Group 12 Philosophy of Law Marxism
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Ainsley Martin VidadGroup 12 Philosophy of Law Marxism
Uploaded by
Ainsley Martin VidadPhilosophy of Law
Group 12 Topic: Marxism
Reporters:
Edrian Vendivel
Ainsley Martin Lavarias Vidad
Michael Angelo Vergara
Marxism
1. A social, political, and economic philosophy named after Karl Marx. It examines the effect
of capitalism on labor, productivity, and economic development and argues for a worker
revolution to overturn capitalism in favor of communism. Marxist criticism focuses on
class struggle, especially on the oppression of the Proletariat by the Bourgeoisie.
2. Marxism is both a social and political theory, which encompasses Marxist class conflict
theory and Marxian economics. Marxism was first publicly formulated in 1848 in the
pamphlet The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, which lays out the
theory of class struggle and revolution. Marxian economics focuses on the criticisms of
capitalism, which Karl Marx wrote about in his book Das Kapital, published in 1867.
Social Classes in Marxism
1. Bourgeoisie - the class of modern capitalists, owners of the means of social
production and employers of wage labor.
2. Proletariat - the class of modern wage laborers who, having no means of production
of their own, are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live.
CLASS CONFLICT AND THE SUPPOSED DEMISE OF CAPITALISM
1. The bourgeoisie, or business owners, who control the means of production, and the
proletariat, or workers, whose labor transforms raw commodities into valuable economic
goods. Ordinary laborers, who do not own the means of production, such as factories,
buildings, and materials, have little power in the capitalist economic system. Workers are
also readily replaceable in periods of high unemployment, further devaluing their
perceived worth. To maximize profits, business owners have an incentive to get the most
work out of their laborers while paying them the lowest possible wages. This creates an
unfair imbalance between owners and laborers, whose work the owners exploit for their
own gain. Because workers have little personal stake in the process of production
2. Marx believed they would become alienated from it, as well as from their own humanity,
and turn resentful toward business owners. The bourgeoisie also leverage social
institutions, including government, media, academia, organized religion, and banking and
financial systems, as tools and weapons against the proletariat with the goal of
maintaining their position of power and privilege. The inherent inequalities and
exploitative economic relations between these two classes will lead to a revolution in
which the working-class rebels against the bourgeoisie, takes control of the means of
production, and abolishes capitalism.
Capitalism vs. Socialism vs. Communism
1. Capitalism - an economic system in which there’s private ownership of capital goods, and
the competition in a free market.
2. Socialism - an economic system but also a social and political theory, where the means
of production is owned by the community as a whole.
3. Communism - an economic system but also a social and political theory, where the private
property is completely gone and here, we share everything.
Philosophers:
Karl Marx
1. a prominent thinker who wrote on topics related to economics, political economy, and
society. he wrote many famous works including The Communist Manifesto and Capital (Das
Kapital). Marx often collaborated with long-time friend and social theorist Friedrich Engels.
He is known for his revolutionary writings favoring socialism and a communist revolution.
In general, Marx claimed there are two major flaws inherent in capitalism that led to the
exploitation of workers by employers: the chaotic nature of free market competition and
the extraction of surplus labor.
2. Law as analyzed in Marxist theory is divided into the two distinct social functions which it
performs: the function of regulation of relations of possession and the function of regulation
of the struggle between the classes. The regulation of possession gives to existing relations
of production the form of right: it is their ‘legal expression’ and gives a definite form to
relations between possessors and to relations between them and non-possessors. The legal
regulation of the class struggle serves to contain and repress the antagonism of the
exploited class within the forms of right legitimated by the order of the state.
Friedrich Engels
3. German socialist philosopher, the closest collaborator of Karl Marx in the foundation of
modern communism. Engels edited the second and third volumes of Karl Marx's Das Kapital
after Marx's death. He formed the basis for the modern communist movement. Friedrich
Engels worked with Karl Marks to lay the groundwork for the practice of communism, where
people live in social equilibrium, without class distinction, family structure, religion, or
property.
Samir Amin
4. Egyptian-French Marxian economist, political scientist and world-systems analyst. He was
Considered a pioneer of Dependency Theory and World System Theory. His key idea, was
that so-called ‘under-developed’ economies should not be considered as independent units
but as building blocks of a capitalist world economy. Amins theory of a global law of value
describes a system of unequal exchange, in which the difference in the wages between
labor forces in different nations is greater than the difference between their productivities.
Although Amin himself did not include gender in his analysis – indeed, his analysis had
glaring blind spots related to gender – his analysis can be enriched and extended to include
gender hierarchies and a fuller recognition of gender’s place in the mode of production.
References:
1. The Manifesto of the Communist Party by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels (published
on February 1848)
2. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marxism.asp
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism
4. Karl Marx:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/k/karl-marx.asp
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-16113-3_5
5. Friedrich Engels:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Engels
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/friedrich-engels.asp
6. Samir Amin:
https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/73450/Editorial%20Samir%20Amin%
20and%20Beyond.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y%20https://roape.net/2021/03/16/
enduring-relevance-samir-amins-radical-political-economy