Sociology homework- Essay In this essay, I am going to be evaluating the Marxist claim that the family exists to support the continuation of the capitalist system. Marxism is a structural, social conflict theory. A social conflict theory is one that believes in a major conflict between two groups in society. The Marxist view, is that the ruling class (Bourgeoisie) exploit the working class (Proletariat) for profits. This is the opposite of functionalism, a structural consensus theory, which believes that society is based on agreement and it functions properly.
Marxism sees religion as a feature which is only relevant in a society based on class division I.E the ruling classes and the working classes. They believe that with the beginning of true communism after the social revolution religion, in classless society will disappear. Marxists believe that religion and the institutions linked with it such as churches and the education system is controlled by the same ruling classes which control economic production. They argue that religion as a belief system distorts people’s perception of reality in such a way that benefits the ruling class. For
author:love88 Karl Marx is the father of communism. In this essay “The Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx argues that class struggles between the bourgeoisie and proletarians. Marx believed that all property should be publically owned. There would be no government, and everyone would work together for the good of the community. Thus, the society would be classless and stateless.
Examine the Marxist contribution to our understanding of the family Unlike functionalist sociologists, Marxists do not agree with value consensus (agreement) and the promise of meritocracy. Marxist sociologists argue that institutions; such as the family helps to maintain the system of class inequality and exploitation. This is known as capitalism. By this, the Marxists mean that the family solely operates for the benefit of the bourgeoisie (the ruling class) and this allows for the exploitation of the proletariat to take place. This view sharply contrasts the view of functionalists as they argue that the family benefits both the society as a whole and all the individual members.
Assess the usefulness of Marxist approaches to an understanding of crime and deviance in contemporary society Marxist criminologists argue that the state passes laws which support ruling-class interests, and maintain its control and power over the subject class. They put forward the view that laws do not reflect value consensus, but instead reflect the values of ruling class ideology. Therefore, laws work towards false class consciousness, as laws only benefit the ruling minority. Many Marxists also argue that there are a vast number of laws protecting property, and Snider (1993) argued the state is often reluctant to pass laws which might threaten profitability. She also argued capitalist states often pour large amounts of money into attracting business; for example offering new investors tax concessions and grants.
I shall asses points for and against this argument and conclude. Karl Marx (a Marxist sociologist) believes that the education system preforms two main functions in a capitalist society. Firstly, Marx believes the education system reproduces the inequalities and social relations of production of capitalist society. In contrast, the government claim that the education system provides equality and education to all which surely would not serve to maintain a capitalist society. Marx’s first point suggests that education surely does not provide equality, this is for reasons being that education is a meritocratic institution that only benefits the student which conform with the desired qualities, such as doing as they are told and being high academic achievers.
Some of the events that led up to this included the replacing of labor with machines and the need by the factory owners to reduce costs. Writers in the Marxist perspective of sociology claim that there is a conspiracy in the education system designed to prevent children from working class backgrounds from realizing their true position in society this can be referred to as the hidden curriculum. The education system reinforces the ideology that the rich and powerful should control society and promotes an ideology or belief that our society is fair and just and that the proletariat should quietly accept capitalist society. In Advanced Industrial Societies the mains relationships are those of work. These are known as the
According to Marx – in a capitalist society, the economic relationship of exploitation requires ideologies in the superstructure to cover up inequality – they are not innocent/neutral because they justify inequality and serve the interest of powerful groups. Marx argued that the organisation of production in a society shapes the nature of society – refers to this as base/superstructure. The base of the infrastructure is the economy – determines the ideas of society and superstructure – social, cultural, political and ideological parts of society. All history can be divided into five epochs/period; primitive consumerism – everything is shared, in class
Assess the contribution of Marxism to our understanding of the role of education (20 Marks) In terms of education, Marxists see it based on class division and capitalist exploitation. Marxists see education as functioning to prevent revolution by reproducing class inequality and therefore maintaining capitalism. However this is a very negative view of education. Functionalists see education as a shared culture or value consensus; we perform functions that maintain society as a whole. Importantly functionalists see education based on meritocratic principles which is a big difference to the point of view that Marxists have.
As described in the text, J.P. Morgan desired power and control as opposed to gaining wealth. In the reorganizations of the railroads and the consolidation of competing businesses, Morgan had created industrial giants know as General Electric and U.S. Steel. Rockefeller Jr. believed that by eliminating small businesses was the “working out of a law of nature and a law of God”. This ideology of society was based on the law of evolution at a macro-level, in comparing the business world to the natural world. But in reality the natural laws governing businesses had nothing to do with evolution but rather the laws of supply and demand.