Marx

Team, the theme or driving principle of this section of class has been Marx’s analysis of how society works: how work, money, and various ideologies such as religion or culture all interact to create life as we know it. For this week’s blog, take any of the stories from this section of class (the “Material World: Work, Culture, and Meaning” section) and look at it in terms of Marx’s ideas. Remember that the goal in using secondary sources like Marx is ultimately to explain either the text or one of its ideas; how does Marx either explain the world of the text or explain what the text is talking about? What can Marx teach us about this story?

In the story "Dead Space for the Unexpected", written by Geoff Ryman, the work force is dominated by machines that evaluate the worker's every action and situation response. The workers no longer find pride or accomplishment in the work they do if the score they get is not perfect. Success depends not on the actual creation or output, but on a machines evaluation of it. Marx would explain this new way of living as society conforming to a lifestyle dominated by machines. After years and years with technology, the top class would have made certain that technological advancements in every aspect of life would be attractive to all levels of society. Also, this would allow the ruling class to monitor everyone below them in the working class; those results have to be going somewhere, right? Therefore, the working class is working harder, always trying to improve their results, and never opposes advancements in society.

Personally, I agree with a lot of Marx's theories. The dominating class always tries to win the masses over, or to favor the top's way at least. When one looks through the different phases of history and the different ruling bodies, for example, Roman times or Medieval times, I think it makes these theories especially evident.