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.
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.
He focused on the working class, the poorest and most wretched in the society, and concluded that their alienation came from private property. He then searched for a way (communism) to emancipate the working class and eventually mankind. We will explore some of his central notions of his system, beginning with The Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, the true point of origin for his theory of money and alienation. What should a man be? According to Marx, the essential difference between nonhuman animals and human
Marxism is a conflict perspective based on the ideas of Karl Marx. This conflict theory does not share the functionalist view that society is built on harmony and success. It sees society divided into to two opposed classes, one of which exploit the labour of the other. In a capitalist society the bourgeoisie exploits the proletariats. Marxist believe the conventional families are the foundations of capitalism it does this in many way; Private property inheritance, Marxists believe that all functions of the family are performed purely for the benefit of the capitalist system.
Marx’s concept of alienation is the separation and misalignment power from one thing to another, and is informed by both his understanding of human labor and religion. In capitalism man is alienated from his labor because he is forced to trade it like a commodity in the marketplace. As a result, the more of himself he puts into labor, the less he keeps for himself. He also believes region, like capitalism, is a source of alienation. Like capitalism, he believes region is a man-made creation, which eventually became regarded as a natural phenomenon.
In capitalist societies, workers are employed to produce goods which are sold by their employers at a profit. Only a bit of the profit ends up in the workers wage, most of its kept by the employer. Marx said that if workers were allowed to notice the unfairness of this, they’d revolt. So, to avoid revolution the capitalist system shapes the superstructure to make sure that the workers accept their lot in life. Institutions like the family, education and religion lead individuals into accepting the inequalities or capitalism.
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.
The worker has no role in deciding what to do or how to do it. The capitalist who owns these means also purchases the labour of the worker that isengaged. Apart from working under the supervision of the capitalist, the worker also does not have a say in what becomes of the finished product after production. This latter point forms the second feature of alienation, the workers' estrangement from the product of their work (Ollman, 1976).Thirdly, the worker is estranged from other fellow workers. Rivalry and class antagonism within the workplace declares most forms of
Alienation Karl Marx, one of the founders of / Conflict Theory in Sociology, was very concerned with the idea of alienation in capitalism. There are four types of alienation . They are alienation from worker from product, worker from worker, species being, and man to man. I will go more into depth of these four types of alienation later. Alienating is a very powerful way to keep the worker under the owners belt.
According to Marx, this economic system which he termed capitalism created an exploitative relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, since the proletariat had little or no control over the distribution of profits and the labour which they provided (Giddens 2001:12). For Marx, capitalism is not only seen to be an unjust and oppressive system of economic production, but also one that exploits, one that limits man from his full capability, separates man from the products of his labour, and