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Compare and contrast Pluralist and Marxist theories of the state – which is more compelling?

Conclusion

Marxist approach to the State

Karl Marx

1818-1883

Pluralist and Marxist theories main desagreement concerns the way power is measured:

  • Pluralist simplistic way indicates the observation and analysis of the decision making behaviour of the groups with the most democratic account of the state as a decision making by society.
  • Marxist views power by workers as their only tangible power, that of labor. The true value of a product can be measured by the number of labour hours required to produce it.
  • Power is determined by one’s relationship to the means of production.

According to Marx : “ Every form of society have been based on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressed classes”.

Marx reject the basis of the traditional liberal thought which sees the individual as acting alone or with a groups to pursue his personal interest. According to him it is impossible to discuss any individuals without taking into account their relationship to the mode of production. Hence, Individualist psycology and politics are rejected by Marxs, and according to him, the economic and political power belong to the same actor, the dominant class.

Marxs explanation of the relationship of politics to economics is to be found in his preface of the Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy :

“ Legal relations as well as form of state have their roots in the material condition of life. The mode of production of material life condition the social, political and intellectual life process in general.“

Marxs also see society as competitive. But according to him,

Marxist approach of the State

Which approach is the more compelling ?

Competition in society is determined by the struggle bewtween the two major classes :

Since the economic structure is the basis of the political structure of society, the idea that the State is neutral is completly rejected. On the contrary, Marx see the State as an instrument of the dominant class.

In Engels’s formulation: “ The State in all typical periods is exclusively the state of the ruling class, and in all cases remains enssentially a machine for keeping down the opressed, exploited class.”

The Marxist approach of the State argues that the State will remain an instrument of oppression until the proletarian revolution eliminates all class dinstiction by eliminating capitalism. He sees the state as vital to capitalism, since it provides companies with legal frameworks.

The aboliton of private ownership and the elimination of class dinstinction can lead to a a self regulated society.

Which, as Engels said, “ Will organise production on the basis of a free and equal association of the producers”, and “ put the whole machinery of State where it will then belong : to the Museum of Antiquities”.

  • Democracies have chosen the liberal-pluralist approach of the state to define their societies.
  • It is argued that because of some of its enconomic and social aspects Marxist theories are not pertinent anymore to describe society.
  • Moreover, the end of the cold war and the fall of the Soviet Union has tended to discredit Marxist theories.

  • However, the most powerful groups of interests are not always acting in favour of the common good.

The ruling class (capitalist) who owns the means of production

opressing

and the ruled (Workers) who owns nothing but their labour force

opressed

Bibliography :

  • Books :
  • Coleman, S., & Blumler, J.G. (2009). The internet and democratic citizenship: Theory, practice and policy (vol 1). Cambridge University Press. Chapter 7
  • Dunne, T. Kurki, M. Smith, S. (2013). International Relations Theories, discipline and diversity (ed). Oxford University Press.
  • McLennan, Gregor. (1989). Marxism, Pluralism and Beyond. Polity Press, Cambridge.​
  • McNair, B. (2001). An introduction to political communication. Taylor & Francis. Chapter 2
  • Stepan, Alfred. (2001). Arguing Comparative Politics. Oxford chapter 2
  • Vincent, Andrew.(1987). Theories of the State. Basil Blackwell
  • Web :
  • The Social Studies Help Centre. [1996] http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/APGOV_pluralism.htm. Access: 10-10-2015
  • The Library of economics and Liberty.[2008] http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Marxism.html, Access: 12-10-2015
  • The Guardian, George Monbiot, 2006, The denial industry; 2011, The need to protect the internet from 'astrofurfing' grows ever more urgent.

Comparison between the two approaches

Thank you !!!!!!

Marxist approach

Pluralist approach

Maude Paillard - Coyette Carmen Lang

&

Questions ?

Power is determined by one's standing in relationship to the means of production.

Power is widely dispersed within society.

Political and economical powers are separated.

Who has power ?

The dominant class hold the whole economic and polical power:

-they own the means of production

-the state serves their interests only

Group of interests

The two major classes

Who are the Key actors in society ?

Pluralist approach of the state in practice

The state is neutral and acts as a mediator between interest groups competing for power in society.

What is the role of the state in the struggle for power between key actors ?

Differents interests groups such as :

The state is not neutral.

It acts as an instrument of oppression serving the intersts of the dominant class to control the exploited class.

Competition in society is determied by the struggle between the two major classes.

No group is always supreme and win all the time, which creates a "balance of power".

Only revolution (and thus communism) can bring equality between the two major classes.

Pluralist theory map

equality between key actors in society

Power

Big companies support lobby groups to defend their interests.

Main stream media

For example, sponsors more than a thousand lobby companies.

In the Uk the lobbying agencies are mostly conected to the conservative parties.

However, big companies interests are not always compatible with the common good. In some cases, lobby group are even pay to manipulate public opinion against their own good:

As an example, Philip Morris, the largest tobacco firm in the world, had devied a strategy for dealing with the passive smoking report , so they will portray the danger of tobacco smoke as just one unfounded fear among others.

Community

Social movements

Hence, the most powerful groups in society are not always acting for the good of society.

Pluralist approach of the State

Criticism of the Pluralist appoach

Criticism of the Marxist approach of the State

Pluralist model : The most numerous

the group the stronger it is

  • There are other sources of power in nowadays society. It can be argued that some people have political power without possessing any factual economic power, and on the other hand some wealthy individuals hold no political power at all. Social connections, for example, are not taken into account by Marx.
  • Power is decentralised

Economic and political power are independent from each other and both widely dispersed within society.

  • Groups of interests are the main actors in society

Individuals with similar interests may form into groups. According to liberal-pluralist theories, those groups are the main actors in the the political process.

They compete with each other for power in society by putting pressure on the State in order to influence the decision making process in their favour.

Hence, public policy emerges from competion among groups.

However, because they have a variety of different interests (religious, economic, professional, ethnic, or cultural among others) they tend to associate themselves with numerous groups whose interests overlap.

The State is neutral. Which means that it does not favour any group uppon another, nor serve its own interests. Instead, it is expected to act as a mediator between different groups in their struggle for power in society.

  • Since no group is always supreme, this creates a 'balance of power' in society.

Coalition of like minded people

  • In practice, both economic and political power are not widely dispersed within society.

  • Group of interests also have elites. Hence, only the most powerful members have a real chance to play a role in the decision making process. One can wonder how representative they really are.

  • Some Group of inerests are way more powerful than others.

Unions:

Labor groups promote policies that benefit workers

grassroots activism may hold marches and rallies to brig attention to their cause.

  • One One of the main criticisms of the Marxist approach is concerned with his class-based theory.

It is argued that class consciousness, whether upper or lower class, is not relevant anymore since individuals may belong to different social groups (such as a Church, an economic institution, associations, activity group and so on and so forth). These social groups may influence individuals's indentities more than their economic class, like religion or ethnicity, and shape their interests according to their precepts.

Business lobbyist:

Concentrate in issues of business interests.

Professional associations:

Lobbyist that promote the interest of their members.

Compare and contrast Pluralist and Marxist theories of the state –

which is more compelling?

1 - Introduction of the Pluralist approach of the State

2 - Introduction of the marxist approach of the state

3- Comparision between the two approaches

4- Criticism of both approaches

5 - Conclusion - Which approach is more compelling ?

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