short essay on marxist criticism

12 Texts for Introducing Marxist Criticism

Instructional and Assessment Strategies , Reading Instruction

When my students study literary criticism , I usually introduce Marxist criticism after feminist criticism . In part, I introduce these two lenses in close order because they are both political lenses. They’re not political in the sense of partisan politics. But they both deal with how literature navigates issues of power and privilege.

However, I usually introduce Marxist criticism after feminist criticism because students stumble over the “Marxist” title. Students know Karl Marx from their social studies classes. And they know about communism from reading The Crucible . Sometimes that leads students to believe that Marxist criticism is all about communism. So I spend a lot of time upfront addressing this misunderstanding.

From that point forward, we apply Marxist criticism by evaluating how social class and privilege intersect. At the high school level, I work to keep criticism as straightforward as possible. In other words, we’re asking these questions over and over:

First, what social classes or hierarchies appear in the text?
Second, which characters have privilege? What does privilege look like in the text? How does access to or distance from privilege affect a character?
Similarly, how does the text treat characters from various social classes? How does membership in a particular social class affect a character’s actions and/or how they are treated by other characters?

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Introducing Marxist Criticism

At the high school level, students don’t need all the vocabulary of Marxist criticism. However, the concept of “privilege” is so closely related to Marxist criticism that we always explore this term. Most of my students are at least familiar with the concept of privilege even if they can’t define it. For this reason, the essay “ Privileged ” by Kyle Korver can be a good text for introducing and unpacking this term.

Oftentimes, I find short works to be useful in exploring a new concept. The brevity of poetry can make it ideal for exploring a new idea. To practice applying Marxist criticism, teachers might consider “ Richard Cory ” by Edwin Arlington Robinson. This poem has a straightforward “plot.” The content of the poem is also high interest, so students will be engaged. Then, students can practice applying Marxist criticism to explore the relationship between Richard Cory and the speaker. Grab “Richard Cory” and two more of Robinson’s most-famous poems in this great bundle !

Additionally, a short story like “ A Worn Path ” by Eudora Welty is a good tool for practicing Marxist criticism. For one, this is a short short story, and the plot is clear and easy to follow. Furthermore, social class plays a clear role in how the main character is treated and how she interacts with the white, urban world. Read it here .

Short Stories

Short stories are the primary way that I teach students to apply literary criticism. These three short stories provide readers with plenty of opportunities to evaluate how social class and privilege affect a text’s meaning.

First, “ A White Heron ” by Sarah Orne Jewett is straightforward enough that students can usually read the story independently. Then, students can apply literary criticism with a partner or small group. Read it here .
Second, “ Berenice ” by Edgar Allan Poe may seem like an unusual suggestion. However, this text is high interest, and the main character’s life would be wildly different if he didn’t have privilege. He simply could not have gotten away with his crimes if his social class didn’t protect him. Read it here .
Finally, “ Winter Dreams ” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the longest short story on this list. My students usually enjoy this story because the main characters are so infuriating! The social classes of the main characters play a clear part in their interactions. Of the texts mentioned so far, this is the only one with a character actively working to advance his social class. This text also lends itself to feminist criticism . Read it here .

Grab all my lesson plans for these short stories plus “A Worn Path” and lessons for 5 other short stories in the 9-12 Short Stories Bundle !

Longer Works

Longer texts take more time to read, so I usually incorporate longer works after we have tried different critical lenses. I also like to choose texts that lend themselves to a variety of critical lenses. All the longer works on this list would be good candidates for historical criticism , too! Exploring the intersection of history and literature also adds another layer of complexity to Marxist criticism.

First, The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an ideal candidate for applying several critical lenses. The allegory for McCarthyism lends itself to historical criticism. Also, Miller makes it clear that social class plays an important part in the Salem Witch Trials. Check out my favorite activities for teaching The Crucible .
Similarly, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the first texts I think of when discussing Marxist criticism. The symbolism of East and West Egg and the Valley of Ashes lends itself beautifully to evaluating the role of social class and privilege in the text. These are my favorite activities for teaching The Great Gatsby .
Additionally, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is not a text I usually associate with literary criticism. However, social class is an unavoidable part of teaching and reading this novel. The text also covers issues related to race and gender, so it suits a variety of critical lenses. I also pair To Kill a Mockingbird with a variety of related texts that provide a richer view of Maycomb.
Finally, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is a text that clearly lends itself to Marxist criticism. Because social class plays such an important part in this novel, I usually start students with this primer about class in the Victorian Era. I also love this collection of activities for helping students engage with Pride and Prejudice .

Honorable Mentions

These two texts lend themselves to Marxist criticism although they are not my first choices.

First, the poem “ The Last of the Light Brigade ” by Rudyard Kipling focuses on the lives of the brave survivors of “ The Light Brigade .” Because this premise of this poem is based on another poem, it takes a little more time to get students to the Marxist criticism. That being said, this poem also connects well with Pride and Prejudice because it emphasizes the hardship of life in Victorian England. Read it here .

Finally, Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is one of my favorite plays to read with students! While this play more closely aligns with archetypal criticism, social class also plays a role in the drama. The citizens in the play are cast as a moronic, gullible mob. That they come from the plebian class and not from the patrician class of the main characters suits Marxist criticism. Julius Caesar also goes well with these unexpected text pairings !

What other texts would you recommend for teaching Marxist criticism?

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Marxist Criticism refers to a method you'll encounter in literary and cultural analysis. It breaks down texts and societal structures using foundational concepts like class, alienation, base, and superstructure. By understanding this, you'll gain insights into how power dynamics and socio-economic factors influence narratives and cultural perspectives

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Table of Contents

What is Marxist Criticism?

Marxist Criticism refers to both

an interpretive framework
a genre of discourse .

Marxist Criticism as both a theoretical approach and a conversational genre within academic discourse . Critics using this framework analyze literature and other cultural forms through the lens of Marxist theory, which includes an exploration of how economic and social structures influence ideology and culture. For example, a Marxist reading of a novel might explore how the narrative reinforces or challenges the existing social hierarchy and economic inequalities.

Marxist Criticism prioritizes four foundational Marxist concepts:

class struggle
the alienation of the individual under capitalism
the relationship between a society’s economic base and
its cultural superstructure.

Related Concepts

Dialectic ; Hermeneutics ; Literary Criticism ; Semiotics ; Textual Research Methods

Why Does Marxist Criticism Matter?

Marxist criticism thus emphasizes class, socioeconomic status, power relations among various segments of society, and the representation of those segments. Marxist literary criticism is valuable because it enables readers to see the role that class plays in the plot of a text.

What Are the Four Primary Perspectives of Marxism?

Did karl marx create marxist criticism.

Karl Marx himself did not create Marxist criticism as a literary or cultural methodology . He was a philosopher, economist, and sociologist, and his works laid the foundation for Marxist theory in the context of social and economic analysis. The key concepts that Marx developed—such as class struggle, the theory of surplus value, and historical materialism—are central to understanding the mechanisms of capitalism and class relations.

Marxist criticism as a distinct approach to literature and culture developed later, as thinkers in the 20th century began to apply Marx’s ideas to the arts and humanities. It is a product of various scholars and theorists who found Marx’s social theories to be useful tools for analyzing and critiquing literature and culture. These include figures such as György Lukács, Walter Benjamin, Antonio Gramsci, and later the Frankfurt School, among others, who expanded Marxist theory into the realms of ideology, consciousness, and cultural production.

So, while Marx provided the ideological framework, it was later theorists who adapted his ideas into what is now known as Marxist criticism.

Who Are the Key Figures in Marxist Theory?

Bressler notes that “Marxist theory has its roots in the nineteenth-century writings of Karl Heinrich Marx, though his ideas did not fully develop until the twentieth century” (183).

Key figures in Marxist theory include Bertolt Brecht, Georg Lukács, and Louis Althusser. Although these figures have shaped the concepts and path of Marxist theory, Marxist literary criticism did not specifically develop from Marxism itself. One who approaches a literary text from a Marxist perspective may not necessarily support Marxist ideology.

For example, a Marxist approach to Langston Hughes’s poem “Advertisement for the Waldorf-Astoria” might examine how the socioeconomic status of the speaker and other citizens of New York City affect the speaker’s perspective. The Waldorf Astoria opened during the midst of the Great Depression. Thus, the poem’s speaker uses sarcasm to declare, “Fine living . . . a la carte? / Come to the Waldorf-Astoria! / LISTEN HUNGRY ONES! / Look! See what Vanity Fair says about the / new Waldorf-Astoria” (lines 1-5). The speaker further expresses how class contributes to the conflict described in the poem by contrasting the targeted audience of the hotel with the citizens of its surrounding area: “So when you’ve no place else to go, homeless and hungry / ones, choose the Waldorf as a background for your rags” (lines 15-16). Hughes’s poem invites readers to consider how class restricts particular segments of society.

What are the Foundational Questions of Marxist Criticism?

What classes, or socioeconomic statuses, are represented in the text?
Are all the segments of society accounted for, or does the text exclude a particular class?
Does class restrict or empower the characters in the text?
How does the text depict a struggle between classes, or how does class contribute to the conflict of the text?
How does the text depict the relationship between the individual and the state? Does the state view individuals as a means of production, or as ends in themselves?

Example of Marxist Criticism

The Working Class Beats: a Marxist analysis of Beat Writing and (studylib.net)

Discussion Questions and Activities: Marxist Criticism

Define class, alienation, base, and superstructure in your own words.
Explain why a base determines its superstructure.
Choose the lines or stanzas that you think most markedly represent a struggle between classes in Langston Hughes’s “Advertisement for the Waldorf-Astoria.” Hughes’s poem also addresses racial issues; consider referring to the relationship between race and class in your written response.
Contrast the lines that appear in quotation marks and parentheses in Hughes’s poem. How do these lines differ? Does it seem like the lines in parentheses respond to the lines in quotation marks, the latter of which represent excerpts from an advertisement for the Waldorf-Astoria published in Vanity Fair? How does this contrast illustrate a struggle between classes?
What is Hughes’s purpose for writing “Advertisement for the Waldorf-Astoria?” Defend your interpretation with evidence from the poem.

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Marxism: Examples, Concepts, Ideology, Criticisms

Chris Drew (PhD)

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Marxism is a political, cultural, and economic philosophy that theorizes that social conflict exists due to constant power struggles between capitalists and workers.

Examples of marxism that demonstrate its powerful ability to critique capitalism include: the evidence of continual social inequality , cyclical economic crises that Marx predicted, and the predominance of monopolies in capitalism (that Marx also predicted).

Although heavily (and, for many reasons, rightly) criticized, Marxism remains one of the most influential sociological paradigms . That’s because it touches upon many aspects of social life: economics, politics, and culture.

Marxism Key Concepts

1. the bourgeoisie versus the proletariat.

The founder of Marxism, Carl Marx, saw capitalist society as clearly divided into two classes. Each of them has a different relationship to private property.

Marx argued that the Bourgeois exploit the labor offered by the workers to make profit. This is their main source of income.

2. Surplus value

Marx understood goods’ value in terms of the amount of labor required to produce it.

But the money paid to the worker by the employer is less than the total value of goods produced by the worker. Surplus value is the difference between the two.

According to Marx, the bourgeoisie extracts surplus value from the worker. Profit is essentially the exploitation of workers in capitalist society.

3. Controlling the Economic Base means controlling the Superstructure

We saw that the bourgeoisie has complete control over the means of production and the economy. Those with economic power, according to Marx, control all social institutions. The term “ superstructure ” describes structures like education, family, religion, government etc.

To an important extent, this was true during Marx’s time (the mid-19 th century):

voting was restricted to men with property
press barons used their papers to spread propaganda
only the children of the wealthy could attend university.

4. Capitalism leads to alienation

The capitalist system makes the worker feel alien to/estranged from:

the production process
his co-workers
the final products produced.

That’s because workers lose control of their work and become a ‘machine’.

5. The Bourgeois Holds Ideological Control

The Bourgeois use their economic power in society to keep the masses unaware of their exploitation ( ideological control ) . They can do it because they control the superstructure, e.g., religion, education, and mass media.

Ideological control leads to False Consciousness . This means that individuals are not conscious (do not understand) of their class position and are being exploited by the bourgeoisie (the ruling class).

6. Inevitability of Communist Revolution

Marx assumed that a revolution would happen and capitalism would be eliminated when the proletariat recognized its social position.

The workers would then take down the bourgeoisie. They would establish an egalitarian society in which there would be no incentive to profit or exploit others. There would be no private property; the means of production would be collectively owned.

This society would take from “each would give according to their ability” and give “to each according to their needs’, as Marx famously wrote in 1875.

Examples of Marxist Theory

1. capitalism and the creation of false needs.

Marx warned us early on of capitalism’s ability to create false needs among people of all ages.

In 1844, he wrote: “The extension of products and needs becomes a contriving and ever-calculating subservience to inhuman, sophisticated, unnatural and imaginary appetites.”

This is reflective of the consumer culture that emerged in the twentieth century and is very prominent today.

Commercial advertising—first on the press, then TV/radio, and now targeted ads on digital media—makes us feel we need more goods even when we have almost everything.

Consider cell phones, for example, they become outdated in just a few months. People want to buy the latest model even if theirs is still perfectly functional.

2. Cyclical systemic financial crises

Marx recognized early on that economic crises were an inherent feature of the capitalist system. (This was what would lead to revolution).

The economic history of the twentieth century has been marked by a shift between

periods of tranquillity with economic development and prospering financial markets
and periods of financial crises, coupled with the collapse of asset prices, rises in interest rates, bankruptcies among nation states and business firms

Take, for example,

the stock market crash of 1929 (known as the Great Crash)
the subsequent Great Depression (1929–1939)
the 2007-2008 financial crisis, felt as a mortgage crisis in the US and a banking crisis in many European countries (e.g., Iceland, Ireland etc.)

3. The class divides

According to Marx, the bourgeoisie keep salaries low to maximize profits. This is only possible as long as another worker willingly replaces the one who refuses to accept the conditions.

An example of this in today’s world is the move of large manufacturing companies from Europe and the United States to Asian and African countries in the twentieth century. They relocated to low-cost labor countries to maximize profit and maintain high growth rates.

Research has also shown that workers’ pay has frozen in many countries, while top executives make even more (Fryer, 2007).

Many European countries face the so-called cost-of-living crisis . The prices of essential goods have been rising faster than household incomes. While many people struggle to make ends meet, the super-rich are making even more profit.

4. The predominance of monopolies

This trend is paired with the formation of international monopolies.

Traditional liberal economic theory believed that competition would keep ownership diverse. But Marx rightly claimed that capitalist markets tend to merge according to the law of the strongest.

Some of the most famous monopolies in the world exemplify Marx’s process. These include Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, and Meta (formerly known as Facebook).

Marxism vs Communism

Note that when speaking of Marxism , we refer to a social and philosophical theory. When speaking of communism, we refer to a social, political, and economic regime.

Many countries are considered to have established communism in the twentieth century. An example is the Eastern European bloc and the Soviet Union, which were under communist leadership until the 1990s.

But these communist regimes—although ideologically founded upon Marxist ideas—were far from what Marx envisioned for society. So Marxism and Communism should not be confused .

Criticisms of Marxism

Marxism has been heavily criticized not only by liberal sociologists, economists, and political theorists. Let’s look at the key criticisms.

1. Control of the economic base does not involve control of the superstructure

Many of our institutions today are relatively independent of bourgeois or political control. For example, many written and online press is critical of the economic elites. The same goes for artists who criticize financial exploitation in capitalist societies.

2. Class division doesn’t reflect contemporary social structures

In many western countries , there is a sizeable middle class that generates enough income to own property and even invest their surplus income. These could not be identified as Marx’s “capitalist class”. They’re a form of petit-capitalists.

3. Capitalism hasn’t declined

As we saw, Marx believed that greater competition would lead to capitalist bankruptcy and the emergence of monopolies (as fewer and fewer people controlled production).

Former capitalists who had gone bankrupt would join the proletariat. This would ultimately lead to capitalism’s downfall and a harmonious socialist society.

However, capitalism hasn’t been overturned by the workers’ revolution.

Markets and the capitalist system have evolved over time. Wages have increased, and people now have access to a wide range of goods and private property. In many capitalist societies, however, economic inequality has increased.

4. Worker’s alienation is less relevant today

Modern structures of production (e.g., companies) have changed and have much less alienation.

First, workers can voice their opinions more easily through the positive power of unions . Second, many self-employed people can work and live on their own terms.

Third, when writing about alienation, Marx had in mind factory workers who were contributing to a tiny part of the product (e.g., drilling a hole and fitting a screw) and therefore felt foreign to the final products of their labor (e.g., a car).

In today’s service-oriented economy, professionals (e.g., teachers, digital marketer, developer, pharmacists) have a better feeling about what they produce.

5. Traditional Marxism was a grand narrative

Contemporary scholars argue that Marx’s grand or macro-narrative about the way the world works (and is destined to work) is no longer relevant.

Rather than trying to explain large-scale phenomena, they claim, that theorists should focus on much more specific and localized social issues (‌Lafferty, 2016).

6. Marxism is too deterministic

We saw that Marx thought that economic laws determined the workings of society and the direction of history. But there are many factors that shape history.

Societies have reacted differently to the global capitalist spread. For example

The United States and Europe have embraced neo-liberalism.
Cuba has a socialist dictatorship.
China also has a totalitarian regime . It is governed by the Chinese Communist Party which bears no resemblance to communism as envisioned by Marx.

Karl Marx developed the social, political, and economic theory known as Marxism . A conflict theory used in macrosociology , Marxism focuses on the struggles between the ‘bourgeoisie’ (ruling capitalist class) and the ‘proletariat’ (working class).

Marx argued that the power dynamics between capitalists and workers were inherently exploitative, resulting in class conflict. This conflict would eventually result in a global workers’ revolution that would overthrow the capitalist class and lead to a socialist society.

More than 150 years on, Marxism still informs sociological analyses and has been one of the most influential and controversial theoretical paradigms .

Eagleton, T. (2011). Why Marx was right. New Haven [Conn.]: Yale University Press.

Fryer, J. (2007). Rich man, poor man . The Economist . Available at: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2007/01/18/rich-man-poor-man.

‌Lafferty, G. (2016). From grand narrative to pluralist alternatives: New perspectives on Marx and Marxism. Australian Journal of Political Science , 51(3), pp. 583-597.

Marx, K. ([1864]1969). Theories of surplus value . 3 Volumes. Translated Emile Burns. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

Marx, K., & Engels, F. ([1867-1894]1976). Capital: A critique of political economy . 3 Volumes. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

Radke, M. (2005). Explaining financial crises: A cyclical approach. Frankfurt, Germany: Peter Lang.

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