Karl Marx And Samuel Smiles: A Comparative Analysis

In the beginning of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution caused a massive economic spike from small-scale production to large factories and mass production. Capitalism became the prevalent mode of the economy, which put all means of production in the hands of the bourgeoisie, or the upper class. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels argue that capitalism centralizes all the wealth and power in the bourgeoisie, despite the proletariat, or the working class, being the overwhelming majority of the population. The manufacturers would exploit the common proletariat and force them to would work in abysmal conditions and receive low wages, furthering the working class poverty. “The Communist Manifesto” predicts that as a result of the mistreatment

American Life today is reminiscent more of the age of The Romanticism period the first reason how American life today is still being reflected towards The Romantic period is through the values of the founding fathers. They took the basic ideas from The Romantic period that includes the ideas of vision and historical change. These basic ideas are still being represented every day in America that we are always a changing country, that we are always developing and that our people are the most important part of our country, these basic ideas we are still practicing 241 years later in America. The second reason The Romantic period reflects modern American life is through art and literature before the Romanticism period, books and art were written

Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, social scientist, sociologist, historian, journalist and revolutionary socialist. Marx was born on 5 May 1818 in Germany and died on 14 March 1883 in London. Karl Marx is regarded to be one of the founding fathers of Sociology. Capitalism, in layman’s term means “an economic, political, and social system in which property, business, and industry are privately owned, directed towards making the greatest possible profits for successful organizations and people.” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2014). Capitalism, according to Karl Marx is divided into two major social classes: the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie, which is the minority of the class system, own the means of production such as land, machinery, factories and raw materials whereas the Proletariat, which is the majority of the class system, having no means of their own production and have to work to earn wage for a living.

labor –at the centre of his analysis of human history. He was able to show that the

Karl Marx, a ground breaking sociologist, economist, and philosopher, lived from 1818 to 1883. During his lifetime he propounded this epic sociologic perspective, the conflict theory. (McClelland) The conflict theory discusses how the rich and the poor have been fighting ongoing battle for power. The group in control actively defends their advantages. In the 1940s and the 1950s the conflict theory was ignored because sociologist thought it was solely economic. Today, sociologists see that conflict is found between many different groups in society. (Crossman) According to the conflict theory, inequality is the result of those who are wealthy, typically those in the upper one percent, which impose their mode of social order on the rest of the general society. In result, society is constantly competing for limited resources. Groups and individuals with that hold these resources use them to maintain power and social control. The wealthy are the independent variables that hold the power to make decisions and control how society is ran. The lower classes are the dependent variables that have little to no control over how society is structured. Conflict theorists encourage social change. Instead of allowing the “well off” to force social order on everyone else, the general public should fight for social change even at the expense of a possible social revolution. In general, there are groups and individuals

Marx advocated revolution by the Proletariat against the Bourgeoisie to reduce income and social class inequality. However, Smith felt that the Invisible Hand and the division of labour would eventually bring the poor out of poverty, but may not entirely resolve the income inequality or equal distribution of

"The golden gleam of the gilded surface hides the cheapness of the metal underneath.” This remark by Mark Twain, an renown social commentator, sums up the corruption that concerned many during the 19th century (“Exhibitions”). It is estimated that one percent of the population had possession of 88 percent of the nation’s assets (Brinkley 477). Many felt their rights as a citizen of a republic were endangered because so few people controlled such power and money (Brinkley 472). People were concerned that the robber barons were using that power to control the prices to their own personal benefit (Brinkley 476). This caused unrest among the populace (Brinkley 477). In contrast, the wealthy viewed industrialization very positively (Brinkley 472-473). Andrew Carnegie, one of these millionaires, had a singular view on wealth, and his philosophy both stemmed from and influenced his actions during his life.

The 19th century was, by every definition of the word, a simultaneously onerous and distressing time in Europe. Empires and regimes collapsed like dominos, one after the other. Mass famine, caused by factors as extensive and diverse as severe climate abnormalities to colossal, all-out wars, led to the suffering and death of many. With farmers no longer financially independent, poverty reared its ugly head. The utter lack of any kind of political or religious freedom was widely conspicuous. In Italy, for example, the catholic church had a remarkably simple approach: you were free to accept the ideology imposed on you, or be made to suffer for eternity. In London, child labor became as abundant as the lumps of coal those children were tasked

The four famously known theorists are Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx. Each studied and viewed social behavior in a way they believed was the way it should be viewed; hence, they came up with different theories that categorizes society in many different aspects.

It is argued that social inequality occurs because of the conflict between the upper-class and the working-class, or as Marx defines it, the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. Based on the Manifesto of the Communist Party (Marx and Engels, 1848), the divergence emerges because the aim of the Bourgeoisie is to obtain a surplus-value that is produced by the work of the Proletariat. On the other side, the Bourgeoisie provides the Proletariat with the minimum required, such as a place to live and a minimum wage, in order to keep the society under control and avoid a rebellion. However, Marx did predict a revolt of the working-class that would eventually lead to a communist regime. When it comes to applying this theoretical approach to reality, it is evident to notice that no global revolt in regards to capitalism has occurred. On the contrary, the capitalist society that Marx describes has only become greater in the global society. The disparity between the elite and the populace grows continuously, and the wealth of the first group surpasses the wealth of the second one. The elite has made the working-class into a class of consumption who nourishes its capital gain. This leads on to the global issue of social hierarchy. It establishes inequalities within economy, education and health that the poorest try to outdo, becoming unconsciously even more depended on the capitalist system, because they

Marx, through his communist manifesto, believed that “modern industry has converted the little workshop of the patriarchal master into the great factory of the industrial capitalist”, taking society from one epoch of social stratification and forced labour to Capitalism, under which the inequality between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat grew and became more evident. On the other hand, Durkheim saw industrialisation as a mainly positive occurrence which, along with the division of labour, provided the necessary institutions are in place to maintain it, as it causes society to change and develop and thus “civilization develops because it cannot fail to develop” (Durkheim: 1933: 337). Yet despite differences in their views of the effect, both Marx and Durkheim used the process of industrialisation to explain how society progresses and how society is held together or broken, with Durkheim, in particular, looking at just how much the structure of society changes as the division of labour progresses (Morrison:

Hello Ashley! Both Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and the suffragettes all posed a threat towards the upper class men of this time. Karl Marx had theories that suggested a revolution was necessary to overthrown the wealthy male elite. Eventually, as Marx 's theories were accepted more widely upon his passing, worker 's rights were challenged throughout Europe as people began to feel fed up with how they were being treated. For obvious reasons, Marx 's ideas were a threat to the power and money of the wealthy elite class and negotiates would need to be made so that the living conditions of such people could improve before any revolt began between the rich and the poor.

In the Communist manifesto, a well known quote of Marx, “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” This is introductory to the first part of the pamphlet and a conclusion to Marx’s theory about class struggle. Marx’s highly structured on how the class struggle emerges and affects the development of a society.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) considered himself not to be a sociologist but a political activist. However, many would disagree and in the view of Hughes (1986), he was ‘both – and a philosopher, historian, economist, and a political scientist as well.’ Much of the work of Marx was political and economic but his main focus was on class conflict and how this led to the rise of capitalism. While nowadays, when people hear the word “communism”, they think of the dictatorial rule of Stalin and the horrific stories of life in a communist state such as the Soviet Union, it is important not to accuse Marx of the deeds carried out in his name.

The key concepts that I will discuss in this assignment are the theories and ideas of Karl Marx on Alienation, Exploitation, Materialism and Class struggle. The objective of this assignment is to examine the literature written about Karl Marx in order to clearly present his main ideas and theories in relation to work and capital. In the second part of my assignment I will discuss what relevance these theories and ideas have in today’s world. Karl Heinrich Marx the philosopher and revolutionary socialist was born on the 5th of May 1818 and died on the 14th of March 1883. He was born in the city of Trier in Germany and studied law in Bonn University. He based his ideas and theories on social structure, economics and politics.