POLS 310 Modern Political Thought

Winter 2015
Dr. Rachel Sanders
Take-Home Exam 2
Distributed: Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Due: Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 5pm
Submission instructions: Submit your exam online via this Catalyst Dropbox
site: https://catalyst.uw.edu/collectit/dropbox/sandersr/34422.
Instructions
This exam consists of 5 short essay questions (or sets of questions). Type
each of your responses directly below each question. Write in complete
sentences and limit each of your responses to approximately 200
words (absolutely no more than 250 words). Use 12-point, single-spaced,
Cambria or Times font; do not adjust margins or any other formatting. Cite
when quoting or paraphrasing course texts by listing the author and
page number(s) in parentheses as demonstrated at the end of this sentence
(Mill 163). (If you are using an alternate text than the one available at the
UW Bookstore, please include a citation of the version(s) of Mill you are
working with at the end of your exam. If you are using an internet version of
Mill, include the URL of your source.) Be sure to answer every component
of the question prompt.
You may use your notes from class meetings and your course texts
but no other forms of assistance throughout the process of taking this
exam. You may not use any additional reading materials or outside resources
(including the internet) and you may not confer with classmates or any other
people at any point in the process of brainstorming for, drafting, and
completing this exam.
Edit the page heading on page 2 of your exam by typing in your last name
in the place of Last Name. Save your completed exam with a new file
title that gives your last name and exam number, like this: SandersExam2.
(You can use MS Words Save As function to rename your exam file.) Then
upload your renamed, completed exam to the Catalyst Dropbox.
Each response will be worth 20 points. A responses will demonstrate
command of, and thoughtful engagement with, the course texts and will be
concisely and eloquently written and free of grammatical and mechanical
errors.
Late penalty

Penrod / Exam 2
Late exams will be assessed a penalty of 8 points per day. Late exam
submissions will only be accepted until Tuesday, February 24, at 5pm; any
exams submitted after February 24, or not according to instructions, will
receive a 0.

Penrod / Exam 2
1. Reconstruct Marxs definition and critique of political
emancipation. What does Marx mean by political emancipation, and
what are the implications of political emancipation both for
individuals and for the state?
Marx defines political emancipation as the state acknowledging all persons
(even those historically discriminated against) as formally equal in the civil
sphere/before the law (e.g. elimination of discriminatory laws, granting
suffrage, etc.) (7). Marx views political emancipation as good but nonetheless
separate from and inadequate in comparison to human emancipation,
which he never directly defines but seems to be the universal
acknowledgment of all peoples common humanity and enforcement of equal
treatment in all aspects of life (political as well as social) as such (7). Marx
argues that in granting political (formal) emancipation, the state absolves
itself of having to acknowledge and/or deal with the social (informal)
inequality that they know will continue to exist, that the state can free itself
from a limitation without man actually being free from it (7). Moreover, Marx
argues that granting civil and political rights (in particular property rights)
instills in individuals the idea that they need protection from their fellow
citizens, which makes people draw into themselves and only interact with
other people as a means to further their own interests (16-17). In this way,
political emancipation contributes to one of the forms of capitalist alienation
that Marx discusses later on the alienation of man from man (64).
2. What does Marx mean when he states that the laborer is free in a
double sense? How is Marxs description of the laborers freedom a
critique of the ways in which the laws of the liberal state, and the
writings of classical liberal political economists, portray individuals
and interpersonal relations?
When Marx states that the laborer is free in a double sense he means that
the laborer is free to sell his or her own labor as a commodity while at the
same time is without ownership of the means of production and thus is free
of any alternative to selling their labor (266). In making this point, Marx is
criticizing the ideology of liberal capitalism which makes the exchange
between laborer and capitalist seem natural, free, equal, and beneficial to
both parties involved. Legally, the laborer and the capitalist are entering into
exchange of their own volition, but because the laborer does not own the
means of production, he or she is not able to work for him or herself, and
thus must sell his or her labor externally in order to survive (266). Further,
Marx criticizes the liberal notion that the capitalist and laborer are on equal
ground when making the exchange as they both own commodities that they
hope to exchange; because the only commodity the laborer has to sell is his
or her labor and must work in order to live, he or she is subservient to the
capitalist (268). Relatedly, Marx points out that gains from the exchange
between laborer and capitalist are far from equal, as the laborer works for
subsistence while the capitalist makes a profit (273). More broadly, Marx
criticizes liberal ideology as making, through the process of commodity

Penrod / Exam 2
fetishism explained below, the exploitation of the laborer by the capitalist
seem to be natural and the most beneficial system for all involved (273).
3. What are three forms of alienation facilitated by the capitalist
system of production? What does Marx mean by commodity
fetishism, and how does commodity fetishism facilitate alienation in
capitalist societies?
According to Marx, under the capitalist system, society is divided into two
classes the owners of property (bourgeoisie) and the workers without
property (proletariat). Because of this divide, the proletariat does not own
the means of production nor the product of its own labor, and thus becomes
more alienated (physically and emotionally) the more it produces (59). Marx
delineates four specific kinds of alienation: (1) alienation of the laborer from
the product of his or her work - production is to the proletariat the
externalization of objectthat exists outside of himan autonomous power,
opposed to him; (2) alienation of the laborer from the activity of production
the worker becomes alienated from the process of production as it is not
the satisfaction of a need but only a means to satisfy other needs; (3)
alienation of the laborer from his or her species-being - the activity of the
worker is not his own spontaneous activity. It belongs to another. It is a loss
of his own self; and (4) alienation of man from man (62-63). All of this is
related to Marxs concept of commodity fetishism, in which he contends that
under the capitalist system, the market takes on a peculiar social
character as, during the process of exchange, the products of labor acquire
a socially uniform objectivity as values, which is distinct from their
sensuously varied objectivity as articles of utility (233). In other words,
since people do not come into contact with one another except when
exchanging goods within the market, we come to view market relations as
one of things to things rather than people to people (we come to view our
fellow man as a means to an end) and to view products as an outcome of the
capitalist mode of production (rather than of the work of individual laborers).
This causes the alienation of worker from process of production and causes
people not to comprehend the truth the capitalist system depends upon the
bourgeoisie exploiting the proletariat (233-234).
4. DuBois uses the metaphor of the veil throughout The Souls of
Black Folk. Identify and discuss three distinct meanings, or symbolic
functions, of the veil.
DuBois used the metaphor of the veil in many ways throughout The Souls of
Black Folk. One iteration is the symbol of the veil as a divide between the
lives/world of blacks and the lives/world of whites, one which the white
population chooses not to go beyond. In a similar way that Mill discusses the
nature of women in The Subjection of Women, DuBois expresses the idea
that the white population does not know what black people are like or are
capable of because they have never tried to see beyond the color line (3).
In this way, white persons are able to justify their superiority because the

Penrod / Exam 2
only conception they have of black persons is one in which blacks are
subservient to them. Another turn of the veil metaphor is its symbolization of
the way black persons come to see themselves as different and/or inferior
due to their skin color. This is related to DuBoiss concept of doubleconsciousness, in which black individuals come to view themselves as
having two distinct identities - a black identity and an American identity
that cannot be reconciled (8). This double-consciousness is not something
that black children are born with, but rather a conception of self that
develops as they interact with others and are exposed to discrimination in
their environment; they come to look at [them]selves through the eyes of
others, as inferior (11). Notably, DuBois points out that this hidden world
behind the veil gives black persons a unique and important perspective that
white persons dont have, but overall the veil is a negative thing (9). One
more way DuBois uses the symbol of the veil is to stand for a barrier that
holds black persons back from having the same opportunities as white
persons and more generally being able to pursue a better life. For example,
DuBois on education: above all, [black persons] daily hear that an education
that encourages aspiration, that sets the loftiest of ideals and seeks as an
end culture and character rather than breadwinning, is the privilege of white
men and the danger and delusion of black (67). In other words, black
persons were brought up being told that if they did receive education, it
would be in a technical skill, disallowing them to pursue other skills and/or
interests.
5. What was the social and economic situation of the average
southern African American at the start of the twentieth century? In
what ways is DuBoiss description of the socioeconomic standing of
black southerners in 1903 similar to Marxs critique of the limits of
political emancipation?
Just as Marx argues that political emancipation was good but not enough to
overcome the social and economic injustices that would persist, DuBois
points out that, despite political emancipation, the average southern African
American at the start of the twentieth century was socially and economically
subordinate to the white population. Despite being free and equal to white
persons before the law, most African Americans were forced to work
subsistence labor on plantations due to the debt cycle created by tenet
farming. That is, most black persons did not (as with Marxs proletariat) own
the means of production, and thus, despite being legally free, were forced in
order to survive to sell their labor on plantations and pay rent in cotton,
never able to pay their way out of their subordinate position (107). Relatedly,
black persons became disinterested and hostile towards (alienated from)
their forced subsistence labor in the same way as Marxs proletariat
(contributing in the case of black persons to further stereotyping of their race
as lazy by white persons, giving white persons another excuse to justify
their superior status) (106). Additionally, though the legal system was
theoretically equal, DuBois argues that there existed a double system of

Penrod / Exam 2
justice, which erred on the white side by undue leniencyand erred on the
black side with undue severity which led black persons more and more to
look upon law and justice, not as protecting safeguards, but as sources of
humiliation and oppression (119-120). More generally, DuBois asserts that
the idea that black persons were free was considered a mockery by most
black persons because in reality they werent free at all (106-107).