JCWorld Wikia:Lesson 3 The Marxist Theory and Social Constructivism

Marxist Theory Cont.
(Opiate means drug. And masses means people.)
 * "Religion is the opiate of the masses."
 * "Philosophers have only interpreted the world in different ways, the point, however, is to change it."
 * Marx believed everyone should be active in overwhelming capitalist states, and introducing communist society.

Marxist's hierarchy


Top: Money

Second: the aristocracy(bourgeoisie)

Third: the church/the clergy

Forth: the military

Fifth: middle class/workers (white collar)

Bottom: the proletariat (blue collar)

Marx attacked capitalism, but aroun d 19th century when he claimed the theory, the United States was not a superpower.

Instead, European countries such as U.K., France, and Spain were the big players.

East India Company

The biggest company in the 1850s, responsible for 50% of world trade. The company owned by the aristocrats who are closely connected to king or queen.

Wallenstein's World Systems Theory
There are three types of social groups in this theory.

1. Core: dominant capitalist countries which exploit the peripheral countries for labor and raw materials

2. Semi Peripheral: countries that share characteristics of both core and peripheral

3. Peripheral: countries that are dependent on core countries for capital and have underdeveloped industry.



Key points
 * Globalization is not new, and it is just an expansion of capitalism.
 * Global exploitation is always existed and closely connected to global business, but only the awareness is growing.
 * The nature of global business: the rich people get richer from the work of poor people. "Rich people exploiting the poor people"
 * Capitalism is Fat and Ugly... for one person to be fat and many other people suffering.

Social Constructivism

 * The Berlin Wall(1961-1989):East and West Germany divided, and Berlin was the ideological battleground of capitalism(=Liberalism) and communism(=Marxism).
 * Ultimately, it was civil unrest, not foreign politicians.
 * It believes that human agency possesses a much greater potential role in world politics than implied by realism and liberalism: we have the ability to act and change the world, we can control the reality, individuals create their own realities, we control our behavior.
 * Reality is constructed through human activity, people interacting with each other and other subjects in the environment.
 * Human agency is important for progress and for betterment of people's lives.Social-constructivism.jpeg

Key Beliefs
 * Society is complex and always changing.
 * Our role in society is related to other people; negotiated with othe rs - it isn't fixed.
 * There is no fixed reality / status quo.
 * There are possibilities for humanity to improve itself.

Quotes
Language and culture are the frameworks through which humans experience, communicate, and understands reality. – Lev Vygotsky

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. - Benjamin Franklin

You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself. - Galileo