Marxism

• Marxism


  A political, economic and sociological perspective based on the ideas of Karl Marx
• Marxism


  • A structural conflict theory that suggests there is class conflict in society between those with power and wealth and the workers
• Karl Marx


  A historian and economist who argued that industrialization had created a division in society between two social classes in constant conflict over the control of the means of production
• Social classes in Marxism

  • Bourgeoisie (ruling class)
  • Proletariat (working class)
• Means of production


  Factories, machinery, resources that are used to produce goods
• Bourgeoisie control the means of production


  Proletariat must sell their labor to the bourgeoisie
• Exploitation


  Bourgeoisie paying the proletariat low wages compared to the profits made from their labor
• Proletariat cannot afford goods


  They must sell their labor to the bourgeoisie for wages
• Bourgeoisie desire to maximize profits


  They keep wages as low as possible
• Ideological control


  Bourgeoisie control society's culture, legal systems, education to justify exploitation of proletariat
• Proletariat become aware of exploitation

  They will revolt and seize the means of production
• Marx's predictions of a revolution never came to pass
• Societies that applied Marx's ideas, like the Soviet Union, often collapsed due to economic mismanagement and authoritarian rulers
• Contemporary neo-Marxists criticize traditional Marxism for not accounting for individual free will and resistance to social norms