Karl Marx and Social Conflict Theory
Current day sociology has been greatly influenced by the works of Karl Marx. Marx, along with Max Weber and Emilé Durkheim, are considered by some, to be the three founding fathers of present day sociology. Sociology can best be described as the study of the development, structure, history and technology of human social behaviors.
Karl Marx, has a storied past. He was born in 1818 in Prussia to a wealthy family and was one of nine children. From an early age Marx was interested in philosophy, however at the insistence of his father, he studied law instead. It is perhaps because of this foray into law, and his intrigue with philosophy that Marx became increasingly interested in the power struggles of each …show more content…
Marx became so convinced that capitalism was the absolute end of anyone’s ability to function and live a happy content life that he perpetually promoted anything but. The first volume of Das Kapital, became the bible to some of history’s most horrific outcomes. In one case, Russia took the book and founded the USSR, a soundly communist country that ultimately resulted suffering and strife among the Citizens. When the USSR was finally dissolved, the country was left in a state that left room for a dictatorship to emerge. Gone were the days that the government provided equally, or didn’t at all, for its citizens. One other case that has been argued is that Adolf Hitler was directly influenced by the foundations in the book by Karl Marx, Das Kapital. Indeed it is not difficult to see the influences in the socialist concepts and ideals of Hitler. So then, if socialism and communism, when taken to their extremes, as promoted over and over by Karl Marx, can result in the mass genocide of an entire religious group or the manipulation and starvation of the citizens of another, why promote it? Who gains the most ultimately from this? It is not the individual, working class individual as Karl Marx would have everyone …show more content…
Social Conflict theory is often referred to as a Marxist-based social theory. The primary focus of this theory is the idea that working or paying for something is unfair to the worker or payee. Theorists believe that if an individual pays for say a lease on a car, he never sees a return on his investment, he doesn’t actually own the car; the leasing company does. This, according to the Social Conflict theory is wrong. The individual who is making payments on a lease should, in theory be entitled to a part of that car or a return on his investment and the actual owner of the car who is receiving the payments should share that benefit with the payee. This notion is patently
Current day sociology has been greatly influenced by the works of Karl Marx. Marx, along with Max Weber and Emilé Durkheim, are considered by some, to be the three founding fathers of present day sociology. Sociology can best be described as the study of the development, structure, history and technology of human social behaviors.
Karl Marx, has a storied past. He was born in 1818 in Prussia to a wealthy family and was one of nine children. From an early age Marx was interested in philosophy, however at the insistence of his father, he studied law instead. It is perhaps because of this foray into law, and his intrigue with philosophy that Marx became increasingly interested in the power struggles of each …show more content…
Marx became so convinced that capitalism was the absolute end of anyone’s ability to function and live a happy content life that he perpetually promoted anything but. The first volume of Das Kapital, became the bible to some of history’s most horrific outcomes. In one case, Russia took the book and founded the USSR, a soundly communist country that ultimately resulted suffering and strife among the Citizens. When the USSR was finally dissolved, the country was left in a state that left room for a dictatorship to emerge. Gone were the days that the government provided equally, or didn’t at all, for its citizens. One other case that has been argued is that Adolf Hitler was directly influenced by the foundations in the book by Karl Marx, Das Kapital. Indeed it is not difficult to see the influences in the socialist concepts and ideals of Hitler. So then, if socialism and communism, when taken to their extremes, as promoted over and over by Karl Marx, can result in the mass genocide of an entire religious group or the manipulation and starvation of the citizens of another, why promote it? Who gains the most ultimately from this? It is not the individual, working class individual as Karl Marx would have everyone …show more content…
Social Conflict theory is often referred to as a Marxist-based social theory. The primary focus of this theory is the idea that working or paying for something is unfair to the worker or payee. Theorists believe that if an individual pays for say a lease on a car, he never sees a return on his investment, he doesn’t actually own the car; the leasing company does. This, according to the Social Conflict theory is wrong. The individual who is making payments on a lease should, in theory be entitled to a part of that car or a return on his investment and the actual owner of the car who is receiving the payments should share that benefit with the payee. This notion is patently