Another way Marxists believe the family serves Capitalism is the socialisation of children into the ruling class ideology. They see the family as an institution serving and maintaining the position of the ruling class. Marxists point out that families socialise children into the idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable. An example of this is when the parents over power children forcing the idea that there is always someone better or above them who they will have to obey. This then leads them to the working life where they will work under Capitalists and accept orders from employers above them benefiting the Capitalists.
He looked to overthrow the capitalist system in favour of the structuralist approach (Perry, 2009). Marxists will always argue that the most important thing is the question of how a small group of people can exploit a vast majority of the population. They would study the power and wealth and look at the importance of social class division (Fulcher, J et al, 2007). Karl Marx believed there were only two basic classes’ the middle and the working class. Marx called the middle class the Bourgeoisie as they were either land owners or the bosses of factories and controlled society.
Karl Marx believed that the means, relations, and mode of production all relate to the inequality in a capitalist society. What he is talking about when he says means of production in society are physical non-human inputs used to produce goods. A means of production could be a natural resource or it could also be technology. Whoever controls the means of production is going to have the most power. The capitalist owned the means of production in capitalism and therefore basically were able to control the economy.
Karl Marx was the main thinker behind Marxism and he believed that society was spilt up between two groups the bourgeoisie who are the rich and the powerful who control society and the polartariant who are the poor and working class. There is a conflict between them two groups thus causing Marxism to be a conflict theory.
Marx believes that we now live in a capitalist society, which is based on divisions in society. He labels the two classes, the capitalist class the bourgeoisie and the class of the labourers the proletariat. Marx believes that this type of society is unequal, as the proletariat do not receive the goods that they have produced; only the cost of subsistence is received. Marx also believes that competition drives the ownership of the means of production into fewer hands, this drives smaller independent producers to become a part of the proletariat. Competition also creates companies to drive down wages, as they will wish to make their products at the lowest cost they can, this alienating the working class and causing them to become impoverished.
It also touches on functional prerequisites for the survival of a society and anomie, an idea by Durkheim which describes a normless state in society. Marxism, the structural conflict sociological theory is a very significant chapter in sociology. It was founded by Karl Marx who believed strongly in communism. Marxism is understood as the theory and practice of working class self-emancipation. This theoretical and political tradition is radically different from the way Marxism is generally described by both critics and many 'adherents' who identify Marxism with the repressive state capitalist regimes that used to dominate Russia and eastern Europe and still hold sway in China, North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba.
Understanding “The Diamond Necklace” Using the Marxist perspective The short story, “The Diamond Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant demonstrates the class system between the proletariat, represented by Madame Loisel and her husband, and the bourgeoisie, which is represented in the story as Madame Forestier and how these classes are in conflict with each other. The short story also has the idea of sign value and how it affects people. Lastly, it also has the idea that there’s false consciousness. All of these ideas are Marxist and this approach helped bring great insight into the story and helps give you a better insight into the story. “The Diamond Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant has a class conflict within it, which can be seen when the reader is using the Marxist approach.
This essay will examine some of the differences between marxist and functionalist perspectives when it comes to crime and deviance. From a traditional marxist perspective capitalism is an economic system based on an unequal system between two classes. This system will always benefit the bourgeoisie due to them owning the means of production including land, machinery, businesses and factories, these are all things that provide a wage or means of living to the proletariat. Working under capitalism exploits the proletariat as workers are often paid minimum wage, the ruling class dictate the working conditions and whether the working class will be hired or fired. Crime and deviance is defined by the ruling class to protect their own interests.
Whilst both functionalist and Marxists both see education as serving the ‘needs’ of industrial and or capitalist society, and view education as a powerful influence on students, they both have different views of the main role Marxists would argue that the education system reproduces existing social class inequalities, and passes them on from one generation to the next by giving the impression that those who fail in education do so because of their lack of ability and effort, and have only themselves to blame. In this way, people are encouraged to accept the positions they find themselves in after schooling, even though it is disadvantages arising from social class background that create inequalities in education success. Althusser argues that the education system serves the interests of capitalism by arguing that to prevent the working class from rebelling against their exploitation the ruling class wins their hearts and minds by persuading them to accept the ruling class ideology. They do this through a number of ideological state apparatuses such as the family, media, law, religion and the education system. Bowles and Gintis further reinforce this idea in their ‘schooling in capitalist America’ where they suggest that the workforce is reproduced through the hidden curriculum of schooling and the correspondence, or very close similarity between the social relationships at school and at work, and thought the role of the education system in legitimizing or justifying inequality.
Therefor for Marxist the functions of the family are performed purely for the benefit of the Capatalist system. Marxists argue that a key factor for determining the shape of all social insitution including the family is made of production, this is who owns and controls societies productive forces. In modern society its the capatalists who clam that control the means on production and as the production evolves, so does the family. however as production had began to develop, societies wealth also began to increase. with the increase of wealth came the development of private property.