Marxist Critique: Ideology, Society, and Surplus Value
Marxist Concepts: Ideology, Society, and Surplus Value
Ideology and Knowledge. In the Theses on Feuerbach, Marx stated that philosophers should shift from merely observing the world to actively transforming it. Scientific and philosophical theories must be validated through practical application and historical verification. Any theory’s truth must be demonstrated in practice, within society and history. A common critique of Marxism targets its idealist philosophy. Marxist thought posits that all human knowledge is shaped by social and historical realities, particularly one’s economic situation and position within the production process.
For Marxism, the ideas and values acquired throughout life are not neutral or independent of one’s economic background; rather, they reflect material reality. While Marx didn’t develop a formal theory of knowledge, his work contains enough conceptual material to constitute a Marxist critique of ideology. Marx and Marxism contend that ideologies systematically create a false consciousness of reality. The economic structure of society determines the social, political, and cultural spheres, forming the ideological superstructure. This superstructure functions to legitimize the exploitation and alienation of the working classes. In Marx’s view, consciousness is socially and historically specific to economic structures and is not independent. As Marx states in The German Ideology, individuals enter into definite relations that correspond to a specific stage of development.
These production relations constitute the economic structure of society. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political, and spiritual life; social being determines consciousness. Key elements of ideology include religion, the state, philosophy, law, political economy, and social organization. The elimination of ideology depends on the disappearance of economic alienation, removing the need to conceal and mask reality. Ideologies:
- Represent the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence.
- Distort reality.
- Provide a cohesive social structure.
- Serve the ruling class by enabling the submission of the dominated class.
Society and Action: Surplus Value
According to Marx, profit is generated by treating the worker’s labor as a commodity. Its use value lies in producing exchange value, which is purchased at a value lower than the value of the goods produced during the worker’s time. The process of obtaining profit involves three steps:
- The worker sells their labor to capital for wages. The workforce is treated as a commodity with an exchange value equal to that wage.
- The capitalist uses the purchased labor to produce other goods for a period longer than the socially necessary labor time required to produce the workforce.
- The capitalist sells the goods on the market for their equivalent value. Capital gains a profit, termed surplus value by Marx, not through exchange or the law of equivalence. This gain is the difference between the value capital assigns to labor and the value of the goods created during the time spent at work.