Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat” (Marx and Engels 1848). Social class, therefore, is based upon economic criteria and conflict occurs between those who own the means of production (bourgeoisie) and the wage-labourers (proletariat). As well as having economic control over the proletariat, the bourgeoisie also have the power to determine the superstructure; the ruling class can distort perceptions of the world and hide the true nature of social relationships and the exploitation of the proletariat and, above all, promote bourgeoisie interests. Marx defines production as workers selling their labour for wages in order to exchange money for commodities that will meet their most basic needs. As Marx
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.
The effects of the class differences include exploitation, poverty, and the control of ideas by the wealthy. One of the early theories of elite dominance was termed the Governing Elite or Power Elite. These theories agreed with Marx as far as economic interests and political power. Gaetano Mosca believed that the ruling class was politically based rather than economic and held that a ruling class (Robbins et al., 2012) controlled all political systems. Therefore, instead of elites controlling property and economic interests, the elites control all political endeavors and create oppression and social injustices by taking over
The concept of a classless society has been elaborated by Karl Marx, the father of Marxist philosophy which is the basis of the Communist ideology. As a member of a contemporary society under a democracy, my beliefs are rooted on a society made up of different classes. In order to get to a higher class of society, one has to work with sweat, and even blood. This idea has caused many revolutions because some who do not want the present structure of society want it to be restructured to suit the need of every individual. This essay is an attempt to discuss a classless society and to establish whether a classless society is attainable and sustainable in this century.
Marxism is a structuarlist ideology which means that they paying attention to social institutions and structures over individuals, and it was Karl Marxs (1945) who came up with it. The belief that society is divided into the bourgeoisie, who own the "means of production", and the proletariat, who do the work, also known as upper class and working class. The bourgeoisie or capitalist class exploit the workers, and arrange society to keep the workers down. Most of the profit from the work that the working class do is kept by the bourgeoisie. Now, when we know the definitions, we can look at the Marxism view of education.
4. Discuss the similarities and differences between conflict/Marxist theories and functionalist theories in sociology. Marxism was founded by Karl Marx. Marx saw society as divided into two major parts, the economic base otherwise known as the infrastructure and the super-structure. Functionalists see society as a set of parts which work together to form a whole.
Overall, Marxism, Leninism, Totalitarianism, and Trotskyism were the basic principles of Communism during the Russian Revolution, and their personal principles created the downfall of Russian Socialism. The concept of Marxism was based on the ideas of Karl Marx, who formed his government based on two main social classes, the Bourgeois and the Proletariat. The Bourgeois was the social class the owned the means of producing wealth. The Proletariat was the means of production, in other words, the working class. Marx believed that in a Capitalist society, the Bourgeois was dominant, which he believed to not make sense.
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
Crime is often the result of offering society-demeaning work with little sense of creativity. Laws that are passed on reflect the wishes and ideologies of the ruling classes. Thus for Marxists punishment for a crime may depend and vary according to the social class of the perpetrator. Modern Marxists point to education and the media as socialising agencies, which delude the working class into conforming to a social order, which works against its real interests. From a Marxist point of view laws are made by the state, which represent the interests of the ruling class.
The services provided by welfare states differ from country to country, some have highly developed systems than others (Giddens, 2009). In most societies, poverty and social exclusion at the bottom are alleviated by the welfare states. This essay is therefore going to discuss how these welfare states use ideological state apparatus to secure legitimacy of continued inequalities in capitalist societies. Ideology can be defined as shared ideas or beliefs which serve to justify the interests of dominant groups” Giddens (1997:583). Its relationship to power is that it legitimizes the differential power that groups hold and as such it distorts the real situation that people find themselves in.