Karl Marx Social Class
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A classless society would represent a social order without an economic base. Many doubt that a modern classless society can exist; as the failed experiment with Russian communism demonstrates (one would be hard pressed to argue that social inequality was eradicated via communism in the former Soviet Union regardless). Karl Marx wrote many theories about the stratification of society into different classes, the ruling class, the proletariat class, the bourgeoisie (capitalist) class, and the proletariat class (working-class). Marx argued that the economic base of society has enormous impact on the shape of all aspects of culture and social structure. Marx believed that the division of labor creates an inherent conflict between classes in society, whose inequalities can only be overcome through class struggle. This Marx viewed as the driving force behind all social change. Nevertheless, Marx still argued that class stratification reinforces the ruling class that exerts enormous influence on the rest of society. This analysis will review Marx’s theories on class stratification and class struggle, including a critical opinion and conclusion.Karl Marx theorized that history was essentially the story of class conflicts that pitted those who owned or controlled property against those whose labor produced wealth and goods in which they did not share. In the modern industrial world, Marx believed that capitalism specifi
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struggle between those who own the means of producing wealth and those who do not.”
Marx felt that social conflict or class struggle made revolution inevitable as the working-class continued to be trapped within an iron-triangle of work, eat, and sleep that only promised the means of subsistence, never ownership of the means of production. Because of this, Marx argued that such a class conflict would only end with the total dismantling of the ruling (i.e., perceived as exploiting class) class. This would result in the formation of a classless, free society. However, this is where I disagree with Marx’s views because there will always be a ruling class of society. This has been true since the formation of societies, and it is true today in industrialized nations like American where less than 1% of the nation’s individuals own more than half of the country’s wealth. Still, Marx’s views regarding the inherent nature of class struggle as the driving force behind social change is true. We saw this in the 1960s as African-Americans, women, and others fought for and won more civil rights enabling them to become more socially mobile. Yet, we see that even when countries like the former Soviet Union portend to be classless, there
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Approximate Word count = 1851
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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