It wasn’t until shortly after his death that Karl Marx’s ideology began to significantly influence socialist movements. Although relatively unknown during his lifetime he has become one of the fundamental economic and sociological figures of the modern era. Many of his theories and insights into the way society functions are still relevant in the expanding capitalist society that exists today. Marx was very critical of capitalism and the division in society between the bourgeoisie and proletariat classes, attempting to highlight the injustice and exploitation of the working class by the wealthy upper and middle class. Marx predicted that capitalism within a socioeconomic system would inevitably create internal tensions between social classes leading to its demise and replacement by a new system, communism.
What efforts were made to improve the lot As defined by the famous 1800's revolutionary socialist, Karl Marx, the working class are individuals who sell their labor power for wages and who do not own the means of production. He argued that they were responsible for creating the wealth of a society. He asserted that the working class physically build bridges, craft furniture, grow food, and nurse children, but do not own land, or factories. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx argued that it was the destiny of the working class to displace the capitalist system, abolishing the social relationships underpinning the class system and then developing into a future communist society in which "the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all." The history of the working class has been set by the vast surplus of production available from industrialization creating better living standards.
It is the universal whore, the pander between men and peoples.’ Karl Marx, ‘the economic and philosophical manuscripts’ (1844). This is saying that money makes society function, it not only binds us together, but separates those who have it and those who don’t. - The issue of storytelling, how stories are received, who they serve, is an important theme in Othello - Individuals create stories about themselves to establish an identity  sometimes our stories are imposed on us - Othello states he ‘Saw the handkerchief’ (Act 5, Sc2, Ln66), but what he really saw was a mute fact – facts are meaningless until placed into context – Othello used the wrong story to interpret what he saw. He takes Iago’s lies as facts, believes everything else - Marxism emphasizes the link between power  storytelling  economics. Eg.
An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley, set in 1912, replicates the views and opinions of those who believed in social class. The material wealth in the society blinded those who believed in social class into accepting that they had no responsibility in the society. This play has a moral message of caring for others and working in a community to create a fairer society. This socialist inspiration for Priestley came from Bernard Shaws and H. G. Wellses, who also had communist aims for the society.
“ Apprehensively Bertrande listened to the approach of every passer-by, started and turned cold each time the door to the house creaked.” With the disappearance of Martin the threat to the family’s name and honour is seen, by the way in which family members, in particular Bertrande deal with the criticisms. Bertrande’s behaviour is a typical 1500’s female wife’s behaviour toward any threat to family honour that would be talked and discussed about within the community. As a woman Bertrande is virtually powerless in her society. Her inability to control her life is as much a function of the feudal society that she lives in, as it is being a woman. Whilst the system impacts adversely on both men and women, the men do have more choices whereas the women are relatively powerless.
Durkheim sees anomie as responsible for the world’s disorder of economics- the lack of morality and regulation resulted in overpowering the weak; thus, he feels that only norms can prevent the abuse of power and calls for regulation and equal opportunity from birth- the greater the equal opportunity the less need for restraint. Marx looked at how capitalism separated humanity by making work a simple means of individual existence. In addition he describes society in terms of class and economic conflicts. Marx saw proletariat or people of a working class as being underneath the bourgeoisie or the capitalist of a modern society. Marx looked at how alienation of production of commodities by workers also leads to alienation of social life.
Marx believed that societies grew and changed due to struggles of different social classes. Durkheim believed in studying the “social facts,” which would help determine if a society was healthy or pathological. Weber’s focus on the structure of society included the elements of class, status and power. Each sociologist had a great influence in the field of sociology, but took different approaches to studying societies. Sociology enables us to understand how society functions and under which circumstances.
Women have long been considered to be part of the lower status when it comes to jobs similar to men. In Arlie Hochschild’s vies, “The feelings of the lower-status partly may be discounted in two ways: by considering them rational but unimportant or by considering them irrational and hence dismissible” (172). This “doctrine of feelings” has been seen to permeate the workforce in such a way that it becomes impossible for women to be respected when they display any sort of emotion. In this essence, women who are considered the lower class in the working environment are oppressed in two ways. The first such way is to ignore any legitimate concerns women have; the second way is to classify any emotion as unnecessary and “irrational.” Women get taken advantage of solely because society has considered them emotional, which in today’s modern society is often mistaken for being unstable.
Institutions like the family, education and religion lead individuals into accepting the inequalities or capitalism. In other words, Marxists think that people are socialised into a culture based on their social class. They think people’s identity depends on their class position in the capitalist system. Criticism Not everyone agrees with the Marx’s views. The other 3 theories have different opinions on what culture
It focuses on class conflict. A key founder of conflict theory was Karl Marx. He believed that there is/or was a bitter conflict between the bourgeoisie (those who own the capital) and the proletariat (the workers who toil for low pay). He believed this conflict could only end when the proletariat repelled aging the bourgeoisie. Functionalist division of labor Education provides society with a ‘division of labor’ this means schools help identify who will be the bin man and who will