Neo-Marxism

Describe two key features of Neo-Marxism.Neo-Marxism is a structural conflict theory. This means it looks at society as a whole. Neo-Marxists are strongly influenced by Marxist theory but reject some aspects of his work. For example, Neo-Marxists argue against economic determinism. This means that they believe that not all aspects of society are determined by the economy. Another key feature of neo-marxism is that the ruling class retain its power bloc by maintaining social oder through hegemony. Hegemony is the domination of one class over others through a combination of political and ideological means. An example of hegemony would be the introduction of the minimum wage. This was introduced in order to appease low paid workers. Descibe one strength and one weakness of neo-marxism.One strength of neo-marxism is that it explains the position of powerful groups within society and how they are able to maintain control. This is explain through hegemony and the power bloc. This then helps to explain the continuance of inequality in society. Neo-Marxism is see as weak in that by recognising the weaknesses of traditional Marxism is, by definition recognising the failure of Marxism to maintain a relevance and by implication neo-Marxism is also irrelevant. 

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