Glossary: Socialism Heather Bartlett Bourgeoisie: The middle class.

In Marxist philosophy, the bourgeoisie is the class that owns the means of production and whose only societal concern is to acquire more capital (Wealth). Capital: Any asset that goes into the production of wealth, goods and services. Charles Fourier (1772-1837): A French philosopher and thinker, Fourier was a staunch supporter of womens rights, and is credited with coining the term feminism. Fourier characterized poverty as the chief cause of disharmony in society, and he proposed the inception of a minimum wage to help the poor. He was a vehement critic of 19th century industrial-capitalist civilization, and he proposed that people could live in socialist, utopian communities called Phalanxes. Civilization: Human development at its most advanced stage. Dialectics: The practice of arriving at truth by discussing and incorporating opposing ideas. The Hegelian conception of dialectics is essentially a triad: The thesis is a proposition The antithesis negates the thesis The synthesis reconciles the thesis and the antithesis, thus forming a new thesis. The process continues and repeats Dialectical Materialism: The theoretical foundation of Karl Marxs work, dialectical materialism is the theory that all history is really a conflict between those who have (the bourgeoisie) and those who dont have (the proletariat). A dialectical interpretation of history implies that history is a slow evolutionary process constantly progressing forward, rather than a cycle spinning on its axis for all eternity. Marx saw communism as a means of breaking this cycle. Marx

adopted the Hegelian thesis-antithesis-synthesis triad to form his own dialectic: Thesis: communal ownership + poverty (primitive communism) Antithesis: private ownership + wealth (all human history from slavery to capitalism) Synthesis: communal ownership + wealth (final stage of communism) George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831): A German philosopher, Hegels conception of the laws of dialectics had a great influence on Karl Marx and Frederick Engels ideas. Historical Materialism Historical materialism is a socioeconomic theory that states that material conditions are the most influential factor in how a society is organized. To quote Engels, the materialist conception of history starts from the proposition that the production of the means to support human life and, next to production, the exchange of things produced, is the basis of all social structure, and this is apparent throughout history. Institution: Established law or practice. Means of Production: All capital assets used in the production of wealth. For example: tools, factories, machines, etc. Mode of Production: The way society is designed to produce good and services. It is a combination of: The forces of production: All the elements brought in together to produce. May those elements be land, raw materials, machines, human labour, etc. The relations of production: The relations between people and their work, and the relations between different socioeconomic classes. For example: The Capitalist Mode of Production is characterized by The private ownership of the means of production The exploitation of the lower class by the upper class A wage-based labour system (an agreement where workers sell their labour for money).

 The distribution of goods and services in a free and open market place. Proletariat: The working class who lack ownership of the means of production. They must sell out their labour in order to survive in a capitalist world. Robert Owen (1771-1858): A British social reformer and one of the founders of utopian socialism.