Liberation For the 99%
Some of Marx’s successors, Louis Althusser (1918 -1990) and Antonio Gramsci
(1891-1937) have contributed to expanding his theories more thoroughly. Antonio
Gramsci, a neo-Marxist intellectual, developed his theory of cultural hegemony to
explain the structures of social control within society, arguing that the working
class should develop a counter ideology to undermine the worldview of the ruling
class. 11 Moreover, Louis Althusser, a structuralist Marxist, introduces the terms
“ideological and repressive state apparatus , ” which helps advance his theory of
ideology in his work Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. 12 In other words,
the ruling class uses cultural hegemony to create the means of cultural production
that reinforces bourgeoisie ideals. This includes racist, sexist, homophobic, and
transphobic beliefs that are themselves a form of “false consciousness” because it
represents the ideas of the dominant class rather than coming from the proletarian
class.
The Illusion of Capitalist Reform and Systemic Inequality
In this section of this paper, I outline the framework for my argument that any
attempts to reform the capitalist system will be ineffective because institutionalized
discrimination is a prerequisite for its survival and reproduction. First, it is
important to expand on Marxist feminists’ claims that capitalism has historically
exploited women via unwaged labor at home as well as by exploiting their
reproductive systems since women are the only agents that have the power to create
the labor force by giving birth. Marxist feminist, Shulamith Firestone, sheds light
on this problem in her book The Dialectic of Sex, by arguing that society should
work towards a future where technology can be utilized to combat the exploitation
of women’s reproductive labor by ab olishing pregnancy and liberating women from
the burden of childbirth and freeing both men, women, queer and non-binary folks
11 Antonio Gramsci, Richard Bellamy, and Virginia Cox, Antonio Gramsci: Pre-Prison Writings, 13. 12 Louis Althusser, “ Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses ” in Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, trans. Ben Brewster (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1971).
Volume VI (2023)
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