Test Question

KEYCONCEPTS/.ASSL~ONS IN POL mc.u.ECONO}.lY

How human society bcgius: the primacy of pmdUaioo pmce:ss.

In OMer ro survive. human beings IDU$t procJua;

Production = modification of narure; 'Nothing is mOle unnatucaI t.bm natun: in its natual foun'

Product:ioo Process by human beings - two features:

a) Use of tools fa necessity due ro the mcxphoIogial cbaracteristics/limitatioas ofbuman beings];

human beings. not only the tool usgs. but also the tooI"makers.

b) production is not an individual. but a cooperative exme

Cooperation;

Coopctation requires communication;

which gives tise to language;

moreover, cooperation requUes noJ:lJlS to regulate intecpe:tsonal relations and social bonds.

Three Features of Political Economy

iJ Materialism: in Poltial Economy, when we talk of society, we include not only human beings in

relation to one another. but human beings and their 'matcs:W conditions'.

Material conditions = Natural environment and tools.

It's not that Sociology is UDaw:m: of ~e significance of the material conditions, but its conceptual

scheme to define social strucrure and change does not include the material conditions [acepting technology in a

limited sense).

In Political Economy, the Dl3terial conditions and hWJWl relations ate intrinsically connected - hence

the name matcriaJism.

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iI] Dialetics: another signi6C:mt feature P~Political Economy dialectics [wbich is an apptoach).

DiaJectiaI approach bas three assumptions:

. a] The ~"S[em [i.e.. social stmcture] msas as a Ewk;

b] Th~ ::ystem is COQstUJdr mann c] The chilQ~ in the $ptem is cat!$ed primaribr by tbeiiumw factors, ie, the principal source of

c:lwlge.is fowltl in the intemal COntIadictioDS [of the System).

iij Hb-ro.rical: because society is cOos12ntly cbmging. it can only be studied historically;

historic::d specificity - an essential dement o.fPo.Jirical Economy;

What is historical specificity? the toWity of ID2terial conditions and htlID2n relations and ideas at a given

point of time in a giVen place; .

Hence; in Political Economy, there's no.thing like 'human society' [in genetaIJ as such, 12ther, a '§pt;Ci6c'

~ [specific in teons of time and space].

Now, if you combine the al»ve three features, you get a proper view of Political Econmy, i.e.,

Dialectical and HistoriCil Materialism.

MODE OF PRODUCTION

The [analyticaIJ tam used in Political Econo.my to. deno.te the to.tality of material Co.nditions and human

relatio.ns and- ideas at a particular point o.f time and place is not society o.r social structme, but a Mode of

Production.

Mode o.fProduction consists of a) the base [InfrastIUcnlfe] and, b] the supetstructw:e..

A) Base: it consists o.f two. elements:

ij the means of production - natutal resow:ces and technology.

ill the relations of productio.n consist of the relationship with the means o.f production. that i.... the

system of OWDeIShip and control [access to.] the means of production;

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anti the !eIatioos among human beings that an: deta:mined by their ftI:atioDsbip with the means of

plOducti()o.

Thus. in a society where the means of production ate owned and contmDed commuoaUy" aQowing

r:vet:y member of the community an equal a~ the rd2tions among members of the o>mmunity wiD be equal

On the contr.uy. in a society with differential access to the mcaris of production. the members of the society will

be divided into unequal groups - those who own and control the means of production, and others who -do ouL

BJ Superstructure:: it consists of the political relations. social' institutions (eg. &may. neighbowhoodJ.

and ideology;

PRIMACY OF TIlE RELATIONS OF PRODUCTION IN A MODE OFPRODUCIlON:

Between the means of production and the relations of production, relations of production are primary;

a particular mode of productioo is chancterized primarily in teans of the ~ relations of

production;

thus, the four modes production (primitive Communism. Slavery, Feudalism. Capitalism] are

characterized by four specific fonDS of production relations.

MODES OF PRODUCTION AND 1HE SIGNIFICANCE OF a..ASS: CLASSLESS AND a..ASS

SOCIETIES

Band and Tribal societies belong to Primitive Communism. it; they are classless societies, while the rest

are class societies.

[More about class later 00 - when we discuss the stratification in band societies].

A WORD ABour IDEOLOGY [TIlE SYS1EM OF IDEAS]

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Ideas or coosciousncss - DOt independent of the material conditions;

ideru; do Qotpro(Juce human beings, ather. hUDWl beings produce their~

they produce .ideas the.~ w::ay they produce linen/steel; in other wonls, ideas :are not independent of

the general process of production. .'

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