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Doing the right thing - Marxism

4 important questions on Doing the right thing - Marxism

Marx was bron at the end of the 18th century and got confrontated with the consequences of the industrial revolution. Before this revolution: low growth, everybody worked and lived at the same place. Revolution changed this. Marx described (als eerste) the negative consequences of this revolution. Name examples:

1 Child labor
2 There was a historical materialism society: owners of the property/machines governed this society. People where depended from them. The owners ruled the citizens, the citizens had to obbey.

Marx describes the economic substructure and the social superstructure. What did he mean with those structures?

Economic substructure = captain of industries
Social superstructure = government and ideologies
> Economic support the social. The social is the backbone for the captains of industry. Economic will change and that can lead to a struggle with the social structure. Marx: change will always start with economic sub, not social super.

Describe the 5 characteristics of alienation:

1 Split up between persons who produce and sell the products
2 The workers are forced to do a job they don't want to do: no free choice.
3 People would like to have an education, but are forced to work
4 You can't change classes: you are a worker or a owner.
5 Many workers are involved in such a small department they even don't know their contribution in the end
> In this time there still is alienation, f.e. in banking

Marx doesn't think redistribution is the solution, but transfer. The aspect of justice wasn't his solution. Explain this:

Marx thinks we need communities and within these communities the distribution is determined with the need: bigger families need more than small families. Need is the most important notion for distribution. Machines need to belong/be transferred to the community, not to private owners.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Justice : what's the right thing to do? | 9780141041339 | Michael J Sandel

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