Deck 10: Marx Critique and Alternative to Capitalism

Question 1

Whats defention of terms:
-aggregate

Answer 1

the entire economy comprised of all the buyers and all the sellers

Question 2

Whats defention of terms:
-exploitation

Answer 2

an economic relation that occurs when the average length of the working day exceeds the time necessary for a laborer to produce the value equivalent of his subsistence wage, enabling the capitalist to appropriate the surplus produced over and above this subsistence

Question 3

Whats defention of terms:
-forces of production

Answer 3

tools, factories, and equipment; the labor force and its level of knowledge; natural resources; and the general level of technology

Question 4

Whats defention of terms:
-historical materialism

Question 5

Whats defention of terms:
-ideological superstructure

Question 6

Whats defention of terms:
-labor power

Question 7

Whats defention of terms:
-labor theory of value

Question 8

Whats defention of terms:
-mode of production

Question 9

Whats defention of terms:
-oligopoly

Question 10

Whats defention of terms:
-relations of production

Question 11

Whats defention of terms:
-utopians

Question 12

Understand capitalism from a Marxist perspective.
-What is "historical materialism"? How did Marx used this method to analyze society?

Question 13

Understand capitalism from a Marxist perspective.
-Explain the concept of a mode of production. What are the four modes of production Europe experienced?

Question 14

Understand capitalism from a Marxist perspective.
-What did all four modes of production have in common? How was socialism different in Marx's mind?

Question 15

Understand capitalism from a Marxist perspective.
-Name the four classes present in any capitalist system and explain their respective roles in society.

Question 16

Understand capitalism from a Marxist perspective.
-What four classes of people existed in a capitalist society? What characteristics does each class possess?

Question 17

Understand capitalism from a Marxist perspective.
-List and describe the two important functions served by the unemployed and explain why they are important to capitalism.

Question 18

Understand capitalism from a Marxist perspective.
-What is surplus? How does the owner of the means of production calculate his profit?

Question 19

Understand capitalism from a Marxist perspective.
-Describe the source of income for each of the four main classes under capitalism as described by Marx. . From what are interest, rents, profits, and taxes derived?

Question 20

Understand capitalism from a Marxist perspective.
-Explain the labor theory of value and labor as the source of surplus.

Question 21

Understand capitalism from a Marxist perspective.
-Explain how Marx sees workers being exploited.

Question 22

Understand capitalism from a Marxist perspective.
-How does capitalism alienate the worker in society? How does it affect the worker?

Question 23

Understand capitalism from a Marxist perspective.
-What is the present justification for allowing the existence of profits for the owners of capital? Why does Marx refute this argument?

Question 24

Understand capitalism from a Marxist perspective.
-Why is Marx concerned about labor being treated just like any other commodity? What impact does it have on the social nature of work?

Question 25

Explain how Marx saw society moving from capitalism to socialism.
-What role do economic crises play in the business cycle? What prerequisites are necessary for the modern business cycle and why are they only possible under a capitalist system?

Question 26

Explain how Marx saw society moving from capitalism to socialism.
-What will eventually happen to the capitalist mode of production if class conflict continues?

Question 27

Explain how Marx saw society moving from capitalism to socialism.
-Why would profits ever decline and cause the downturn in a business cycle? How do workers get shorted no matter what stage of the business cycle the economy is in?

Question 28

Explain how Marx saw society moving from capitalism to socialism.
-Which factors about the economy inevitably lead to economic concentration?

Question 29

Explain how Marx saw society moving from capitalism to socialism.
-According to Marx, could the "state" be a catalyst for the transition from capitalism to socialism? Explain how the transition will occur if not by the state.

Question 30

A society's economic base or mode of production consists of p.105

A) forces of production.
B) superstructure.
C) social relationship between humans.
D) a and b
E) a and c

Question 31

The relations of production in Marx's thought were

A) the social relations between humans.
B) in particular the relationship of each class to the means of production
C) inclusive of the ownership of productive facilities and division of the fruits of productive activity.
D) the class structure of society.
E) all of the above.

Question 32

Under capitalism labor is socialized

A) in the market.
B) in an indirectly social manner.
C) in a manner which is not immediately social through the interdependence of productive individuals.
D) a and b
E) all of the above.

Question 33

In Marxian economic theory, what three facts about production pervade every society?

A) A natural environment which could be transformed is necessary.
B) Machines and tools contribute to the transformation of nature and therefore receive profits.
C) Nature contributes nothing to its own transformation; labor is the source of production.
D) Production is a social activity dependent upon cooperation and coordination.
E) Market prices embody the labor of particular workers.

Question 34

Which classes characterized the existence of capitalism as it existed in every historical setting and every cultural or national boundary?

A) peasants, working class, poverty stricken and capitalists.
B) capitalists and working class.
C) peasants, working class capitalists, and nobility.
D) capitalists, working class, small shopkeepers and professionals, and poverty stricken.
E) small shopkeepers and professionals, working class, peasants, and capitalists.

Question 35

What is the defining characteristic of the working class in capitalism?

A) They own and control the means of production.
B) They sell their capacity to produce once and for all.
C) They direct the labor process in which they function as laborers.
D) They own the commodities which they produce.
E) none of the above.

Question 36

Which two of the following statements describe attributes of the capitalist class? 0 107-108

A) It is comprised of capitalists who own and control money, land or machines, and tools.
B) They only own their labor power which is sold on the market as a commodity.
C) They have to engage in socially useful labor.
D) They live off the surplus created by the productive activity of the working class.
E) all of the above.

Question 37

Which class is responsible for weakening the wage bargaining powers of employed workers and providing a reservoir of workers during economic expansions?

A) the peasants.
B) the small shopkeepers and professionals.
C) the working class.
D) the poverty stricken.
E) the capitalists.

Question 38

Marx interpreted the role of the capitalist within the production process

A) as productive and receiving returns commensurate with his productivity.
B) as the glue which held the entire interdependent production process together.
C) as unproductive but nonetheless necessary.
D) as a wedge between the interdependent workers and as extractors of retribution for allowing the production process to continue smoothly.
E) as the owner of a factor of production that existed in all economic states.

Question 39

Marx believed that

A) laws and religion were the primary forces determining the structure of society.
B) the working class was alienated because their wages tended toward the subsistence level.
C) the mode of production was the major factor determining the general nature and movement of society.
D) a and b
E) b and c

Question 40

Marx believed that the Utopian Socialists

A) were dangerous radicals who should be silenced.
B) had ideas that hardly differed from his own.
C) were often unrealistic and quixotic.
D) were conservatives at heart.
E) none of the above.

Question 41

For Marx the "relations of production" and the "forces of production"

A) are the two parts of the mode of production.
B) exert a powerful influence on social ideas, religious beliefs and moral codes.
C) determined the class structure of society.
D) come into conflict during periods of social revolution.
E) all of the above.

Question 42

According to Hunt, the primary basis of Marx's moral critique of capitalism derives from (alienation?) see

A) his condemnation of the misery caused by widespread poverty and inequality.
B) the necessity of workers to sell their labor power to capitalists.
C) the immiserization of the working class as capitalism developed.
D) capitalism's systematic prevention of individuals achieving their potential as humans.
E) all of the above.

Question 43

Marx's notion of alienation stressed the fact that

A) social conflict created alienation.
B) in a capitalist society social relations were reduced to money or market transactions.
C) alienation was the result of excessively low wages.
D) a and b.
E) a and c.

Question 44

Marx argued that workers were exploited because

A) the workers was separated from the means of production.
B) under capitalism the market, or cash nexus, was extended to all human relationship involved in production and distribution.
C) the historical tendency of capitalist production is to create a reserve army of unemployed workers.
D) the value of labor power is less than the value of what labor power produces.
E) all of the above.

Question 45

The labor theory of value leads to the conclusion that

A) profit emerges from the production process because the value of labor power is less than the value of what labor power produces.
B) capital does not increase labor productivity.
C) a man who does not labor is of little use.
D) individuals do not value anything very highly unless they have to work for it.
E) none of the above.

Question 46

Surplus value is created because

A) capitalists buy one commodity and sell a different commodity.
B) the value of labor power is less than the value of the commodities it creates.
C) it takes only a part of the work day for a laborer to produce commodities with a value equal to the value of an entire day's labor power.
D) laborers do not own the means of production and can live only by selling their labor power to capitalists.
E) all of the above.

Question 47

In Marx's analysis of economic crises, the initial difficulty which set in motion the chain of events that ultimately resulted in a depression was

A) the existence of labor unions.
B) the alienation of the laborer.
C) massive unemployment.
D) depletion of the reserve army of the unemployed.
E) the immeserization of the proletariat.

Question 48

Marx believed that economic concentration would occur because

A) in competition among capitalists the strong crush the weak.
B) changing technology requires larger and larger business firms.
C) businessmen would band together to counteract the power of consumer cooperatives and labor unions.
D) a and b.
E) b and c.

Question 49

According to Marx, the function of the capitalist state is to

A) enforce the dictatorship of the capitalist class over the rest of society.
B) act as an arbiter of rivalries between capitalists.
C) control the money supply.
D) all of the above.
E) a and b.

Question 50

For Marx, the capitalist state (or government)

A) is the coercive instrument of the ruling capitalist class.
B) represents the workers only in those countries which have free elections.
C) is the only protection the laborers have against the capitalists.
D) is generally quite efficient.
E) all of the above.

Question 51

From Marx's perspective, which of the following would contribute to the cause of a socialist revolution?

A) business cycles or crises that worsened over time
B) a long-run tendency for the rate of profit to fall
C) economic concentration in the process of production
D) the immiserization of the proletariat
E) all of the above.