Karl Marx And Max Weber: What Is The Purpose Of Government?

What is the purpose of government? Is there an ideal organizational structure that a country could employ to ensure that a government serves its people to the best of its ability? Karl Marx and Max Weber, like others before and after them, both strove to help answer these questions. Although one could argue that we may never find a “perfect” system of government, both men presented new ways of thinking that continue to influence society today. Before one can begin analyzing the details of Marx’s and Weber’s works, it is important to address the question of the purpose of government. According to William Johnson (2014), a government should, among other things, work to provide economic growth, support those who are unable to support themselves, promote quality of life, promote the ability of individuals to succeed, and maintain a supply of essential resources. While many of these tasks today are supported by both the …show more content…
By being efficient, Weber felt that a government could promote economic growth and ensure a steady supply of resources, leading to a better overall quality of life for its citizens. The feelings of workers were not seen as an important factor in Weber’s works, and he felt that many factors, not just economic status, could contribute to a person’s class and quality of life. Social status or a person’s career, for example, could help an individual live a higher class life even if he or she had a more limited income (Fry and Raadschelders, 2014). Marx and Weber viewed government in different ways, and, although their viewpoints were different, both offered valuable contributions to the government and bureaucracy as we know them today. While we may never truly find the “best” way to run a government, the importance of striving to operate in the best way possible will always remain.
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