Relevance Of Marx In A Modern Society

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CARLOW INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Relevance of Marx in a modern society Sociology Social Care Carlow Institute of Technology 10/26/2009 Louise Hamill NO C00139601 ph 0868703863   After extensively researching the main three theorists it has become apparent that Karl Marx (1818-1883) who is established as one of the most influential thinkers and writers of modern times is the most revenant. According to Plummer he sets out to explain the changes that were taken place during the time of the industrial revolution. Marx states that class can be broken down into two class systems the bourgeoisie (capitalist) who own and operate factories and the proletariat (Worker). Marx also noted that there was a great divide in the wealth and power of both classes. Marx believes that only economic factors played a part in this as social prestige and power were derived from this. Marx believed that the workers of the world should unite and overthrow the bourgeoisie and he writes extensively about this in his many manuscrips.Marx argued that just as the capitalists had united to overthrow the feudal order, so too would the capitalist be supplanted and a new order installed: Communism. Communism can be defined as an economic system that has abolished all class distinctions and all citizens are equal (Giddens 5th edition). Marx had also emphasised that under capitalism people would lose control over not only the product of their labour but also the process of production. The bourgeois determined everything for the proletariat from what machinery to use to how it’s used. According to Marx people had lost the experience of work and the workplace leading to what Marx characterised as a process of alienation (Toney and share 2nd edition). The theorist Max Weber also shared the conclusion that modern society generates widespread alienation his coming from the
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