The Cultural Marxism of Work Reform
Jana Bartoloni
Sociology 401
9/29/05
The Cultural Marxism of Work Reform
The economy today tends to consist of class struggles between the ruling class and the working class. Karl Marx was able to develop two specific theories based on his views of class struggle and the economy. These two views are called: structural/classical Marxist theory and cultural Marxist theory. Structural/classical Marxist theory refers to two specific classes; the bourgeoisie (capitalist, ruling class) and the proletariat (working class). This theory deals with social class and inequality based on the means of production. The social conflict between the two classes leads to the class struggle which Marx bases his theory on. The structural Marxist theory also deals with his idea of a base and superstructures. The base is considered the economy and the superstructures are meant to be what the economy consists of (institutions, forms of consciousness political and cultural practices). In his second theory, cultural Marxism, he uses the concepts ideology, hegemony, and determination to explain why certain events happen. Each of these concepts have to do with the idea that the economy changes because of beliefs or ideas and things remain the same because you convince them to stay the same. The events of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire article can be explained using both of these Marxist theories. For the purpose of this paper I will be defending Cultural Marxist theory as the best explanation of the events presented in the article.
The first concept of cultural Marxism I am going to look at is determination. Determination is a concept that has to do with an event occurring because of some force other then their own will. Raymond Williams explained it in terms of Marxism when he said, "at any particular point in time, men find themselves born, thus the 'accessible' conditions into which the 'determining' process is 'independent of their will' not in the historical sense that they have inherited it but in the absolute sense that they cannot control it; they can seek only to understand it and guide their actions accordingly" (Williams, 85). The outcome of the triangle shirtwaist company fire was "independent of their will" because it was not the working class that started the reform of working conditions or fueled the union movement. It was the public's disgust of the event that occurred due to the working conditions that lead to the reform. Also the owners of the Shirtwaist company were forced to pay $75.00 to each of the twenty-three families who lost a family member in the fire. This was independent of their will because it was not the people that forced this event it was the court that ordered the company owners to pay, proving that cultural Marxism and determination are one explanation of the events in this article.
Another concept of cultural Marxism is hegemony. The article starts off with the working class doing long hours everyday and being paid low because they were controlled by the ruling class but by the end of the article the class that was once ruled has become part of the ruling class. Gramsci suggested, "In a hegemonic system, democracy between the ruling group and the ruled groups exists to the extent that the development of the economy, and therefore of the legislation which expresses that development , holds open the channels for the ruled to enter the ruling group" ...
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Another concept of cultural Marxism is hegemony. The article starts off with the working class doing long hours everyday and being paid low because they were controlled by the ruling class but by the end of the article the class that was once ruled has become part of the ruling class. Gramsci suggested, "In a hegemonic system, democracy between the ruling group and the ruled groups exists to the extent that the development of the economy, and therefore of the legislation which expresses that development , holds open the channels for the ruled to enter the ruling group" (Adamson, 174). The article clearly relates to hegemony because the once working class now has better working conditions and the have union movements were they are part of the ruling class.
The final concept of cultural Marxism examined is ideology. Ideology refers to the "analysis of ideas" or "investigation of the origin of ideas". These ideas tend to be "willed", allow human masses to be organized, and help men to acquire consciousness of their position and struggle. Gramsci says, "It is worth recalling the frequent affirmation made by Marx on the "solidity of popular beliefs" as a necessary element of a specific situation. What he says more or less is "when this way of conceiving things has the force of popular beliefs" (Gramsci, 377). Men being able to acquire consciousness of their position basically means their class consciousness, being able to realize what social class of the economy they are in. Class consciousness then can lead to revolution by the masses, meaning that the larger working class will revolt and become part of the ruling group. In the article, when the working conditions were revealed to the public finally, their beliefs and opinions of the whole event lead to reform of working conditions for women and children and also lead to a union movement. Gramsci's recollection of Marx "solidity of popular beliefs" shows just how things change because of peoples opinions and ideas. Thus proving again that cultural Marxism is the best way to explain the article at hand.
Structural/Classical Marxist theory can also be used to explain the events presented in the article. Specifically the concept of class struggle between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie is meant to be the class of capitalist, owners of the means of production, and the employers of wages; with regards to the article the owners of the Shirtwaist company would be considered the bourgeoisie. Proletariat refers to the working class, wage laborers, lacking a means of production and must sell their labor in order to provide for themselves and their family. This part of structural/classical Marxism theory is meant to have an outcome where the working class unite and form a communist society. This just means the there will be a communal ownership of the economy. The idea of a communist society is absurd, that's not to say that it could never happen but the likely hood of people agreeing to have an equal ownership of the economy is slim to none. People are not willing to give up their decent salaries in order to form equality in the work force. Most people are selfish when it comes to money and the want to make as much as they can to provide for their family, which means they want their means of production to be high. The working class will always be the working class because they need the wage labor to survive. "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" (Marx and Engels, 7). The struggle Marx refers to is the struggle over who gets the larger share. Marx and Engel put it best when they says,
"the work of the proletarians has lost all individual character and, consequently, all charm for the workman. He becomes and appendage of the machine, and it is only the simplest, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack that is required of him. Hence the cost of production of a workman is restricted, almost entirely, to the means of subsistence the he requires for his maintenance and for the propagation of is race" (Marx and Engel, 14).
This so-called bourgeoisie society employed 500 women and kept them chained in the work place to keep them by their machines and prevent any stealing from taking place. It said in the article that "the hours were long (9-10 hours per day), the work monotonous, the pay low." It is apparent that these conditions resemble Marx and Engel's view on the proletarian conditions stated in the above quote. "Not only are they slaves of the bourgeoisie class, they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the over-looker, and, above all, by the individual bourgeoisie manufacturer himself" (Marx and Engel, 14). This statement shows the many similarities between structural Marxism theory with regards to class struggle and the article that we are presented with.
However Beverly J. Silver writes about structural Marxism and says,
"Another important explanation for the crisis of labor movements emphasizes recent transformation in the organization of production and labor process, rather than the impact of capital mobility. These transformations are widely seen as having undermined the traditional bases of workers' bargaining power...The result is structurally disaggregated and disorganized working class, prone more to "a politics of resentment" than to "traditional working class unions and leftist politics" (Silver, 4-5).
I disagree with this idea of labor movements because the article ends with the idea the events that took place were not the result of an unorganized working class. Instead the event brought the working class together and allowed them to form union movements where they could be heard and seen as the ruling class instead of the ruled class. This event however, did not make the capitalist disappear but it did make the working class heard for once. Its interesting because Beverly J. Silver talks about how labor has increasing and decreasing terms of power based on race, ethnicity, and gender, but somehow she still considers them to be structural in her analysis of labors existence. Professor Platt stated that "In using race, ethnicity, and gender as a structural base, she is really opening space for cultural concepts" (Notes, 9/22). Ethnicity is clearly culture related therefore, for the basis of her analysis it should be considered cultural Marxist theory not structural.
Overall, you can see that these two theories can both be used to explain the events that take place in the article. Structural/Classical Marxism theory deals with the material conditions of existence and the economy at large. You could say that the bourgeoisie (the owners of the shirtwaist company) were the ruling class and the proletariat (the work laborers) were the ruled class and by the end of the events the proletariat was now considered to be part of the ruling class, but the truth is they aren't necessarily the "ruling class" the public just happened to come up with the opinion of work reform and union movements. If this were the case then communism is inevitable but as you can see from the final outcome of the working class was far from communism. Also by Silver referring to labor as having ethnicity as its terms of power in her structural analysis she is contradicting herself because ethnicity is cultural beliefs. Cultural Marxism on the other hand seems to best explain the events of the article. The concepts of ideology and hegemony can best be used to back up cultural Marxism theory. It was the tragedy itself and the revealing of horrific working conditions that lead to the opinion (beliefs/ideas) of the public to develop union movements and reformations of working conditions. The idea of cultural Marxism is that things stay the same because we "consent to the conditions of life", but things change because of some other factor be it may beliefs or ideas of some sort. Therefore cultural Marxist theory can be used to best explain the events presented in the article.
Adamson, Walter L. "Hegemony, Historical Bloc, and Italian History: A study of Antonio Gramsci's Political and Cultural Theory. University of California Press, 1980.
Gramsci, Antonio. "The concept of 'ideology'": Selections from the prison notebooks. International Publishers, 1971.
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. "Manifesto of the communist party (1848): Marxism and Literature. Oxford University Press, 1977.
Williams, Raymond. "Determination and Hegemony" : Marxism and Literature. Oxford University Press, 1977.
Silver, Beverly J. "Introduction in forces of labor: Worker's Movements and Globalization Since 1870. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Outline
A. Introduction and Thesis Statement
I. Explanation of the two Marxist theories
II. Thesis Statement
B. Cultural Marxist Theory (Determination)
I. What is it?
II. Raymond Williams Quote
III. Explanation of quote and how it relates to article
C. Cultural Marxist Theory (Hegemony)
I. What is it?
II. Adamson quote
III. Explanation of quote and how it relates to article
D. Cultural Marxist Theory (Ideology)
I. What is it?
II. Gramsci quote
III. Explanation of quote and relation to article
E. Structural/Classical Marxist Theory
I. Class struggle
II. Explain the two social classes
III. Marx and Engels quotes
IV. Relation to article
F. Structural Marxist Theory
I. Structural Movements
II. Beverly J. Silver quote
III. Cultural Concept with ethnicity and class notes
IV. Explanation and relation to article
G. Conclusion
I. Sum up of all points made
II. Prove again that cultural is better explanation
III. Final statement and explanation of article
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