Social and cultural theory concepts and frameworks
Karl Marx was a prolific German social philosopher who is renowned for his exceptional theories related to modern socialism and communism. Marx strongly believed that the recent times have changed the value of man. According to Marx, people are no longer valued for who they are, but they are categorized assessing their importance and participation in the production of products/goods. In the present time, money has become so much more important than it was in the past.
His economic theory of labor refers to the value of money as compared to the value of laborers who use up their energies in generating it. Marx's labor theory of value and the idea of surplus value hold significant importance in social science studies. According to Marxism, it is supposed that the value of a product is eventually derived by the amount of labor that is required for the manufacturing of that product. He suggests that the working class is being exploited by the bourgeois class since they do not produce the commodities for themselves but for those whom they work for. He also says that the wages given to the workers are far less than the worth of product they manufacture with their hard work and manual effort. For instance, if the workers work for six hours, they are paid for the value of three hours which is total exploitation by the capitalists. The masters keep the value of the three additional hours of work which is in fact a surplus value. Surplus value can be defined as the difference between the value of the product at the time of sale and the amount of material, especially labor, used in the production of the commodity ("Marxism," 2009).
Cultural Schema Hypothesis on Aboriginals
The aborigines are Australia's original inhabitants and until the late 1700's -1800's the aborigine had little contact with Western civilization. The Mardudjara (Mardu) aborigines are part of the Western Desert cultural block in Australia. The Mardu culture, societal system, etc. has never been recorded in its pristine state as anthropologic researchers did not study the group until well after alien influences had occurred. Nonetheless, the nomadic lifestyle of the Mardu was dictated by the harsh climate in which they live and they are an extremely interesting group. Nomadic groups like the Mardu often have a perception of gender or a cultural gender schema that fits in functionally with their lifestyle and is based on a division of labor and status that allows the group to maintain an identify, clearly defined roles, and survive in the harsh environment in which they live.