Concepts of State Power MARXIST AND WEBERIAN THEORIES OF THE STATE

AND THEIR CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE IN AMERICA

This research paper summarizes the concepts of state

power in Marxist philosophy and in the writings of the

German sociologist Max Weber and discusses how each theory

of the state might help explain its role in contemporary

American society. The Marxist view that the state is the

resultant of economic forces has proved to be a vast

oversimplification, but it is nevertheless closer to the truth

in present times than could have been imagined not long ago.

On the whole, Weber's theories and observations of the state have

proven, despite their somewhat mystical components, to have been

Marxist and NeoMarxist Theories of the State

A fundamental premise of all Marxist theory is that

economic factors determine the course and outcome of history

(economic determinism). Karl Marx and Friederich Engels said

that "the history of all hitherto existing society is the

history of the class struggle"1between the capitalist

class, which owned the means of production, and the working

class. As the following quotations illustrate, Marxists

view the state as the tool of the capitalists, the main

function of which (until communism triumphs by revolution)

is the oppression of the proletariat:

The state is "the executive committee of the

. . .
recognized the importance of psychological ands cultural factors in statecraft, pointing out that questions of national prestige played an important role in relations between states. He also deplored the excesses of ultranationalism. Weber believed that history followed cycles, periods of inspirational leadership followed by the rationalization and codification in law of change, which was necessary for political stability. He recognized the need for bureaucracy, which he called "the most crucial phenomenon of the modern Western state."20He said that "the modern economy cannot run in any other way."21He was concerned that Marxism's basic tenets, the abolition of private property and the nationalization of the economy, would lead to "two administrations [combined] in one body with common interests [which] could no longer be checked. . . The question is always who controls the existing bureaucratic machinery."22McCrae says he feared that "the position of the individual has become problematic in the face of the numerous institutions of government and industry . . . which have resulted from the process of rationalization."23 Weber had a paradoxical attitu
. . .

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Approximate Word count = 2383
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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