{"id":121,"date":"2024-03-26T08:59:25","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T08:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/culturaltheory\/?post_type=content&p=121"},"modified":"2024-04-03T08:17:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T08:17:08","slug":"chapter-4-marxisms","status":"publish","type":"content","link":"https:\/\/staging.routledgelearning.com\/culturaltheory\/chapter-resources\/chapter-4-marxisms\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 4 – Marxisms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n\tHome<\/a>\n<\/span>\/<\/span>\n\tChapter Resources<\/a>\n<\/span>\/<\/span>\n\tChapter 4 \u2013 Marxisms\n<\/span><\/div>\n\n

Chapter 4 – Marxisms<\/h1>\n\n\n

Marxism is a difficult and contentious body of work. But it is also more than this: it is a body of revolutionary theory with the purpose of changing the world. As Marx (1976b) famously said: \u2018The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it\u2019 (65). This makes Marxist analysis political in a quite specific way. But this is not to suggest that other methods and approaches are apolitical; on the contrary, Marxism insists that all are ultimately political. As the American Marxist cultural critic Fredric Jameson (1981) puts it, \u2018the political perspective [is] the absolute horizon of all reading and all interpretation\u2019 (17).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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Before you read<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Warm-up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Watch a short interview with Stuart Hall on Marxism and Cultural Studies [link<\/a>]. Pay attention to the issues he points out. Write them down to later compare them with claims and observations in Chapter 4. How do they possibly overlap? <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Preliminary questions<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<Insert Icon 2 here> Marx has influenced much work in Cultural Studies and this chapter of Cultural Theory and Popular Culture<\/em> charts some of these. The insistence by Marx that all texts and practices should be located within their specific and historical contexts of production (and in some versions, the changing conditions of their consumption and reception) obliges a political analysis of their meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reading Chapter 4, you may like to reflect on the questions below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Why is Marx\u2019s work important in Cultural Studies even though he has been dead for over 100 years?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • What and who are Marxisms and Marxists?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Do you agree with Marx that all texts and practices are political?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Is culture just about economics, money, the division of labour and social class?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The discussion on post-Marxism sees the analysis of the various interpretations of the term, either as an acceptance that Marxism must be left behind for something better or that Marxism needs to be reinterpreted and transformed. Storey discusses that at the heart of post-Marxist theory is discourse, where the meanings produced inform and organize action. Alongside this, is a focus on hegemony and articulation, drawing on the work of Laclau and Mouffe.  It is through culture, states Storey, that the ‘world is made to mean’ \u2013 and this culture is a place of struggle, resistance, acceptance, incorporation, pleasure and ideological concerns.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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    After you read: Important ideas <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Chapter 4 explains the connections between Marxism and cultural studies delineating Marxist-centered influences on the development of cultural criticism. It guides you across a variety of approaches and their related influences. Bearing in mind Marxists\u2019 argument for approaching all cultural practices in relation to history and changes in the economy, check your understanding of that argument in quizzes 4.1 and 4.2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Quiz 4.1<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Chose between true<\/em> or false<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n