Marxist Theories

Semester 3
Module I: 

Marxist Theories
 

Literary and other cultural texts are ideological in background, form and function and the production and consumption of texts reflects class ideologies. An attention to the material conditions of life and a critical engagement with our attitudes about those conditions are essential for achieving positive social change.

 
Prescribed Essay: Raymond Williams. “Literature.” Marxism and Literature. USA: Oxford UP, 1978. Pp. 45-54.

Marxism

Marxism accentuates the notion that all human events and productions are embedded within the social, historical and economic contexts. The ideologies and norms which exist in our society depend on the interests of those who control the modes of production.

As a “politicized form of historiography” cultural materialism acts as a connecting link between Marxism and PostModernism. As a critical method Cultural Materialism combines an attention to the historical context, theoretical method, political commitment and textual analysis.

I. Schools of Marxist Thought

·         Marxism –Leninism

·         Maoism

·         Western Marxism

·         Structural Marxism

·         Neo-Marxism

·         The Frankfurt School

·         Cultural Marxism

·         Indian Marxism

II. Major Concepts

·        Alienation

·        Base structure/Super Structure

·        Hegemony

·        Bourgeoisie

·        Capitalism

·        Critical Realism

·        Culture Industry

·        Dialectical Materialism

·        Epistemology

·        False Consciousness

·        Fetishism

·        Ideology

·        Means of production

·        Mechanical reproduction

·        Mimesis

·        Neo Marxism

·        Post modernism

·        Late capitalism

·        Proletariat

·        Socialist Realism

·        Soviet Marxism

·        Surplus Value

·        Theory of Reflection

·        Use Value

·        Western Marxism

·        Traditional Marxism

III. Major Figures

·         Karl Marx

·         Friedrich Engels

·         Georg Lukacs

·         Bertolt Brecht

·         Max Horkheimer

·         Theodor Adorno

·         Herbert Marcuse

·         Walter Benjamin

·         Lucien Goldman

·         Louis Althusser

·         Pierre Macherey

·         Raymond Williams

·         Terry Eagleton

·         Fredric Jameson

·         Ernesto Laclau

·         Chantal Mouffe

·         Zygmunt Bauman

·         Aijaz Ahmed

·         Stuart Hall

·         Antonio Negri

·         Michael Hardt 

.      Slavoj Zizek

   IV. Major Works

·         Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels- Communist Manifesto

·         Karl Marx- Das Kapital, German Ideology, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts

·         Friedrich Engels- The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State

·         Vladimir Ilyich Lenin- Theory of Reflection

·         Georgi V. Plekhanov - Fundamental Problems

·         Georg Lukacs -  The Historical Novel, The Meaning of Contemporary Realism, History and Class Consciousness

·         Bertolt Brecht- Epic theatre, Debate on Classical Heritage

·         Walter Benjamin- “Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”

·         Max Horkheimer- Critique of Instrumental Reason

·         Herbert Marcuse- Soviet Marxism: A Critical Analysis

·         Lucien Goldman- The Hidden God

·         Pierre Macherey- A Theory of Literary Production

·         Theodor Adorno- Aesthetic Theory- Culture Industry- Negative Dialectics

·         Jurgen Habermas- The Theory of Communicative Action

·         Antonio Gramsci- Prison Notebooks

·         Christopher Caudwell- Illusion and Reality

·         E.P. Thompson- The Making of the English Working Class

·         Louis Althusser- Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays

·         Terry Eagleton- Marxism and Literary Criticism

·         Fredric Jameson- Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism

·         Raymond Williams- Marxism and Literature

·         Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield- Political Shakespeare: New Essays in Cultural Materialism

V. Sample Reading

·         https://utah.instructure.com/courses/108427/modules/items/450444