Karl Marx (1818 - 1883)


Karl Marx is was one of the most important thinkers of the 19th century. He wrote brilliantly on subjects such as philosophy, political science, economics and history. He never called himself a sociologist, but his work is very rich in sociological insights. Hence he is regarded as one of most profound and original sociological thinkers. His influence has been tremendous. Millions of people throughout the world accept it theories with almost religious fervour.

Marx believed that the task of the social scientist was not merely to describe the world, it was to change it. Whereas Spencer saw social harmony and inevitability of progress, Marx saw social conflict and the inevitability of revolution. The key of history, he believed is class conflict the bitter struggle between the capitalist and the labours or between those who own the means of producing wealth and those who do not. Marx also believed that the historic struggle would end only with overthrow of the ruling exploiters, and the establishment of a free, harmonious, classless society. Marx placed too much emphasis on the economic base of society. Marx thought that the economic base of the society influence the general character of all other aspects of culture and social structure, such as law, religion, education, government etc.

Modern sociologists thought reject many teachings of Marx, do generally recognise the fundamental influence of the economy on other areas of society. The 'conflict approach' to the study of social phenomena devoted by Marx is still in currency. Later sociologists and social thinkers could hardly escape the influence of Marxian ideas and theories. Great number of writers and thinkers still subscribe to his views and theories.

6 comments:

. said...

Marx took a holistic approach and synthesized the two social sciences of sociology and economics. I believe economic understanding is one of the keys for the future. Here,in our country Economic development was followed by an intensified class conflict.Class conflict is both the friction that accompanies social relationships between members or groups of different social classes and the underlying tensions or antagonisms which exist in society. Class conflict theory states that the capitalists (those who possessed resources fit to create wealth) were constantly in conflict with the proletariat (workers who do not own the means of production). Marx contested that this conflict can only be resolved by a revolution of workers overthrowing the capitalists, the results of which would create a society free of classes leaving people to work based upon their skills and receive compensation based upon their needs.

Nimesh said...

For Further information reffer "Wage-Labour and Capital" by Karl Marx.

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Nimesh said...

Karl Marx is not much known not as a philosopher but as a revolutionary communist, whose works inspired the foundation of many communist regimes in the 20th century. It is difficult to think of many who have had as much influence in the creation of the today's world. Trained as a philosopher, Marx walked away from philosophy in his mid-twenties, to economics and politics. However, in addition to his overtly philosophical early work, his later writings have many points has connections with contemporary philosophical debates, mainly in the philosophy of history and the social sciences, and in moral and political philosophy. Historical materialism — Marx's theory of history — is gatherd around the idea that forms of society rise and fall as they further and then cramp the development of human productive power. Marx sees the historical process as proceeding through a necessary series of modes of production, sucessing in communism. Marx's economic analysis of capitalism is on his version of the labour theory of value, and includes the analysis of capitalist profit as the extraction of surplus value from the exploited proletariat. The analysis of history and economics come together in Marx's prophecy of the inevitable economic breakdown of capitalism, to be replaced by communism. However Marx refused to speculate in detail about the nature of communism, arguing that it would arise through historical processes, and was not the realisation of a pre-determined moral ideal.

Cristiano Bodart said...

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Anonymous said...

A separate analysis of Marxism can be seen in the work of Nildo Viana sociologist; In: http://theoryandcritic.blogspot.com.br/

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