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Human societies are structured by economic system they live in.
Essential to look at socioeconomic circumstances to understand cultural productions (e.g. literature).
Socioeconomic class divides people more than nationality, race, religion or gender.
American middle-class politically supports upper class instead of lower class because it is blinded by American Dream.
American Dream is an ideology/false consciousness that promotes competition as inherently human and financial wealth as the result of courage and hard work.

Capitalist effects on human values/ psychology
Commodification
• In capitalism a commodity’s value lies not in its use value but in its exchange and sign-exchange value
 objects/ persons / even personal relations are related in terms of their exchange or sign-exchange value
Marxism and literature
• literature is a product of the socioeconomic and ideological conditions of the time and place in which it was written (authors have no choice since every human being is a product of its socioeconomic and ideological environment)
• What Marxist critics look for: (see list of questions)

You are what you own: a Marxist reading of “The Great Gatsby”
- chronicle of the American dream, embodied by Gatsby (?)
- shows us the dark underbelly of capitalist culture: decay of personal values
- you are what you own/ commodification/exchange value/sign-exchange value
Tom and Daisy Buchanan
Tom: wealthiest man in the novel, relates to the world through his money, marries Daisy. Deal for both of them: Tom buys Daisy’s youth, beauty and social standing and she gets his money and power as well as the image of strength and stability that he has to offer. Daisy’s voice is “full of money” (p. 126), she treats her little girl like a toy.


George and Myrtle Wilson
 Have the image of...