Marxist Theory Research Articles

SOCIAL SERVICE AND THE INTERLOCUTION BETWEEN HEALTH AND SOCIAL PROTECTION OF THE ELDERLY IN ANGOLA

This article aims to analyze the interconnection between health and social protection in which Social Services operate, and its impact on the processes of access to basic rights for the elderly in Angola. This debate is the result of bibliographical and documentary research, guided by Marx's social theory. The results demonstrate that health and social protection policies and related services are expressions of the current state of contemporary bourgeois society, whose effects in Angola began in the second half of the 20th century, in the process of implementing dependent capitalism. In this context, marked by contradictions and challenges, Social Services is considered a profession that contributes to the fight for quality access to the rights of the elderly.

The Practical Application of New Productive Forces: The Practice Logic and Optimization Path of Distributed Photovoltaic Enterprises Promoting Rural Revitalization

Developing new quality productive forces is an internal requirement and important focal point for high-quality development, as well as a driving engine for promoting rural revitalization and common prosperity for all people. As a typical representative of new quality productive forces, distributed photovoltaic enterprises play a key role in promoting rural revitalization. Based on the theory of new quality productive forces and Marxist theory of productive forces, taking Tianhefujia as a typical case, this paper explores the specific path of distributed photovoltaic enterprises promoting rural revitalization through innovative business models, summarizes the valuable experience of Tianhefujia in implementing rural revitalization strategies, and analyzes the urgent practical problems in the process of distributed photovoltaic enterprises promoting rural revitalization. Finally, based on practical analysis, it proposes a path for optimizing the model of distributed photovoltaic enterprises promoting rural revitalization, aiming to form and promote a more efficient and sustainable rural revitalization development model.

Материалистическая классификация наук Бонифатия Кедрова: возможности и границы для современных общественных наук

The article presents a general reconstruction and analysis of the fundamental project of Bonifaty Mikhailovich Kedrov, a Soviet chemist, logician, and philosopher of science. The basic principles of the systematization of scientific disciplines within the reconstructed hierarchy are outlined. The interpretation of scientific knowledge by B.M. Kedrov is characterized, particularly in terms of the relationship between natural and humanitarian sciences in a scientific-informational context. A philosophical analysis of the materialistic approach underpinning the discussed project is proposed. The applicability of the materialistic system of sciences to modern scientific bibliographic activities is assessed, including improvements to existing classification systems in social and humanities. Two approaches to developing the hierarchy are identified: from the perspective of the natural essence of scientific knowledge itself and from a socio-epistemological viewpoint regarding the development and applied organization of science. Special attention is given to the philosophy of humanities and social sciences as presented by B.M. Kedrov, particularly in relation to questions about the structure of socio-historical sciences and their place within the overall classification system, as seen through the lens of Marxist theory. The prospects and limitations of applying Kedrov’s classification to the post-classical framework of modern social sciences are evaluated.

Capitalizing on Animality: Monstrosity and Multispecies Relations in Jordan Peele’s Nope (2022)

One amongst many of the defining characteristics of so-called ‘late stage’ capitalism are human-animal relationships that have become acrimonious, hostile, or even monstrous in nature. A foundational premise of monster theory, and one that Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s seminal 1996 edited collection of the same name suggests, is that the construction of the monster in popular culture is fraught with the boundaries that constitute the society that has spawned them; the monstrous body “exists only to be read” (p. 4). Bringing together the theoretical insights of the Marxist theory of reification, critical animal studies, and monster theory, this article examines the ways in which cinematic depictions of gigantic monstrosity can inform our theorizing of multispecies relationships under capitalism. Specifically, I explore how the tensions between capital and human-animal relationships serve to construct and constitute the multiform monster, Jean Jacket, in Jordan Peele’s 2022 film Nope. Through an examination of the multispecies relationalities that the film portrays, I argue that the figure of Jean Jacket is a monstrous culmination of the reified and therefore, necessarily deferred nature of human-animal relationships under capital. However, Nope’s conclusion alerts us to the radical dereifying potential of multispecies bonds of care and embodied knowledge; systems of resistance that can be forged even within our current capitalist ruins.

Contemporary fellow travellers: Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists and the theory and political practice of Marxism

Within academic discourses of postcolonial theory, much has been written on whether and how Marxism can be drawn on to understand the ‘postcolonial world’ and, in this regard, what the relations between Eurocentrism and Marxism are. In practice, Marxism remains a core analytical framework for many emancipatory movements from the Global South, as is the case for Egyptian organisation of Revolutionary Socialists, whose popularity grew during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. The following paper is based on anthropological research with Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists in exile and the political underground. It showcases that many academic postcolonial debates sideline the agency of Marxist social actors from the Global South, their theoretical and practical endeavours, and their own modes of knowledge production. It is through the agency of Revolutionary Socialist social actors that Marxism travels from below, is translated, (re)read, debated, and materialises itself in given contexts. I highlight how Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists utilise Marxism as a living theory in their contemporary political practice and argue that their practice in exile as fellow travellers can be understood as a reconfiguration of the concept of travelling theory into travelling theory from below. Herein the centrality of social actors’ practice in grasping theory manifests itself.

Kenneth Jack and rural towns: Australian socialist realist art (or just a less bitter pill to swallow)?

Early Australian artists of European extraction had to wrestle with the vast, inhospitable climate of inland Australia, unfamiliar animals and plants, and harsh sunlight. To a greater or lesser extent, especially Boyd and Drysdale, they also considered the Aboriginal inhabitants and how Europeans’ grip on the land and their understanding of it always paled in comparison with theirs, leaving the Europeans the ones out of place, infringing on a complex culture. Here, I use Marxist theories of ideology and art to examine the work of Kenneth Jack, an Australian realist painter of rural towns. His reassuring images are not confrontational, unlike those of Boyd and Drysdale. They can be ideological by pointing to an apparently timeless and tranquil midday peace, free from urban stressors and manufacturing and architectural blight. As with poet Banjo Paterson, they create a discourse that raises up life in “the bush.” These images can function as ideology where rural communities and services appear to be underappreciated and under threat. It is a conservative vision as the absence of people and vehicles reminds us, perhaps paradoxically, of romanticized rural communities just out of the painter’s sight.

Marxism-leninism: the Ideology of Twentieth Century Communism- A Philosophical Reading from Gramscian Perspective

This article explores Marxism-Leninism, the dominant ideology of 20th-century communism, through a philosophical lens rooted in the thought of Antonio Gramsci. By analysing Gramsci's critique of hegemony, state power, and cultural domination, this study re-examines Marxism-Leninism's theoretical foundations and practical applications. Gramsci’s perspective provides a critical assessment of the ways in which Leninist vanguardism and centralized authority both fulfilled and diverged from classical Marxist theory. The article delves into the tensions between the Leninist approach to revolution and Gramsci’s more nuanced understanding of class struggle, civil society, and cultural hegemony, highlighting the implications for revolutionary praxis. This Gramscian reading allows for a reappraisal of the successes and limitations of Marxism-Leninism, particularly in its ability to address the ideological and cultural challenges of maintaining socialist states during the 20th century. Ultimately, the paper argues that Gramsci’s insights offer valuable critiques and alternatives to the orthodoxies of Marxism-Leninism, opening pathways for rethinking communist ideology in contemporary political context.

Face-to-face fundraising and the dialectics of appearance

ABSTRACT Face-to-face fundraising (F2F) emerged in the 1990s as an innovative mode of charity fundraising, whereby paid fundraisers – often employed through for-profit agencies – solicit members of the public to sign-up for monthly direct-debit payments. Despite its everyday visibility – and public critical reception – this instance of the ubiquitous intersection of humanitarianism and commodification, integral to contemporary capitalism, remains unexplored. This paper fills this gap but, in the process, draws some theoretical lessons germane to this literature and to materialist critique more generally. I argue that the peculiar dialectics of appearance operative in the political economy of F2F resists interpretation in terms of extant conceptual appreciations of other modalities of ‘commodified compassion’ and in materialist conceptual vocabularies in political economy scholarship more broadly. Far from ‘mere appearance’, F2F’s abstract form of ‘shared humanity’ is not simply an ethical veneer to be bypassed in unveiling the concrete (re)production of inequalities in humanity, as is the general tendency in materialist critique. Rather, this appearance is essential for its functioning and those concrete inequalities are written into this form, rather than existing behind/beyond it. This, I suggest, is captured effectively by a ‘dialectical materialist’ take on the Marxian theory of the commodity form.

Veiled Exploitation: The Maintenance of Power through False Consciousness in The Netflix Series Arcane

The focus of this research is to identify and reveal how false consciousness is created and utilized to retain the authority of the industrialist Silco in the Netflix series Arcane. This research aims to show how false consciousness is through the creation of class consciousness, and how it is spread and maintained through state apparatuses and commodity fetishism as a method of exploitation to maintain his authority and status as a leader in Zaun. In this research, the Marxist theory of ideology and state apparatuses by Louis Althusser and commodity fetishism by Karl Marx were employed to answer the research questions. The research used a qualitative method of content analysis. The data is collected and identified by watching the series, where the relevant data is collected from visuals, activities, and dialogues within the series so that it can be analyzed further. Based on the data analysis, the series Arcane depicts false consciousness as a method to exploit the people from the proletariat and bourgeois classes to benefit certain people or groups. Silco creates and maintains false consciousness by utilizing state apparatuses such as ideological state apparatus and repressive state apparatus through ideology. Silco also utilizes commodity fetishism from Shimmer as a way to control the people through false consciousness. As a result, Silco managed to maintain his power as a leader in Zaun, which reveals how false consciousness can be utilized to benefit a certain people, group, or classes to maintain their power within society.

The spirit of sports as ideology: a theoretical framework

ABSTRACT The discourse surrounding the spirit of sports, especially under the purview of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), often centers on the philosophical implications of doping and fair play. This research aims to reframe the discussion by employing the lens of historical materialism and Marxist theory, considering sports not merely as isolated physical endeavors but deeply interwoven with societal and ideological transformations. This approach traces the evolution of sports from ancient times, where it served religious and communal functions, to its current status as a component of global capitalist culture. By analyzing the spirit of sports through the theoretical frameworks of Althusser and Žižek, this study explores how sports act as ideological state apparatuses (AIEs), shaping and being shaped by the prevailing economic and social structures. The core argument posits that the spirit of sports is both a reflection of and a contributor to the ideological superstructures that define different historical epochs. The analysis highlights the transition from viewing sports as communal and ritualistic engagements to mechanisms of capitalist ideology, emphasizing competition and profit. Through this historical and ideological critique, the research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the spirit of sports, challenging traditional perspectives that isolate sports from their socio-economic and ideological contexts. The findings suggest that any discussion about the spirit of sports, particularly in anti-doping debates, must consider the broader ideological forces at play, thereby opening pathways for a more nuanced understanding of sports ethics.

Study on the Path of Integrating Red Culture into Ideological and Political Education in Colleges and Universities in the New Era

Red culture is an advanced culture with Chinese characteristics based on Marxist theory, which has rich educational guidance and is an indispensable material for ideological and political education in colleges and universities. Colleges and universities carry the important functions of talent training and cultural inheritance. Integrating red culture into college ideological and political education is of great significance for improving the effectiveness of college ideological and political work. At present, there still exist difficulties in the aspects of resource development degree, teaching form and teaching content during the integration of red culture into ideological and political education in colleges and universities. Based on this, it can effectively promote the integration of red cultural resources into the ideological and political education of colleges and universities in the new era through in-depth exploration and integration of red cultural resources, the use of new media to innovate teaching forms and encourage students to participate in red cultural practice activities.

THE UBERIZATION AND PRECARIZATION OF NURSING WORK IN THE POST-PANDEMIC CONTEXT: A bibliographic review

The present article constitutes bibliographic research on the work of nurses, emphasizing the context of the covid-19 pandemic and how it relates to the processes of uberization and precarization in the healthcare field. Scientific literature and legal documents addressing these issues were analyzed. Reports on the pandemic situation were also consulted, describing the trajectory of nurses' work within the pandemic context, subsequently examined through the lens of Marxist theory. Considering the theories addressing this topic, it is concluded that the precarization of work in the healthcare sector affects many professionals, specifically workers in the nursing field. Understanding that the phenomenon of precarization has significant potential in the crisis with new facets of contemporary capitalism, this movement has acquired a name, a neologism, uberization, stemming from digital platforms serving capitalist interests, converging towards the biomedical model.

Toward Communism Past Capitalism: From Marxist Theory to Communist Practice

Toward Communism Past Capitalism: From Marxist Theory to Communist Practice

Katniss Everdeen’s Act of Rebellion in the Hunger Games Movie

This study is about the analysis of Katniss Everdeen’s Act of Rebellion in the Hunger Games Movie. This study aims to answer three research questions about Katniss Everdeen’s rebellious actions. The first is what are the causes of Katniss's rebellious actions? The second is what are the effects of Katniss's rebellious actions? The third is what are the types of Katniss's rebellion? In this study, the writer uses qualitative research. The writer uses the theory of Marxism by Karl Marx in Tsoulfidis (2010) and the theory of Rebellion by Kautilya (1986). The finding shows 3 (three) causes of Katniss’ Rebellion. They are resource imbalance, provocation, and social inequalities as key factors. Regarding the effects of Katniss‘ rebellion, the finding shows 2 (two) effects. They are negative and positive impacts. Regarding the types of Katniss‘ rebellion, the writer found 5 (five) types of Katniss‘ Rebellion. They are Non-violent rebellion, Violent rebellion, social rebellion, Political rebellion, and Ideological rebellion.

The Practical Process and Significance of Sinicization of Marxist Theory

The Practical Process and Significance of Sinicization of Marxist Theory

Research on the Education and Communication of Marxist Theory in the New Era

The dissemination of Marxist theoretical education in the new era in border areas has important historical value. As an important component of Marxist theory, the dissemination of Marxist theoretical education in these regions in the new era aims to lead ideology, promote economic and social development, promote national unity and social stability, as well as open exchanges and international cooperation. Through innovative paths such as multimedia technology and internet applications, social media and mobile applications, as well as grassroots preaching and practical education, Marxist theory can be better disseminated and deeply rooted in people's hearts, providing strong theoretical support for the development and progress of border areas.

For Whom Does One Toil? Time Use Differentials, Social Reproduction, and Occupational Prestige

Social reproduction theory builds upon Marxist theories that center on the extent to which labor power is the source of capital’s growth through the exploitation of the working class, providing a unique lens for analyzing how labor power differences may contribute to structural inequity. While research has shown that women and girls are primarily responsible for the majority of unpaid reproductive labor, little research has considered how time spent in unpaid work may also vary by social class position. We utilize nationally representative data from the American Time Use Survey to estimate time use differentials across occupational prestige deciles, separately by gender, to address this question. We find that higher occupational prestige is significantly associated with less time spent on unpaid household labor for women, but not for men. Our results highlight the complex nature of unpaid reproductive work under capitalism, emphasizing the importance of considering social class positions when examining inequities in the unpaid work burden.

The Evolution and Integration of Life and Theory in Foucault's Work on Power.

The article is a response to Kaldybekov and his colleague's, 2024 paper about Foucault's theory on power. I argue that it is difficult to understand Foucault's theory of power without looking into his intellectual life and experiences, especially his war experiences. The objective of my study is to show that there is a connection between Foucault's ideas about power and his own lived life, and that he always has been critical of totalitarian theories although he seems influenced by Marxist theories, early in his career. In the paper I show how he deals with this dilemma by incorporating some of Nietzsche's ideas into his thinking. To illustrate the connection between Foucault's lived life and his theories about power, I take a particular point of departure in Foucault's lecture series on psychiatric power in the 1970s and an interview conducted by the Italian journalist Trombadori.

Baudrillard's Critical Theory of Political Economy

Baudrillard is a famous French postmodern philosopher with a vast array of theories and writings. Based on Baudrillard's reflection on Marx's critique of political economy, the article takes the social and ideological origins of the theory of mimesis as the starting point of the study. Unlike Marx, Baudrillard's theory of mimesis involves a 'model' that appears as the initial form of the mimesis. Baudrillard's argument that the proliferation of mimesis and simulation has led to the demise of the real, and that the real world can be produced through modelling without the need for prototypes, adds a new dimension to reflections on Marx's critical theory of society, and expands the horizons and methodologies of contemporary Marxist research. The paper traces the premise and development of the theory of mimesis by analysing the turn towards consumer society, and presents the specifics of mimesis theory as a whole by keeping in mind Baudrillard's principle of symbolic exchange and his reflections on modern technology. This paper analyses the concept of mimesis based on Baudrillard's later theories, and attempts to explain the specific connotations of mimesis and its related concepts. This paper focuses on three related concepts of mimesis: "mimesis", "hyperreal" and "implosion", and explains in detail the differences between these four concepts on the basis of Baudrillard's work. Based on Baudrillard's work, the differences between these four concepts are explained in detail. Explores the symbolic order, social entities, and media influences in which the concept of "mimesis" occurs.

Begum Rokeya’s Sultana’s Dream: A Marxist Reading

Begum Rokeya’s Sultana’s dream is considered worldwide as a feminist utopian story. However, Sultana’s Dream does not talk aboutwomen’s empowerment and women’s issues only. The story talks about a complete social transformation. It visualizes an ideal country and social system free of hunger, theft, and untimely death. This is a country where people live in harmony with nature. A country whose economic and political affairs are based, not on profit mongering, but on ethical standards. A country which is uncompromising to the imperialists and revolutionary in ideals. Most importantly, this is a country where women take active roles in scientific research, economical activities, country planning and political decisions. Marxism is a philosophy which calls for the transformation of the worn-out society and women’s active participation in all the state’s affairs. The paper aims to show that many Marxist thoughts have been implemented in Begum Rokeya’s imaginary country, ‘Ladyland,’ showcasing a complete social transformation based on perceived Marxist ideals that emphasize equality, justice, and the well-being of all members of society. The article presents an analysis of the Marxist elements in the text through a close reading and comparison to Marxist theory. The article also explores the historical and social context of the author and the text to gain a deeper understanding of the Marxist elements present in the work. Through this analysis, the article presents Begum Rokeya as a Marxist feminist.