Deegan Norman
SOCL 401-01
Dr. JoEllen Pederson
March 15, 2024
Karl Marx
The Major concerns for Karl Marx were the idea of class inequality how there is a power struggle and ways that the ruling class of people used to control the rest of the working class. Marx talks about human nature and species being and how the experiences of humans in nature are uniquely human. “Humans must create a world in which to live. They must in effect alter or destroy the natural setting and construct something new” (Kenneth Allan, 2017). The ways are important to understand for Marx’s theory because like he said humans are so different and the way that inequalities are developed in society is specifically for humans, this is important to Marx’s theory because he believes that capitalism can threaten human nature and is why he pushes for a more socialist style society.
Karl Marx focused his theories on the negative effects of capitalism. The stem of his theory on capitalism consists of how a ruling class of individuals called the Bourgeoisie uses different tactics to keep the working class of individuals that Marx calls the Proletariat class. Marx was interested in the conflict between these two groups of people and the effects of social class. He believed that the ruling class would eventually be overthrown by the working class due to them realizing that they were being exploited for their work. Marx believed this because the goal of the Bourgeoisie class was to make the most profit while at the same time paying the proletariat working class the least amount of money.
Some of the issues that arise from this is that the workers become less attached to their work and are easily replaceable and controlled by the Bourgeoisie. Some of the ways Marx believed that the Bourgeoisie, the ruling class of individuals, controls the working class of the proletariat is by controlling various forms of governments and social and cultural institutions. One of the ways Marx discusses that the ruling class of individuals controls the working class of individuals through cultural institutions is by his idea of religion. Marx believed that the Bourgeoisie class uses religion as a form of social control and that it is used to influence masses of people and take the focus off poverty, by doing this the Bourgeoisie can maintain their power and status. One of Karl Marx’s ideas of a way to avoid the negative tendencies of capitalism is to focus on a more communist way of government. One of Karl Marx’s major works that many people know him for is his book The Communist Manifesto. In this book, Marx discusses how the proletariat working class will unite and overthrow capitalism and in turn, develop a socialist-style government without social classes.
Another important work of Karl Marx that is important to sociology is his works and understanding of the theory known as Conflict theory. Conflict theory is a very well-known theory in sociology and is described as when there are different groups of people that make up society and how there can be conflict between these groups when resources are not distributed evenly to all groups. This theory investigates how there is always a struggle for power in society and power can be looked at as who has the most wealth, which in Karl Marx’s case would be the Bourgeoisie class (Kenneth Allan, Sarah Daynes, 2017)
In today’s age, Karl Marx’s theories can still be applied. For example, in the year 2023 in France, there are working-class farmers who are revolting against the French Government which has been trying to implement laws and regulations. This is an example of when Marx predicted that the proletariat working class would eventually try and overthrow the Bourgeoisie class and government due to the issues that he believes arise from a capitalistic economy. In many countries across the world in recent years there have been protests about regulation and laws implemented by governments that have been thought to disadvantage the people of these countries.
Another modern-day example of this is how across the United States there have been nurses protesting hospitals and the healthcare industry over the idea of profiting off patients and nursing shortages. In some cities, including New York City, there were nurses protesting for better pay and safer work environments. Karl Marx explains this in his theory when he talks about how the ruling class of the Bourgeoisie’s goal is to maximize profits while minimizing pay and other things that could cut into their profit margins, and that this will upset the proletariat working class. I think Karl Marx’s theories on the negative effects of capitalism as well as the struggles between social classes are very relevant to today’s age and will continue to stay relevant.
Many people are predicting that within our lifetime we will see the first trillionaire and that many corporations are getting bigger and being parent companies to other smaller companies and the gap between social classes is growing. Marx would predict that eventually there will be a breaking point like we are starting to see some of the first steps in France. So, Marx would see how in current times inequality is rising as well as the predicted economic crisis and the effects of inflation. Marl Marx discussed that each economic crisis would have worse consequences than the previous economic crisis and make fewer individuals wealthy and in doing so will eventually lead to the fall of capitalism and bring economic and social change.
References
Kenneth Allan, & Sarah Daynes. (2017). Explorations in Classical Sociological Theory: Seeing the Social World: Vol. Fourth edition. SAGE Publications, Inc.