In his sublime name

Abstract Abstract Schools of theory: Functionalism (human body) Marxism (league table) Interactionism (play) Feminism (league table) Post-modernism (theme park)

Marx and Marxism

Is our society made up of different social classes?

Is the way workers work and live satisfactory?

What’s the difference between workers and higher social classes in access to facilities and education?

How is the wealth distributed among different social classes?

Karl Marx Karl Marx (1818–1883) is best known not as a philosopher but as a revolutionary communist, whose works inspired the foundation of many communist regimes in the twentieth century, Marx turned away from philosophy in his mid- twenties, towards economics and politics. However, his later writings have many points of contact with contemporary philosophical debates. Marx sees the historical process as proceeding through a necessary series of modes of production, characterized by class struggle, culminating in communism. Marx's economic analysis of capitalism is based on his version of the labor theory of value. The analysis of history and economics come together in Marx's prediction of the inevitable economic breakdown of capitalism, to be replaced by communism.

BIOGRAPHY: Born 1818 in Trier, Germany Jewish extraction Studied philosophy and economics in Berlin Married Jenny von Westphalen Earned his living (badly) as a journalist Died 1883 in London.

Political Backgrounds: Marx was a communist. He wrote The Communist Manifesto with his friend, Friedrich Engels in He had three kinds of writing: - Journalism - Political polemic - Analysis of society and culture.

Marxism is summed up as “a theory in which class struggle is a central element in the analysis of social change in Western societies.” Marxism emphasizes the idea that social life is based upon "conflicts of interest". The most fundamental and important of these conflicts is that between the Bourgeoisie (those who own and control the means of production in society) and the Proletariat (those who simply sell their labor power in the market place of Capitalism).

Marxism and Religion Marxism and Religion Because the worker under the capitalist regimes was miserable and alienated, religious beliefs were sustained. Religion, according to Marx was the response to the pain of being alive, the response to earthly suffering Marx says: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the feeling of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless circumstances.” Marx indicates that the proletariat was a true revolutionary class, universal in character and acquainted with universal suffering. This provided the need for religion.

Marx and Education Marx and Education Basically they believe that the whole education system is totally mean on the working class (proletariat). Marxism believes that the education system mirrors that of working life and oppresses the working class in the same ways. For example the hierarchy of the head teachers and teachers etc. is compared to having bosses and people above you who tell you what to do. Marxists also say that the upper class or middle class benefit more from education and the way the national curriculum is run, so it is more suited to middle class children. They believe that things like text books and extra stuff for school are only going to be able to be bought by middle or upper class kids which means working class kids won’t ever learn. Also add in all that stuff about labeling and how teachers discriminate against lower classes because of the past labels and stereotypes etc.

Marx characterized human history in terms of the way in which ownership of the means of production was the most important single variable involved in the characterization of each distinct period (or epoch) in history. He identified five major epochs:

a. Primitive communism - characteristic of early human history where people held everything in common. b. The Ancient epoch (slave society) - societies based upon slavery where the means of production was owned and controlled by an aristocratic elite. c. Feudal society - where land was the most important means of production. This was owned / controlled by an aristocratic class, the majority of people belonging to a peasant class (who had few, if any, political rights).

d. Capitalist society - where technological development (machinery etc.) has allowed a bourgeois class to exploit factory forms of production for their private gain. The aristocracy (landowners) have either been marginalized or co-opted into the Bourgeoisie whilst the majority of people are wage-laborers (they own little or no capital). The main relations of production in this epoch are between employers and employees (those who own and use capital and those who exchange their labor power for a wage). An employer does not own his / her employee in this society and various political freedoms and equalities are able to develop. e. Communist society - where the means of production are held "in common" for the benefit of everyone in society (the dictatorship of the Proletariat). In this society class conflict is finally resolved and this represents the "end of history" since no further form of society can ever develop...

Marxism is a political theory who's main concern is twofold: a. To expose the political and economic contradictions inherent in Capitalism (for example, the fact that while people co- operate to produce goods, a Capitalist class appropriates these goods for its private profit). b. To point the way towards the establishment of a future Communist society.

Fundamentally, there are considered to be two great classes in Capitalist society, (the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat). However, at any given moment a number of class fractions will exist (that is, subdivisions of each main class). For example, the Bourgeoisie might be subdivided into: The Haute (High) Bourgeoisie (owners of large companies), The Petit (Small) Bourgeoisie (owners of small businesses) and The Professions (people who, while not owners of the means of production, help to control the day-to- day running of industries).

Marxists tend to divide Capitalist society into two related "spheres of influence": a. The economic base (or infrastructure) and b. The political and ideological superstructure. Those whose own and control the means of production (the economic infrastructure) are powerful in that society (because they are able to use wealth to enhance and expand their power). However, this economically powerful class has to translate this power into political power (control over the State, machinery of government and so forth) and ideological power (control over how people think about the nature of the social world, capitalist society and so forth).

Thanks for your time. Kianoosh layeghi and Peyman Naser-Abadi