Marxism in Media
Texts
Karl Marx created the
Marx Theory. Marxism is classed as a Sociologist Theory. Society uses a system
called Capitalism for which the government want to keep the rich, rich and the
poor, poor. With the capitalism system, there is a conflict between the rich
& the poor. Capitalism is an economic system where a small minority of
society own the forces of production (factories & information). This
minority is called the Ruling Class (the Bourgeosie) – they employ people to
work for them to produce goods that they sell. Marx called this arrangement the
relations of production and argued it exploited the subject class (the
proletariat).
How did we end up
with Capitalism? Marx proposed some stages: Primitive Communism, Slavery,
Feudalism, and Capitalism.
Strengths of Marxism:
1) It’s a structuralised approach – links the major institutions and media
together. 2) Marxism has been a major influence on Society. 3) Emphasises the
importance of the economic society. 4)
Weaknesses of
Marxism: 1) It is seen as economically deterministic; everything revolves
around money. 2) Classic Marxism has ignored the role of women in society. 3)
Society doesn’t always operate in the interests of the ruling class. 4) Russia
and China have actually become capitalist nations & turned their backs on
communism. 5) Functionalists criticise Marxism for over-emphasising conflict
when there must be harmony and shared values for social order to be possible.
