Outline And Evaluate One Sociological Perspective

2025 Words9 Pages
Outline and evaluate one sociological perspective. Marxism is a key sociological perspective and is referred to as one of Sociology's grand theories. It is a structural theory and is the most influential and widely known version of conflict theory, focusing on the conflicts of social groups within society. Many critics of Marxism focus on the fact that some of Marx's more startling predictions have not yet come true, thus, people are quick to judge his sociological perspective and write it off altogether, I hope to address this and conclude that, in fact, Marxism is still an adaptable and highly influential sociological theory. Karl Marx, born 1818, was alive during a time which saw the biggest period of change in Britain in modern times, a time of Industrialisation. In a relatively short space of time, one hundred to two hundred years, Britain had gone from a long standing agrarian society to the first industrial society the world had seen. A historic move from a farming economy to an economy based on factory production had taken place. This undoubtedly had an influence on his theory, which concentrated on the capitalist system Britain had so abruptly moved in to, why it had come about, it's inherent problems and why it would eventually fall to a conflict free society. In this new capitalist period, the more simplified means of production as seen in feudalism, had developed into a “complex industrial state” as stated in Haralambos and Holborn (2008). Capitalism brought a new way to sustain humanity; industrial production. Marxism, as a sociological theory, focuses on the economics of Britain. Lee and Newby (1983) say that to “organize the production of its subsistence” is the most basic human instinct. The economy provides us with our means of survival and defines our society. The economics of capitalism can be defined to show how this is so. Marx
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