Karl Barth

capital produced by labour is for the benefit of the worker, but as the texts I analyse further down show, this is not always the case. In this essay I will view labour through the lens of The Tempest by William Shakespeare and The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In effect this essay will be a Marxist reading of The Tempest, paying close attention to the way social class works to exploit the members lower down . By analysing these two texts and using literary…

Sociology theories can be viewed from all parts of life, including movies. In Time, a science-fiction film released in 2011 is a great example of not only sociological theories at play, but for specifically spotting themes that Karl Marx and Max Weber wrote about in their writings. To better understand the movie first, before diving into an analytical look at the film, I will give a small narration of the plot. The citizens in the movie including the main characters, Will Salas and Sylvia Weiss…

production. With mass production developing into mass distribution, those with more currency were now able to acquire goods in excess –in comparison to their peers- thus creating social differences. An example of these differences was introduced by Karl…

Karl Heinrich Marx was a philosopher, historian, revolutionary, and social scientist. His socialist thinking emerged from the 19th century. Marx’s ideas gained popularity after his death in the socialist movement. Also, his ideas have been modified for future generations and has brought change to political circumstances. Karl Heinrich Marx born in Trier, Prussia on May 5, 1818. He came from a long line of rabbis from both sides of the family. In 1818, Heinrich Marx, Karl Marx’s father,…

may indulge me or not, but I am resolved to provide an extensive review lest my countrymen be under the misconception that The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx will amount to any sort of revolution–Proletarian or otherwise. As I am sure you are aware, this news publication has been a vehicle to countless articles from the prolific socialist mind of Karl Marx; he provides the workingman a voice of lustrous intellect and strength…

In The Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels argue that “These labourers, who must sell themselves piecemeal, are a commodity” (Marx and Engels 18). Respectively, a working person, according to them, becomes a commodity once they start selling their work and compete with other laborers for the buyer. By its definition, a commodity is an inanimate noun and usually applied to objects that are for sale. Therefore, the comparison of a human being to a commodity means the deprivation of one of their…

Picaros are traditionally wanders, slaves to whomever provides for them at the time. In Grimmelshausen’s novel, Simplicissimus, the protagonist of the same name takes on a much different position than seen in other picaresque novels. Simplicissimus himself becomes a master, employing his own servants and gains a legitimate position in society. In the novel Lazarillo de Tormes the protagonist is always serving someone else’s interests. Lazarillo never has complete autonomy and must rely on others…

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is a book filled with hope, heartbreak, poverty, and manipulation. It was an awakening to Americans all over to the adversity that the lower-class had to go through. It depicts the corruption and crime on the streets and in large food companies. This novel follows a man named Jurgis Rudkus as he and his wife Ona travel to America with their relatives during the Gilded Age. Upton Sinclair wrote this in attempt to push socialism, but instead enlightened the readers to…

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is an accurate presentation of United States history during the early twentieth century because it correctly depicts the exploitation of the poor working class and eventual shattering of dreams by the wealthy capitalists through: the political corruption such as the party bosses’ constant rigging of elections, the harsh labor conditions and cheating of wages put on workers, and the constant injustices and swindling that the working class endured. Sinclair…

Karl Marx defines another condition necessary to the rise of communism as the intensification of social polarity, and the class antagonisms that follow. The presence of these two conditions is essential to the rise of communism over the ashes of capitalism. Thus, he explains that our age of capitalism “has simplified class antagonisms” and “society as a whole is more and more splitting up… …into two great classes facing each other: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat” (Marx 15). With the…