The Influence of Classical Theorists on Contemporary Culture - Assignment Example

? The Influence ical Theorists on Contemporary Culture and Political Movements Overview of the Uncut Story: The UK Uncut Movement started outas a simple gathering of politically-aware, young professionals who only wanted to voice out their respective opinions about current events. However, the discussions gravitated towards politics specifically the massive cuts in public spending as announced by British Chancellor George Osborne. The group decided to express their resistance to this policy by way of supporting corporate tax avoidance starting with a plan to occupy a Vodafone shop in Central London. However, this supposedly insignificant remonstration gave birth to one of the fastest and more successful protest movements in the country. With the aid of social media networking (Twitter) and mounting media interest, their approach of employing peaceful and creative action on this issue of corporate tax avoidance presented a viable alternative to the programme of public spending cuts to the general public. It conveyed a strong message of possible adverse effects against corporate institutions in the UK planning to reduce tax contributions. The fast success of the movement garnered the support and sympathy of ordinary citizens to oppose the unfairness of the cuts and tax evasion tactics of the affluent. Lessons Learned from the Uncut Movement Aside from the glaring injustice of the tax restrictions on public spending, the significant and relevant models that can be seen in this phenomenal development in this example are the fundamental beliefs on economics and social change, class relations of capitalism and the theory of Hegemony. According to Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist philosopher, hegemony is the permeation throughout society of an entire system of values, attitudes, beliefs and morality that has the effect of supporting the status quo in power relations. Hegemony is an organising principle diffused by the process of socialisation into every area of daily life. To the extent that this prevailing consciousness is internalised by the population it becomes part of what is normally known as common sense so that the philosophy, culture and morality of the ruling elite appear as the natural order of things. (Boggs 1976 p.39) This Uncut protest action is a classic example of the concepts of classical thinkers notably Karl Marx, Georg Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel and Gramsci regarding the basic beliefs mentioned earlier. Hegel aptly described the state in modern societies as the highest form of social reason. It represents the culmination of progress through history and the fact that the state is able to integrate self-interested members of civil society, who if left to themselves would be interested only in pursuing the personal goals of personal enrichment. (Callinicos, 2007 p.46) Karl Marx has a relevant discourse that elucidates the circumstances surrounding the reaction of the people towards the matter of reductions in public expenditures and tax avoidance by the moneyed sector. The economic basis of the social order must be seen as a complex totality made up of relationships between different elements engaged in production. “The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.” (Morrison, Marx, Weber and Durkheim, 2006, pp. 214-216)) It is also important to discern the theory of Symbolic Interactionism which connotes a key sociological perspective that puts emphasis on micro-scale social interaction, which is particularly crucial in sub-fields like urban and social psychology. Blumer (1969, pp. 2 - 6) identifies the three basic premises of the perspective which are: “Humans act towards things on the basis of the meanings they ascribe to those things; the meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with others and society; and, these meanings are handled in, and modified through an interpretative process used by the person in dealing with the things he or she encounters.” The conflicting interests of social classes – the bourgeois against aristocracy are best explained by Calhoun regarding postulations of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that a strict, causal and mechanical relation between ideas and society: ideas do not exist as independent elements but represent the interests of particular social classes. Hence Marx and Engels described ideas as a form of ideology inseparable from the social class that produces them. For example, the political ideas of liberalism were seen by Marx as representing the interests of the bourgeois class against the aristocracy, ideas are ideological expressions of class interest. (2007) In rounding up the assessment of the Uncut protest movement, it is of big help that we are able to perceive clearly Weber’s doctrine regarding the so-called Iron Cage of Rationality in Modern Society. Weber opines that mankind lives within an iron cage of rationality. “People are being ensnared by this development of rationality. However, the most negative truth is, there seems no way out of it. To explain the reason behind his contention, we need to determine what is meant by rationality and the factors related to it such as bureaucracy, the progression of rationalization and disenchantment.” (1947, p. 109) Weber argued that modernity was about the triumph of narrow rationality over all other forms of action. In modern capitalist society efficiency has become the dominant motive. It has turned out to be more important than tradition, emotion or principles. Overview of the Revolution in Egypt and the Fall of Murabak: This article about the fall of Egyptian strongman Murabak underscores the fight of the Egyptian people for their freedom from the clutches of tyranny and the feeling of happiness brought about by their success. It also accentuates the need to rebuild and protect the essence of their revolution. The effort of the Egyptian people needs to be preserved for they were the ones responsible in the removal of the oppressive regime, power bases, laws and traditions that for so long exploited the masses and humiliated the revered institutions of Egypt to serve the interests only of a small minority. The author gave emphasis to the fact that the interests of the entire nation must be served. The words of the writer, “The world has been watching this struggle between a tenacious, brutal and corrupt government and a great and varied body of citizens, armed with nothing but words and music and legitimacy and hope. The support of the world came through to us loud and clear, and what has happened here over the last two weeks will give voice and power to civilian citizens everywhere” (Ahdaf Souhief), is a fitting description of this revolution. People Power in Egypt The People Power Revolution that toppled Egyptian strongman Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a classic example of revolutions that happened all over the world wherein the people played a leading role in the ouster of their political leaders. However, what is more important here is the concept of social class and class struggle highlighted by Karl Marx and his Theory of Social Change. Marx introduced a probabilistic element into his theory of social change: for if social change occurs solely at the system level, it works through determining laws that allow for prediction on outcomes. But if human action is included, then change is far less deterministic and predictable. Marx defines society as a system in which objective laws operate independently of, and frequently against, the will of individuals. Yet capitalism makes possible human practice, control and planning, and the active intervention of the human agent in historical development. Marx and Engels also argue in The Communist Manifesto that capitalism will produce its own grave diggers in the revolutionary proletariat. (Craib, Chapters 4 and 12, 1997) The Conflict Theory of Marx and Weber, which is one of the principal sociological models for understanding the social world is also very relevant to this monumental event in contemporary times. It will be very helpful to get a basic understanding of the three components of this theory: The first is that conflict is a common and ongoing feature of society and the most fundamental facet of social life. The second is that society is composed of social groups that have conflicting values and interests. The third states that all societal conflict occurs between dominant and subordinate social groups that are in competition over resources. The conflict perspective was developed in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and is primarily associated with both Karl Marx and Max Weber.  Karl Marx used two groups in the conflict theory. The Capitalist class owns and controls the means of production, while they also see the distribution of the goods or services. The Capitalist class is also known as the dominant group while the working class provides the labor necessary to produce the goods and services. Max Weber also asserted that society is an arena of conflict and struggle over resources between dominant and subordinate groups. However, Weber argues that there are many status groups in a society which possess varying degrees of social power. Meanwhile, Trucker concentrates on issues related to capitalism and class struggle in the context of the contemporaneous questions of democracy, disciplinary society and the problem of fragmentation of civil society. (2002) Within the context of social change, what happened in Egypt is what Durkheim explained that social change is the transformation in the social morphology or structure of social relations that links individuals into a coherent entity or society and the moral structure or the body of laws, norms, and sanctions that regulate social life. (1982, p.53) Social change is at the center of the foundation of sociology as a discipline and the preoccupation with social change prompted sociologists to conceive developmental schemes to account for the transformation of society. Conclusion It is just right to look at the two unique events in two different countries from the perspective not only of political revolutions but of social change brought about by contrasting beliefs, ideologies, economics and thirst for power. In terms of the sociological theories, it can be seen as something that is related to the engagement with social change which is a difficult task. There are the problems of achieving a suitable perspective and of satisfactorily appreciating the consequences of developing trends. The transformations in contemporary society have been perceived to require a certain rupture with preceding views of social change and the adoption of rather different modes of sociological theorising. The Experience in London is more of a peaceful experience but lays emphasis on the bitter economic struggle between classes while the recent uprising in Egypt shows what the united act of people can do or achieve against tyranny and armed might. Reference List Boggs, C 1976, Gramsci’s Marxism, Pluto Press, London. Blumer, H 1962, Society as Symbolic Interaction. In: A. Rose, ed. Human Behavior and Social Process: An Interactionist Approach. Houghton-Miffin. (pp. 2 - 6) Reprinted in Blumer (1969). Calhoun, C, ed. 2007. Classical Sociological Theory. Oxford, Blackwell Publishing. Callinicos, A 2007 Social Theory. Cambridge, Polity Press, p. 46. Craib, I 1997 Classical Social Theory. Oxford, Oxford University Press, Chapters 4 and 12. Durkheim, E 1982. The Rules of Sociological Method. In: S. Lukes, ed. New York, The Free Press, p.53. Gramsci, A 1971. Selections from the Prison Notebooks, Lawrence and Wishart, London Morrison, K. Marx, K. Durkheim, E. and Weber, M. 2006. Formations of Modern Social Thought, London, Sage (pp. 215-216). Tucker, J 2002. Classical Social Theory: A Contemporary Approach. Canadian Journal of Sociology, January – February, 2003. Weber, M 1947. The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. Translated by Henderson and Parsons, New York, 1947 (p. 109). Read More