Marx’s Social Theory

Class Essays Autumn 2008

Class essays should be around 1500 words.

Questions:

  1. What does Marx see as the origin of the alienation of labour?

  2. To what extent does Wage Labour and Capital provide theoretical foundations for Marx and Engels's analysis of the logic of historical development in the Communist Manifesto?

  3. Assess Wage Labour and Capital as a critique of Smith's Wealth of Nations?

  4. Compare Marx's analysis of the value form in Capital with the ideas developed in his comments on James Mill

  5. Compare Marx's theory of commodity fetishism with his theory of alienation.

Spring 2009

  1. Why is Marx's theory of value a critique of political economy?

  2. Is the length of the working day determined by the class struggle?

  3. What is the significance of Marx's account of the development of the capitalist labour process for his critique of political economy?

  4. How valid is Marx's 'General Law of Capitalist Accumulation'?

  5. Discuss Marx’s analysis of the forms of appearance of surplus value in Volume III of Capital as a critique of political economy.

  6. What is the significance of Marx’s critique of the trinity formula for the theory of class?