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Marxist
(Critical)
Theory
THE RISE OF THE WORKERS!

Background
 Resulted from Socialism
 By the 1920s, it was already a solid theory/ideology
 Marx’s theories intertwined with ideologies of the new
Russian movement
 Also called the Socio-economic lens

Main Beliefs
 Society is a class
struggle.
 This theory deals with class
differences, economic and
otherwise, and implications
and complications of the
capitalist system
 Power struggle between
the working class and the
owners of the means of
production

Vocabulary
 Alienation: The process whereby the worker is made to feel foreign to the
products of his/her own labor.
 Bourgeoisie: The middle classes, or owners of the means of production.
 Proletariat: The "lower" or "working" classes, the members of which must under
capitalism sell their labor in order to earn a living.
 Commodification/fying: Friendship, knowledge, women, etc. are understood
only in terms of their monetary value. In this way, they are no longer treated as
things with intrinsic worth but as commodities.
 Capitalism: A socio-economic system based on the private ownership of the
means of production and the exploitation of the labor force.
 Hegemony: The processes by which dominant culture maintains its dominant
position

Questions to ask include…
 Whom does it benefit if the work or effort is
accepted/successful/believed, etc.?
 What is the social class of the author?
 Which class does the work claim to represent?
 What values does it reinforce?
 What values does it subvert?
 What conflict can be seen between the values the work
champions and those it portrays?
 What social classes do the characters represent?
 How do characters from different classes interact or conflict?

In literature…
 In 1984, the proles are worthless. They’re just
like poor people, and they have no say in
what goes on
 Proles: working class (proletariat)
 So, we see that the means of production and
society benefits the upper class.

In art…
 How would you
interpret this
image?

Why Marxism?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4056KPQnfM&
feature=youtu.be

In your groups…
• Now apply the guiding questions for using a
Marxist/socio-economic lens to The Cat in the Hat
and your group’s fairy tale.
What kind of findings/conclusions/interpretations
did your group come to when considering The
Cat in the Hat through a Marxist lens?
-or-
Asked another way: what does a Marxist lens
reveal about The Cat in the Hat?

For Next Class
Read the handouts on the CRT and Postcolonial lenses. Be
prepared to take a quiz on those lenses in our next class.

CRITICAL RACE THEORY
(Or “Race Still Matters”)

BACKGROUND
• CRT developed into its current form during the mid-1970s as a response to criticisms of
“dangerously slow” progress following Civil Rights in the 1960s.
• In this sense, CRT scholars seek tangible, real-world ends through the intellectual work they
perform: social activism and transforming everyday notions of race, racism, and power.
• More recently, CRT has contributed to splinter groups focused on Asian American, Latino, and
Native American racial experiences.

MAIN BELIEFS
• Theoretical and interpretive mode that examines the appearance of race and racism
across dominant cultural modes of expression (art, politics, life, etc.).
• CRT scholars attempt to understand how victims of systemic racism are affected by
cultural perceptions of race and how they are able to represent themselves to
counter prejudice.
• Also emphasizes the importance of finding a way for diverse individuals to share
their experiences, but also their membership in a specific class, gender, nation, sexual
orientation, etc.

WHAT IS
SYSTEMIC
RACISM
ANYWAY?

VOCABULARY
• Social construction: In the context of CRT,“social construction” refers to the notion that race is a product of social thought and
relations. RACE NOT BIOLOGICAL.
• Microaggression: insults and dismissals that are regularly witnessed that non-black Americans inflict on African Americans and
others of African descent. It can be delivered casually or even unconsciously.
• Institutionalized Racism: Refers to the systemic ways dominant society restricts a racialized individual or group’s access to
opportunities.These inequalities, which include an individual’s access to material conditions and power, are not only deeply imbedded
in legal institutions, but have been absorbed into American culture to such a degree that they are often invisible or easily overlooked.
• Passing: Racial passing occurs when a person classified as a member of one racial group is also accepted as a member of a different
racial group.
• Double Consciousness: describes the individual sensation of feeling as though your identity is divided into several parts, making it
difficult or impossible to have one unified identity.

QUESTIONS
• What is the significance of race in contemporary American society?
• Where, in what ways, and to what ends does race appear in dominant American culture and
shape the ways we interact with one another?
• What types of texts and other cultural artifacts reflect dominant culture’s perceptions of race?
• How can scholars convey that racism is a concern that affects all members of society?
• How does racism continue to function as a persistent force in American society?
• How can we combat racism to ensure that all members of American society experience equal
representation and access to fundamental rights?
• How can we accurately reflect the experiences of victims of racism?

WHY CRT?
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

POSTCOLONIAL CRITICAL THEORY
(OR THEWHITE MAN GO-ETH!)

BACKGROUND
• Postcolonial critical theory developed as a response to European imperialism of the 17th
to the
20th
century in Africa,Asia,Australia, etc.
• As the indigenous peoples regained control of their lands/homes, etc. they felt distanced or
alienated from them
• As a result, scholars developed an approach to reading literature produced in or about regions in
a postcolonial state that questions how characters, events, and themes of a work reinforce or
undermine understandings of cultural identity. Most notably in the late 1970s, Edward Said wrote
a book called Orientalism, which dealt with western society’s patronizing representation of the
Middle East.
• The postcolonial lens deals with the discourse of colonization and the power dynamics associated
with it.

VOCABULARY
• Culture – The shared values, conventions, and social practices that characterize a particular group of
people.
• Cultural colonization – The persistent imposition of one culture upon another. In this process, the
colonizers impose governance, education, and other cultural practices upon the colonized, whose own
culture, morals, and even physical appearance are devalued.The result is alienation from the colonized
people’s own native cultures, and ultimately a sense that the pre-colonial culture has been lost.
• Colonialist ideology – A system of beliefs based on the colonizers’ assumption of their own
superiority, which they contrasted with the alleged inferiority of native (indigenous) peoples, the
original inhabitants of the land they invaded (e.g. eurocentrism, orientalism)
• Hegemony – Absolute dominance analogous to imperial rule.

VOCABULARY
• Othering – The process of defining another group of people by contrasting it to one’s own
group identity. In postcolonialism, the “other” is viewed as less than fully human, thus dividing
the world between the “civilized” and the “savage.”The savage is predominantly considered evil
and inferior, but is also occasionally viewed as possessing a primitive beauty or nobility in terms
of his/her closeness to nature. In either case, the ‘savage’ remains “other,” and therefore not
fully human.
• Mimicry – The practice of the colonized of imitating the dress, behavior, speech, and lifestyle
of the colonizers; an attempt of the colonized to gain acceptance.

MAIN BELIEFS
• Colonialism is a powerful, often destructive historical force that shapes not only the
political futures of the countries involved but also the identities of colonized and
colonizing people.
• Successful colonialism depends on a process of “othering” the people colonized.That
is, the colonized people (the “other”) are seen as dramatically different from and lesser
than the colonizers.
• Literature written in colonizing cultures often distorts the experiences and realities of
colonized people. Literature written by colonized people often includes attempts to
articulate more empowered identities and reclaim cultures in the face of colonization.

STRATEGIES FOR ANALYZING TEXTS THROUGH A POSTCOLONIAL LENS
• Identify language, characterization, and plot events that reinforce or undermine
the oppression of colonized peoples.
• Analyze how colonized people and the process of colonization are portrayed in
the text.
• Analyze how processes of “othering” intersect with the process of colonization
and its effects.
• Determine how the work portrays colonialism and its legacy, how it affects both
the colonizers and the colonized.

GUIDING QUESTIONS
• What do texts suggest, explicitly or allegorically, about the oppressions
(economical, political, social, and psychological) of colonized peoples?
• How do portrayals of culture (including race, class, and gender) intersect to
reinforce or undermine the colonialist ideology?
• How does a colonial presence shape ideas of personal and cultural identity,
both of the oppressor and of the oppressed?
• What are the ways in which postcolonial literature resists the legacy of
colonialism?

POSTCOLONIALISM APPLIEDTO POP CULTURE

INYOUR GROUPS…
• Now briefly apply the guiding questions for using a CRT/Post-
colonial lens to The Cat in the Hat and then select 5 – 10
questions using EITHER the CRT or the Post-colonial lens to
your tale
What kind of findings/conclusions/interpretations did your
group come to when considering The Cat in the Hat through
a CRT/Pc lens?

FOR NEXT CLASS
Select one of the lenses that we’ve delved deeper into in class (feminist/gender/queer theory,
psychoanalytical, marxist, critical race or postcolonial) – DON’T use the same lens you did for your last
reading – and post a response of no less than 300 words to theTrying on New Lenses Part 2 assignment,
considering your selected tale using that lens.
In addition to using the guiding questions provided to you in the literary lens PowerPoints,
you should consider and discuss the following issues:
• Does your understanding of the text change using this lens? If so, how? If not, why not? Be detailed in
your explanation.
• Did your selected lens make you consider any textual features in a new way? (characters and/or
character development, relationships between characters, power relationships within the text, cultural
or societal norm assumptions, etc.)
• What observations and/or criticisms would someone using your selected lens have of your assigned
text?

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Marxist Critical Race and PostColonial Theory 2024 update.pptx

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