Karl Marx's Contributions To Sociology Case Study

Marx is seen as one of the three founders of the social sciences along with Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. His contributions to sociology include the framework of dialectical materialism and separation between social classes of people or a conflict perspective. The conflict perspective is described as tensions between groups of power or the allocation

Karl Heinrich Marx was born in 1819 before the French revolution where he met Friedrich Engels whom became his close friend and collaborator who also introduced socialist and communist ideas to him. It is crucial to recognize that Karl Marx lived and experienced the aftermath of the French revolution where the feudal system of industry fell and industrialization replaces the latter, he identified two significant simplified classes of people, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. He further elaborated on the problems that these 2 opposing social classes would bring, exploitation, alienation and the fetishism of commodity. Further more, he went on to predict that there would be a revolution lead by the proletariats to overthrow the bourgeoisies.

The picture described seems to be wonderful as it meets the communism society that Karl Marx wants: “No private property or inherited wealth. Steeply graduated income tax. Centralized control of the banking, communication and transport industries. Free public education.” (1) This is completely different from the world that Karl Marx is most familiar with—the 19th century Europe, which was fulfilled with huge increases in industrial production and profits, stagnation of wages for workers, formation of a vast impoverished working class. Nevertheless, in my opinion, the given society is indeed not communism, hence Karl Marx would not get satisfied with it.

Karl Marx, one could go so far as to say, was the prophet of his own age. However, notwithstanding with the other prophets, he was mostly concerned with material aspects of human life. He accompanied by his life-long friend Friedrich Engels analyzed capitalist society in terms of social structure, economy and culture. In Marxian theory of classes, society is torn into two, between proletariat and bourgeoisie, and it is the scene of perpetual exploitation of the working class by bourgeoisie and a permanent struggle between them. The former is “a class of laborers, who live so long as they find work and who work only so long as their labor increases capital”, and the latter is “the class which has means of material production at its disposal” (qtd. in Miller 55-6). These two classes bargain under a situation in which capitalists are not in danger of starving or becoming homeless while workers are (ibid. 57-8). And as Terry Eagleton

In other words, these two scholars attempted to formulate understandable as well as a plain social change in the society, particularly in the aspect of religion ( Last 89) . However, some of their perspectives on religion were differing on certain aspects, but this did not cause conflicts between them. It implies that even though they had diverse ideas on religion, they seemed all to be in line or accord that religion was a necessity in the societies. Also, both theorists saw that an external force usually directs human behavior. In the same way, they both viewed society as a system that entails social structures and they as well agreed that these structures were existing among societies. Regarding objective data, it is observed that both theorists were falling in the positive approach and their main focus was on the system as well as a structure other than concentrating on the individual meaning. More so, both Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim were emphasizing the economy needs and how the institutions were complying with the matter. Similarly, the ideologies of these two men strongly believed in social change with a notion that the more existence of these changes, the greater the potential for the idealistic society ( Last 90) . Also, Durkheim and Marx have a mutual interest, and it was the intellectual in the changes within

Our health is everything to us, whether we’re young or old, white or black. An individuals health could determine a lot of factors in their overall life time satisfaction. However, in our capitalist society healthcare has been turned into a business. With universal healthcare being lauded by conservatives, we have developed an issue of some individuals being left without adequate healthcare due to the fact that they are unable to pay the outrageous premiums some insurance companies charge. The rate of lack of coverage, as well as the reasoning behind it have been provided by the Central Texan Sustainability Project with a survey of Texas citizens. Overall the information given by the Central Texan Sustainability Project on the state of healthcare

The Marx approach focuses on economic factors as the sole reason for conflict in society. He saw society divided into the Bourgeoisie, or the owners of the means of production, and the proletariat, or the workers. Tensions and conflicts occur when the resources, power, and status are unevenly distributed between these two groups, and the conflict can lead to social change. He believed the exploited people would bane together and attempt to bring about changes. The workers would develop a class consciousness and revolt demanding more changes in society, while those with the wealth, power and prestige will continue to try and promote their own interest usually at the expense of the weaker

It is always difficult to write about and discuss Karl Marx, or more importantly the applications of Marx’s theories, due to the fact that he inspired and gave rise to many movements and revolutionaries, not all of which follow his theories to the point. Although Marx tends to be equated with Communism, it might not seem righteous to blame him for whatever shortcomings occurred when his theories were put to the test; Marx passed away well before the revolution in Russia, and he played no role in the emergence of the totalitarian regime at the time.

Throughout the history of the United States, there were always problems that seemed to be unsolvable at that point, but America fought to overcome those dilemmas and as we can see today its independent, rules by the highest and the most powerful source of law- Constitution, there is no slavery, segregation, and women gained their rights. There is no country that is ideal, each country has its flaws and America is not exception, but is willing to act on it and modify itself. One of the biggest problems that citizens are faced with is income inequality that highly increased over years. It is putting the same energy and time but receiving different amount of money for the same type of job, this unfairness teaches peoples how to survive by using

Social inequalities can be described as the differences in “income, resources, power and status” (Naidoo and Wills 2008, in Warwick-Booth 2013, 2) that advantage a social class, a group or an individual over another, and thereby establish social hierarchies. It also affects inequalities in regards to gender, race, access to health and education, and general living conditions. In sociology, the dichotomy between the conflict theory approach and the functionalist approach has led to a discordant opinion in regards to social inequalities. The conflict theory seems to admit that social inequalities needs to disappear in order to install a common and equal base for all individuals, whereas the functionalist approach believes that social inequalities

Social class contains a lot of significance in social sciences because it sets the basis for social stratification in which people are grouped into a set of hierarchical social categories. These categories further lead up to class conflicts and social problems which we see in society today. Since the main aim of social sciences is to explain the cause and effect of any social issue, sociologists tend to first explain the definition of class and their interpretation of the term followed by its effects in a society. Among these sociologists there were two very influential personalities who developed their work to explain the definition and the formation of the social class. Karl Marx, being an economist, believes that these social classes are a direct result of economic factors. Pierre Bourdieu, on the other hand, extended his work beyond economics and touches upon other aspects of life to provide comprehensive explanation of class phenomena in the society.

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.

Gregory the Great formulated the seven deadly sins and the list evolved to include envy as one of the seven. According to the Webster’s Dictionary, envy is a “painful or resentful awareness of the advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage”. Socialism is a system that seeks a society in which no one has anything more than others. Socialism may also be said to be based largely on envy which provides an argument for the origin of envy…. it was a really a promise to put a final end to all the conditions that make for envy. Karl Marx’s believed that human beings desire equality, a statement that is not proven but upon which Marxism depends for what that possibility might still exist. The great class struggle

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.

Karl Marx was a great influence for many, including renowned leaders such as the former leader of Russia, Joseph Stalin. Karl Marx first pointed out his ideas about a classless society in the famous pamphlet Communist Manifesto in 1848. Marx believed that the current capitalist society is separated into two classes, the Proletariat society, and Bourgeois society. The Proletarians, as perceived by Marx, are part of the working class that only possess one significant material value, that is the ability to work, or labour power. The Bourgeoise, on the other hand, is the societal class that owns the means of production and hence rule over the Proletarians. As I quote from Marx’s book, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” (Marx and Engels, 1988, p. 473) Marx believes that by having such two classes where one class exerts dominance over the other, it will lead to disastrous outcomes, where income