SİYASAL DÜŞÜNCE - Deneme Sınavı - 7

Marx’s thoughts on social classes in general include the following notions (Haralambos and Holborn, 1995, p. 33):

As also understood from the information given, Marx’s thoughts on social classes in general include all of the notions in the options, so the correct answer is E.

Although there is a middle class, Marx considers that capitalism tends to condense the capital in the hands of fewer capitalists, to push the middle class towards being proletariat and transform every kind of labor into paid labor. This process is called the polarization of the classes. There are mainly three steps in this process:

Through these three ways, the social classes would gather at two sides; and two main classes would remain. This means that capitalism itself creates the masses that would overthrow it.

As also understood from the information given, the correct answer is E. The statements in the options I, II, III and IV are related to the polarization of the classes according to the political theory of Marx. The statement in the option V is related to the three antecedents or preconditions for the revolution in relation to economic factors, social factors and the creation of class-consciousness for the proletariat.

Anarchy is typically defined as a society without state. Anarchism aims to eliminate the state and liberate people from political domination and economic exploitation. The roots of anarchism can be found in the thoughts of Taoists in ancient China, Greek philosophers, rioters in Middle Age Europe, and the leftists in the English Revolution. But it has become a clear ideology only after the collapse of feudalism. As an ideology “which combined the Renaissance’s growing sense of individualism with the Enlightenment’s belief in social progress”, anarchism emerged at the end of the 18th century (Marshall, 2008, p. 4). Roots of Anarchism as a term lie in the Greek word arché, which means ruling power. An-arche (anarchy) is being without a ruling power, ruler or chief. As also understood from the information given, all of the statements related to anarchism in the options are correct, so the correct answer is E.

Keeping in mind that anarchism is not a homogeneous ideology, there are some notions that Anarchism and Marxism share in common. These are:

As also understood from the information given, all of the statements in the options related to the notions that Anarchism and Marxism share in common are correct, so the correct answer is E.

Pacifist anarchists have a lot of differences among themselves, but they share an important notion of pacifism. All of the pacifist anarchists believe that the use of violence is not a viable way for social change, violence and war are unjustifiable, indefensible and all changes should be made with peaceful means. However, they have different ideas about what these ways should be.

The main difference between the social anarchists and the individualist anarchists is related to individual freedom. Social anarchists aspire for the elimination of the government because they were in belief that government limits the freedom of the people. They are not interested in the freedom of the individual in particular. This is because, according to them, individuals are interrelated and are responsible to each other to some degree. On the other hand, individualist anarchists reject any kind of obligation upon the individual, including this kind of a responsibility as a group norm. Indeed, they do not attain much value to the relationships of individuals with each other.

As also understood from the information given, all of the statements in the options related to the prominent anarchists in the 19th century are correct, so the correct answer is E.

Marx believed that humans express their creativity, develop their humanity, and fulfill themselves through work. However, working conditions in the 19^th century were very difficult for the workers but they had to work to earn their living.

All of the causes and the result alienations are accurate.

They all reflect Marx’s view on surplus value.

For Marx, it was materialism which inspired the dialectic, not spiritualism.

The substructure and the superstructure are the two basic parts of societies. The substructure is the economic system and the material base of a society. The two components of the substructure are the means of production and the relations of production. The means of production are the resources and technology that a society makes use of. The superstructure of the society is composed of all of the non-material institutions in the society (for example religion, government, law, education, art, values and ideology). In every society, the social institutions in the superstructure justify the economic system (the substructure) through values and norms.

In the state of capitalist societies, capitalists do not rule the government themselves, the state and government protect the interests of the capitalists and the capitalist system.

All are part of middle class except those who do not own the means of production and sell their labor to capitalists as they are part of the working class

In popular culture, anarchy is superficially understood as chaos, disorder, the collapse of order, confusion due to lack of state, or violent disorder. However, these are not the aims of anarchists.

Both Marxism and anarchism support the views presented in (b) through (e). The difference between the two views is given in (a). According to Marxism, political organization and political leadership are necessary for working class. However, according to anarchists, political leadership is also a source of oppression such as state itself.

Only (a) correctly reflects Proudhon’s view. In the other choices, the names and the views do not match.

Multi-dimensionality is one of the main features of the contemporary understandings of social justice. It emphasizes the fact that whether a society is just or not cannot be assessed based on one single variable or unit of evaluation.

Plato, in his famous opus, namely the Republic, focuses on “justice” as a central theme and discusses on the identification of justice through its relation to the concept “virtue”. He points out justice in this discussion as a “virtue of individual” that is different from the contemporary understanding of justice as “virtue of institutions”.

Aristotle is considered as one of the founding fathers of the Western Philosophy. He is considered as the preliminary philosopher, who made a distinction between legal justice and social justice that is an idea specified as the beginning of the political philosophy by some scholars.

Scottish philosopher David Hume paved the way toward the idea of utilitarianism. He is also known for his influence on the Western Philosophy, especially through the idea of empiricism, scepticism, and naturalism.

Different from the utilitarian model of social justice that advocates giving priority to the aggregative interests of society, the libertarian model of social justice highlights the importance of certain inalienable rights of an individual, such as earning and holding the private property.