Karl MarxAn Introduction
by Dr. Frank W. Elwell
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a socialist theoretician
and organizer, a major figure in the history
of economic and philosophical thought, and
a great social prophet.
Personally, I like to call him the last of
the old Testament prophets. He basically prophesized
that man would someday create a paradise on
earth. That we would all someday live in brotherhood,
sharing our talents and our wealth.
But in this presentation we will focus on
his role as a sociological theorist. His writings
have had an enormous impact on all of the
social sciences, but particularly upon sociology.
Marx & Engels major intellectual contributions:
1. Elaboration of the conflict model of society,
specifically the theory of social change based
upon antagonisms between social classes;
2. The insight that power originates primarily
in economic production; and
3. His concern with the social origins of
alienation.
Marx's vision was based on an evolutionary
point of departure. Society was comprised
of a moving balance of antithetical forces
that generate social change by their tension
and struggle.
Struggle, rather than peaceful growth, was
the engine of progress; strife was the father
of all things, and social conflict was the
core of the historical process.
Marx believed that the basis of the social
order in every society is the production of
economic goods. What is produced, how it is
produced, and how it is exchanged determine
the differences in people's wealth, power,
and social status.
For Marx, the entire social system is based
on the manner in which men and women relate
to one another in their continuous struggle
to wrest their livelihood from nature.
"The first historical act is the production
of material life itself." Marx goes on to
say that "this is indeed an historical act,
a fundamental condition of history." In
other words, unless this act is fulfilled
(the production of material life), there would
be no other. All social life is dependent
upon the quest for a sufficiency of eating
and drinking, for habitation and for clothing.
This quest to meet basic needs is central
to understanding social life--and is as true
today as it was in prehistory.
The quest to meet basic needs were man's
primary goals at the dawn of the race and
are still central when attempts are made to
analyze the complexities of modern life.
When basic needs have been met, this leads
to the creation of new needs. Man (and woman)
is a perpetually dissatisfied animal. Man's
struggle against nature does not cease when
basic needs are gratified.
The production of new needs evolve when means
are found to allow the satisfaction of older
ones. Humans engage in antagonistic cooperation
as soon as they leave the communal stage of
development in order to satisfy their primary
and secondary needs.
The organization of economic activities leads
to the division of labor which causes the
formation of classes; over time, these classes
develop different material interests, they
become "antagonistic." Thus antagonistic
classes become the primary actors in the historical
drama.
Marx argued that because human beings must
organize their activities in order to clothe,
feed, and house themselves, every society
is built on an economic base. The exact form
social organization takes varies from society
to society and from era to era.
Economic organization to meet our material
needs eventually comes to determine virtually
everything in the social structure. All social
institutions are dependent upon the economic
base, and an analysis of society will always
reveal its underlying economic arrangements.
Polity
Family
Education
Religion
"Legal relations as well as the form of the
state are to be grasped neither from themselves
nor from the so-called general development
of the human mind, but have their roots in
the material conditions of life...
"...The anatomy of civil society is to be
sought in political economy."
Marx's thinking contrasted sharply with
Comte for whom the evolution of mankind resulted
from the evolution of ideas. Marx took as
his point of departure the evolution in man's
material conditions, the varying ways in which
men combined together in order to gain a livelihood.
According to Marx, the qualitative change
of social systems through time could not be
explained by extra-social factors such as
geography or climate.
Nor can such evolutionary changes be due to
the emergence of novel ideas. Ideas, according
to Marx, are not prime movers but are the
reflections, direct or sublimated, of the
material interests that impel men in their
dealings with others. Therefore, the widespread
acceptance of ideas depend on something that
is not an idea--depend upon material interests.
Marx regarded society as a structurally integrated
whole. Consequently for Marx, any aspect of
that whole--be it legal codes, systems of
education, art, or religion--could not be
understood by itself.
Marx's unique contribution lay in identifying
the forces of production as the most powerful
variable influencing the rest of the social
system.
Like all of the founders of sociology, he
believed that we must examine the parts in
relation to one another and in relation to
the whole. Although historical phenomena were
the result of the interplay of many factors,
all but one of them were in the final analysis
dependent variables--that is, dependent upon
the economic base.
"Political, legal, philosophical, and artistic
development all depend on the economic. But
they all react upon one another and upon the
economic base."
 
Marx is not the vulgar materialist that he is often
depicted as being, but he did believe that
that the forces of production, which determine the relations of production
or roughly the economy, was the most important factor in understanding the social system
 
 
 
