This intense need for power within society has caused individuals to be more self-interested actors who will do almost anything to increase their status in society. Marx identifies this class as the bourgeoisie and describes how their transformation over time has changed in accordance to the progression of society. They have lost all traditional values once instilled upon them and operate in a manner that allows them to exercise the most power over others. Their power comes from suppressing the less powerful in society and is used as a means of production. Marx describes the modern society to be just as it was in the past; the world is the way it is because of what happened in the past. There is a divide between two main groups of people; the powerful landowners who have obtained resources to fuel progress and stimulate growth, who hire others to complete the work, and the individuals who work for these people and can only offer their labor in exchange for pay.
ReplyDeleteMarx argues that the laborers contributions are merely for means of production with no ending goal, and that their existence is limited to long hours of labor with no free time to exercise their creative abilities. Much like a slave the laborer works in order to survive and help the capitalist business grow. Society’s constant urge for expansion causes individuals to lose any hope of working for someone other than the bourgeoisie, who ultimately run society. According to Marx they are “a class of laborers, who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labor increases capital.” Marx uses structural estrangement to show that even though society is constantly progressing and changing laborers still become so far removed from the ending product they have no way of knowing if their skills and abilities are worth anything more. The execution of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.
While Marx addresses the bourgeoisie and lower classes relationship in accordance with each other, he fails to go into detail about the middle class and their relationship with the bourgeoisie. There is little mention as to how the middle class either benefits or suffers from the ever expanding and industrializing economy. There is also no suggestion as to how the middle class could possibly help the lower class overcome ruling from the bourgeoisie, which I feel could be helpful when addressing the concerns of the lower class and how they could possibly rise up from domination. The middle class is the backbone in most societies and without their contributions the lower class will always be ruled and dominated in extreme ways. I would be interested to see how Marx feels about the United States current economic situation and how the middle class will fair in the long run.
Bridget, thank you for posting so early, but please repost this as a separate post rather than a comment to my post (so others can comment on it properly).
ReplyDelete