ABSTRACT

This introductory text is a critical theory toolkit on how to how to make use of Karl Marx’s ideas in media, communication, and cultural studies.

Karl Marx’s ideas remain of crucial relevance, and in this short, student-friendly book, leading expert Christian Fuchs introduces Marx to the reader by discussing 15 of his key concepts and showing how they matter for understanding the digital and communicative capitalism that shapes human life in twenty-first century society. Key concepts covered include: the dialectic, materialism, commodities, capital, capitalism, labour, surplus-value, the working class, alienation, means of communication, the general intellect, ideology, socialism, communism, and class struggles.

Students taking courses in Media, Culture and Society; Communication Theory; Media Economics; Political Communication; and Cultural Studies will find Fuchs' concise introduction an essential guide to Marx.

chapter 1|3 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|15 pages

The Dialectic

chapter 3|19 pages

Materialism

The Base/Superstructure Problem

chapter 4|39 pages

Commodities, Capital, Capitalism

chapter 5|28 pages

Labour and Surplus-Value

chapter 6|22 pages

The Working Class

chapter 7|20 pages

Alienation

chapter 9|27 pages

Ideology

chapter 10|42 pages

Socialism and Communism

chapter 11|33 pages

Class Struggles