Chapter 2: Karl Marx (1818–1883)

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. According to Marx, the people who hold power in a capitalist system are the ______.

A. proletariat

B. bourgeoisie

C. academicians

D. propertied class

Ans: B

2. Marx defines classes as groups of individuals who share a common position in relation to ______.

A. their religious affiliation

B. how they interpret the world

C. the forces of production

D. how they consume products

Ans: C

3. For Marx, which of the following is the primary driver of social change?

A. forces of production

B. bourgeoisie

C. alienation

D. class struggle

Ans: D

4. Marx refers to wage earners and unpropertied laborers as the ______.

A. proletariat

B. bourgeoisie

C. capitalists

D. working class

Ans: A

5. Marx uses the term “class consciousness” to refer to ______.

A. the workers’ awareness of their conditions

B. the alienation of the working class

C. the false ideology of the working class

D. the bourgeoisie’s sense of entitlement

Ans: A

6. Karl Marx’s basic theoretical orientation would fall under the category of ______.

A. nonrational, collective

B. nonrational, individual

C. rational, individual

D. rational, collective

Ans: D

7. According to Marx’s materialist conception of history, a person’s consciousness stems from ______.

A. the fetishism of commodities

B. one’s level of authority

C. one’s class position

D. the ownership of property

Ans: C

8. When Marx argues that consciousness comes from one’s class position, he is challenging whose theory?

A. Antonio Gramsci

B. Friedrich Engels

C. Georg Hegel

D. Thorstein Veblen

Ans: C

9. Marx defines ______ as the separation of workers from the products that they make.

A. class struggle

B. forces of production

C. alienation

D. proletariat

Ans: C

10. According to Marx, what is the “supreme good” that gives people power?

A. capitalism

B. money

C. authority

D. alienation

Ans: B

11. Marx states that the capitalist class will produce its own “grave-diggers,” which refers to the ______.

A. bourgeoisie

B. capitalists

C. class-conscious proletariat

D. owners of capital

Ans: C

12. When considering labor, Marx argues that the essential relationship to consider is that of ______ to ______.

A. the bourgeoisie; the proletariat

B. the worker; production

C. consciousness; alienation

D. intelligence; labor

Ans: B

13. According to Marx, what will happen when the productive forces yield too many goods and products?

A. The proletariat will improve their living conditions.

B. The proletariat will need to work fewer hours.

C. The bourgeoisie will continue to become wealthier.

D. The bourgeoisie will risk being overthrown.

Ans: D

14. How are the communists different from other working-class groups?

A. They aim to peacefully replace the bourgeoisie.

B. They understand that workers of all nationalities face the same problems.

C. They want to include the bourgeoisie in the new political structure.

D. They do not want to abolish private property.

Ans: B

15. The difference between what workers earn for their daily labor and the value of what they make is known as ______ value.

A. use

B. surplus

C. exchange

D. private

Ans: B

16. Marx argues that fetishizing commodities results in ______.

A. the emergence of class consciousness

B. workers becoming critical of technology

C. viewing goods as capable of transforming us

D. increased surplus value of those commodities

Ans: C

17. According to Marx, the value of commodities is determined primarily by ______.

A. the usefulness of the commodity

B. how long it takes to make the commodity

C. the level of exploitation experienced by the worker

D. how many are needed to exchange for private property

Ans: B

18. The cycle of exchange for the typical wage earner as outlined by Marx resembles which pattern?

A. M—C—M

B. M—C—M—C

C. C—M—C

D. C—M—C—M

Ans: C

19. Marx considers raw materials, machinery, and money to all be examples of ______.

A. commodities

B. goods

C. capital

D. surplus

Ans: C

20. Why did Marx frequently move to new countries?

A. o escape anti-Semitism

B. to accept better jobs

C. because his friends asked him to

D. because governments disliked his beliefs

Ans: D

21. Extensive revolts by workers and peasants occurred in ______.

A. 1840

B. 1845

C. 1848

D. 1851

Ans: C

22. How did Apple respond when The New York Times exposed the poor working conditions of overseas laborers?

A. They implemented new policies to ensure worker safety.

B. The CEO received a raise.

C. They promised to raise laborers’ wages.

D. The CEO stepped down in protest.

Ans: B

23. Which theorist offered a critique of the leisure class?

A. Friedrich Engels

B. Karl Marx

C. Antonio Gramsci

D. Thorstein Veblen

Ans: D

24. According to Gramsci, the ideas of the ruling class play a significant role in establishing ______.

A. capitalism

B. materialism

C. hegemony

D. alienation

Ans: C

25. Hegel defines ______ as the ongoing conversation between opposing ideas.

A. the dialectical process

B. consciousness

C. ideological ownership

D. alienation

Ans: A

True/False

1. Marx believed that capitalism was morally good but economically untenable.

Ans: F

2. Marx believed that capitalism was a necessary stage in the transition toward socialism.

Ans: T

3. The superstructure refers to all noneconomic institutions in a society.

Ans: T

4. Marx argues that it is the struggle between classes that leads to change in society.

Ans: T

5. The dominant economic class controls only a society’s means of material production.

Ans: F

6. From Marx’s perspective, the “grave-diggers” of the bourgeoisie are a class-conscious proletariat.

Ans: T

7. Capitalists derive their profit from the surplus value workers earn for them.

Ans: T

8. Marx wanted his theories to be used to interpret and to change the world.

Ans: T

9. Competition in a capitalist market allows for wealth to be distributed across many owners.

Ans: F

10. The proletariat consists of far more people than the bourgeoisie.

Ans: T

11. According to Marx, under capitalism, workers become commodities.

Ans: T

12. Private property is a primary cause of estranged labor.

Ans: F

13. The proletariat can recruit members from shopkeepers and tradesmen.

Ans: T

14. Once established, the value of a commodity does not change.

Ans: F

15. After receiving his doctorate, Marx began an academic career.

Ans: F

16. According to Marx, the first example of property is found in the nuclear family.

Ans: T

17. The Communist Manifesto supports public education for children.

Ans: T

18. A worker can become estranged from her work but not from herself.

Ans: F

19. According to Marx, money allows a person to take an idea and make it a reality.

Ans: T

20. For Marx, the critical division of labor is that between mental and material labor.

Ans: T

21. “Species being” refers to the capacity of individuals to be creative.

Ans: T

22. One example of alienation is the social distance between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.

Ans: F

23. To gain a profit, one would want to be in the M—C—M cycle of exchange.

Ans: T

24. Marx argues that the idea of freedom stems from the development of capitalism.

Ans: T

25. Workers generally hold capitalists accountable for changing the speed of production.

Ans: F

Essay

1. What role does private property play in Marx’s discussion of the inevitable communist revolution?

2. What role does class consciousness play in the evolution of society, according to Marx?

3. According to Marx’s materialist conception of history, what is the relationship between property and ideas or consciousness?

4. Explain the following types of estrangement under capitalism, using concrete examples: worker from production, worker from products of labor, and worker from himself or herself.

5. Explain the three factors that constitute the alienation of labor.

6. What does Marx mean when he writes that “money is thus the object of eminent possession?”

7. Discuss Marx’s concept of “the fetishism of commodities” from Capital.

8. Think about how you’ve heard people discuss Marx in everyday conversation. Are common understandings of Marx’s works correct? Be specific.

9. Define Hegel’s dialectical process. Explain its significance in relation to Marx’s theory of history and to Marx’s basic theoretical orientation.

10. Define Marx’s concept of “species being.” Discuss its significance in relation to his concept of alienation.

11. Explain in detail Marx’s general formula for capital. In your explanation, define and relate the connection that commodities and surplus value have to the general formula.

12. Explain Marx’s line “a commodity is therefore a mysterious thing simply because in it the social character of men’s labour appears to them as an objective character stamped upon the product of that labour.”

13. Explain how the forces of production shape social classes.

14. According to The Communist Manifesto, what must happen for the proletariat to overthrow the bourgeoisie? And what will be the consequences of that revolution?

15. According to Marx, how did the division of labor develop, and what are the consequences of that division?