| This question <1645|1677> overall <1655|1657> SueGirl: <1568|1659>. graded A |
| Question 601: Whenever Marx contemplates both social and individual points of view, he acts as if the social point of view was the true point of view. Is this justified? |
| [1656] SueGirl: The comments of previous students regarding question 601, for instance [1614], have been persuasive, and I originally planned to write in expansion of their arguments. But after reading some of the archived submissions regarding this topic, I have realized that this concept is more complicated than I anticipated. |
| Although Marx may weigh the social point of view more heavily in his analysis than the individual point of view, Marx believes that both the individual and the social are influential forces. As Hans indicated in his Fall 2004 comment [2004fa:521], “the social relations form a system which has its own dynamics, and its structure can and must be understood before one can make sense of the individual actions in this system.” In other words, both points of view are important, but the social is needed to understand the individual in our capitalist system. |
| If our social relations were designed with the individual in mind instead, as Hans suggests a more utopian society would be, then Marx may have weighed the individual point of view more heavily than the social. Apparently in our capitalist society, we are not yet at this stage. |
| Although Marx may be justified in tipping the scale in favor of the social point of view, this is a necessity due to “flaws in our system” (Hans, [2004fa:521]). However, if individuals had more control over their social relations, versus society having control over them, then the scale should be reversed. |
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