Karl Marx Essay

Karl Marx is one of the most reputed philosophers of the 19th Century. Born in 1818 in a middle class family, Marx studied law in Bonn and Berlin and by and by plunged deeper into the ideas of Hegel and Feurbach (Wheen, 2007). It is after receiving his doctorate in philosophy in 1841 from the University of Jena that he locomote with his family to Paris where he became a radical transmutationary communist and teamed up with Friedrich Engels, a nonher radical philosopher of his time. They collectively authored the pamphlet The Communist Manifesto which was subsequently published in 1848. In this pamphlet, Marx passionately asserted that all kind-hearted history was dominated by class struggles. Furthermore, he predicted that they would culminate into the issue forth of capitalism and mature of communism (Wheen, 2007).Karl Marx later moved to London in 1849 where he broke his political and religious isolation to author rabbit Kapital, sometimes referred to as the Bible of the w orking class (Wheen, 2007). In this book, Marx substantial very philosophical ideas related to the c uprises of the working class and the implicit struggles in the midst of laborers and makeers of industries. The works and ideas of Karl Marx in his book Das Kapital were later edited by Engels after his death in 1833 in London (Wheen, 2007). The ideas of Karl Marx established a school of thought known as Marxism, or what later came to be popularly known as the Marxist doctrine. His publications consummated the main ideological currents of 19th century. These included the classical English political prudence, cut affectionateism and the French new doctrines of the time.Marx, by push through his writing, had envisaged a friendly whirling that would see the overtake of capitalism and the rise of fabianism as a dominant ideology. These predictions later became discernable after the death of Karl Marx in what was considered to be a process of socialization of labor. Wheen ( 2007) contends that this trans miscellaneaation would be possible to process by the working class in prolong struggles with the bourgeoisie. This led to the development of ideas evident in Marxism and the combat speculation that form the bedrock of Marxs works.Karl Marxs Conflict Theory. Conflict theory is a Marxist perspective and expression of the way in which confederation is social organisationd. This perspective depicts society as characteristically dominated by counterpoints (Collins & Sanderson, 2008). Conflict is the determinant of how resources atomic numeral 18 allocated and who attains the most from much(prenominal) allocations. Power is also acquired through conflict, and once such power is acquired, it is employ to dominate the less- unchewable and to benefit a few people. Collins and Sanderson (2008) cited that the basic form of interaction in the human society is non consensus but competition, which culminates into resolved conflicts. Each party or ind ividual competes against perceived rivals with the goal of gaining avail and dominating the separate.The theory presented by Karl Marx underscores the concomitant that conflict, and not consensus, dominates designed mechanisms through divers(prenominal) classes in the secernate society, interacts and relates to severally new(prenominal) (Collins & Sanderson, 2008). The rich and the powerful use conflict to threaten their poor subjects and to maintain the status-quo. The poor on the other hand, organize and use conflicts to push for a revolution that ordain overthrow the powerful that argon enjoying the privileges of capitalistic structures. These tensions argon thus sustained by the affect of from each one group to piddle its interests dominate the structures and operations of the society.Karl Marx contends that the society is stratified into two main social groups. These are the trade union movement and the bourgeoisies. The conflict between these two large social grou ps results in what Marx considered as radical change. The probable source of conflict between the p officetariat and the bourgeoisies are the desire of the proletariat to bewilder ownership of manner of output, such as factories, power, land and other valuable resources (Collins & Sanderson, 2008). The bourgeoisies, on the other hand, are not go outing to relinquish these resources and give up their privileged positions of power and raise riches and investments.Karl Marx on Class and Class Conflict. According to Karl Marx, society is stratified into classes. The classes comprise the bourgeoisies, land-owners and the proletariat. The propertied-upper-class is the minority, while the proletariats are the majority. Wood (2004) notes Marxs dissection of thedominant features of each of these classes in most of his works. For example, the bourgeoisies own the means of production. This is due to the huge investments they have made into factories and machines in the industries. The la nd owners have rent as their master(a) source of income. The proletariats are owners of cheap labor which they offer in supplant for wages that they use for their basic subsistence (Collins & Sanderson, 2008).Investment gives the bourgeoisies a lot of profit. Marx conceptualized the structure of the society in relation to the two major classes. He is centre on the inherent struggles between the proletariat and bourgeoisies which is the engine that pushes the occurrence of social change through revolutionary movements. In the understanding of Marxists, class is defined by the level of wealth and power that one possesses (Wood, 2004). This power is use to sideline other classes from property and positions of power. Bourgeoisies use their power to serve their individualized interests and amass more wealth at the expense of the proletariat. These three different classes, in the understanding of Karl Marx, have different interests which pit them against each other (Wood, 2004). For example, the bourgeoisie are interested in safeguarding their investment in the industries, maximise profits and minimizing costs. This makes them engage the proletariats as laborers in the farms to achieve this objective at relatively minimal wages.The proletariats on the other hand, organize and mobilize themselves to collectively push for better wages, conditions of work and strive to overcome the repressive and consumptive forces of their masters in the industries and factories. Thus, they struggle to join hold and, through revolutionary movements, overthrow the bourgeoisies and control the industries and factories (Wood, 2004). These conflicting interests are what pit the social classes against each other. Conflicts, and not consensus, therefore, characterize the society as noted by Marx who had envisaged such a society founded on constant conflicts.The struggle between the classes is liable(predicate) to widen with time as the conditions of the laborers deteriorate further . This is likely leads to disintegration of the social structure. Collins and Sanderson (2008)asserted that conflicts between proletariats and bourgeoisies would translate into an industrial revolution. This would mark the pleasure of the proletariats over the bourgeoisies, leading to increased access to capital and means of production by proletariats. This, according to Marxists, would mark the end of capitalism and the fire of socialism characterized by public ownership of the means of production.The fall of capitalism and bourgeoisies go forth, therefore, induce a classless society as political power shrivel away due to industrial revolution led by the proletariat (Wood, 2004). Thus, according to Marxists, class and class conflict are the forces behind societal transformation and not any other evolutionary processes. Radical revolutionary movements are likely to create a new social decree in the society in which capitalism gives way to socialism as witnessed by the industria l revolutions that altered the social order in Russia in the 19th century.Karl Marx on Alienation. The philosophical ideas of Karl Marx on alienation were relevant in his radical reformation periods that saw the fall of capitalism (Otteson, 2011). Although these ideas were mainly considered to be philosophical in the 19th century, alienation, as was espoused by Marx, since accordingly has bend a real social phenomenon in the 21st century discourses that are propagated by contemporary social science scholars. The most outstanding expression that Marx wrote about was economic alienation or alienated labor. According to the books of Karl Marx, one of the front forces behind conflict between bourgeoisies and proletariat is the fact laborers felt confused from the products of their own labor (Me%u0301sza%u0301ros, 2006).Marx asserted that in a capitalist society, workers were forced to remain on the job and work duplicate hard in order to earn and sustain themselves (Me%u0301sza%u 0301ros, 2006). He was against alienation which is caused by strong forces of capitalism and predicted the rise of communism in which laborers will no longer work to live but live to work. With the fall of capitalism and alienation, wage earning slaves will be free men who will work and enjoy the value of their labor. In a capitalist society dominatedby bourgeoisies, the production capacity of an employee is 100%. However, the employee does not benefit directly from these products. He plainly earns 10% of the production of his work, which he only uses for daily subsistence. In communism, one would directly benefit from 90% of the proceeds of his labor and only lose 10% which will be washed-out in other production processes.Marx contended that in a capitalist society, workers are alienated even from the products that they produce (Me%u0301sza%u0301ros, 2006). A laborer working in an industry that manufactures oil becomes so much alienated from the product that he or she produces t o an extent that even in his or her own dwelling house he cannot afford the oil, yet he needs it and contributes significantly to its production. The ideas of Karl Marx on alienation were very accurate considering that many labor union movements advocated for the eudaimonia of workers in the modern society (Otteson, 2011). There are employees who work in a milk processing plant, when ironically back at billet they do not take the milk, not because they do not need it but because they cannot afford the milk.Alienation as presented by Karl Marx in his conflict theory is an explanation of a situation in which man is separated from valued resources, opportunities, processes and decisions in which his input ought to be reflected (Me%u0301sza%u0301ros, 2006). The laborers at the time of Marxs life did not have opportunity to say a give voice on the amount of wages they earned as compensation for their work. Yet, their role in the industrial production processes was very significant. T he masters determined the wages, number of hours worked, when to grant leaves for recuperation and so on. In fact, Marx was very concerned with how the intemperance value of products processed in the industries manned by workers benefited the workers themselves.Marx asserted that in a capitalist society, the surplus value only makes the rich richer as the workers become more impoverished. So worked up were the laborers that they were even alienated from their own families and private lives. They did not have time for recreation, family sessions or other club forums. Marx sadly puts it in his writings of Das Kapital thatleave or absence to workers in a capitalist system was hard to come by (Me%u0301sza%u0301ros, 2006). But when such leaves were finally granted, they were only meant to help the workers recuperate and stupefy extra strength not to benefit themselves but their masters who would then register a rise in surplus value in the industrial production.Alienation, according to the writings of Karl Marx, can be seen to occur in four different ways. Me%u0301sza%u0301ros (2006) contends that workers are alienated against the products that they produce they do not benefit from them much, the production process especially through specialized discussion section of labor, from the community and from himself. In a capitalist industrialized society, specialized component of labor is used to promote alienation under the disguise of enhancing readiness and effectiveness in production. Marx argues that an employee, concerned purely with the repair of broken humble machines in industry producing oil, may not have enough check with other production processes in the industry. The owners of the industry alienate them from this knowledge out of fear that such knowledge might empower workers to compete against the manufacturing plant owners.Karl Marx on Consciousness. Consciousness as defined by philosophers refers to how people or a person defines and understands himself (Wood, 2004). The concept of intellect as presented in the writings of Karl Marx was basically bent towards understanding and identification with ones class. It is this consciousness that would push the workers (proletariats) to join other proletariats and put forward a coupled battle against one common social group, the bourgeoisies. Wood (2004) asserts that consciousness would modify workers gain awareness that they all had shared sleep togethers with other laborers, the bitter experience of alienation, exploitation and oppression by capitalist bourgeoisies (Wood, 2004). This consciousness would push the workers to rise against the bourgeoisies and launch protest and revolutionary movements that would lead to the fall of capitalism and the onset of communists ideologies. Marx used the term class consciousness to exposit this level of awareness on the part of the workers. There are scholars of Marxism who have argued that the concept of consciousness was used by Karl M arx to depict class as a very subjective dimension in acapitalist society.The concept of consciousnerss forms the skeleton of Marx conflict theory. The proletariat will only rise to confront the bourgeoisies after realization that all workers had common problems, all originating from the bourgeoisies. much(prenominal) awareness by itself is inspiring enough to stir up revolution and protests against the bourgeoisies (Wood, 2004). Marx argued that it was false class consciousness that continued to sustain the forces and the influence of capitalist ideologies.The proletariat had misrepresented their identity, position in society and resigned to fate, preferring to remain in subordinate positions as the bourgeoisies took advantage of this and used their positions to exploit and dominate the economy (Wood, 2004). Members of subordinate classes, such as workers and peasants continued to suffer in the hands of the dominant bourgeoisies as a result of false-class-consciousness. The upper class, on the other hand, has their consciousness right as they believe they should remain dominant owners of the means of production.ConclusionKarl Marxs works have influenced and continue to influence sociological academia and studies in the field of economics. Although some of his ideas, like conflict theory have been criticized by scholars since then in the contemporary sociological theory, conflict perspective remain to be a very popular sociological perspective, while Marx remains in academic records as one of the enormous scholars that contributed to the growth of sociology and its relevance in understanding human interactions and relationships in the society. coetaneous scholars, including critics of Marxism, continue to draw on his works to develop new concepts and ideas aimed at offering more accurate explanations of various phenomena in the society.