Asses the Contribution of Marxist Theory to Our Understanding of Contemporary British Society

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Asses the contribution of Marxist theory to our understanding of contemporary British society (20 marks) Karl Marx is the founding father of the Marxist theory. Karl Marx was German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist and revolutionary socialist. Karl Marx believed that everyone should be equal instead of the working class working for the ruling class in order for the ruling class to be even wealthier. He was very passionate about his theory and wrote books such as the “Communist Manifesto” and “Das Capital”. Marx argued that social theorists and underprivileged people alike should carry out organised revolutionary action to topple capitalism and bring about a socio-economic change. Marxists argue that the key factors determining the shape of all social institutions, including the family, is the mode of production. This means who owns and controls society’s productive forces such as machinery and raw materials. Marxists believe that as the mode of production evolves, so does the family. Marx called the earliest, classless society, “primitive communism”. In this society, no private property was owned. All members of society owned a means in production communally instead. However as wealth began to increase, so did the development of private property. This change brought the idea of the nuclear family. Marxist argues that the family performs key socialisation for their children in the way that the capitalist society wants them to be socialised. For example, the father would prepare his son to work in the future. Marxists believe that the ruling class exploit the working class through three ways. One way is through advertising which urge families to keep up with the latest products. A second way is by the media targeting the children who nag their parents to spend more. A third way is children who lack the latest clothes “must have” them as
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