Brief Notes on Karl Marx Essay

Workers of the world unite, you give nothing to lose but your chainsKarl Marx, a 19th century sociologist, philosopher and political economist who suggested a theory explaining the conflict between capital and labour, and the role of classes in the state, has had a profound influence on political thinking all over the world.Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in Prussia. His family was Jewish, but afterward converted to Protestanism. Marx read law at university, majoring in history and philosophy. He concluded his university course in 1841. A revolutionary, he upset too many governments on the continent and eventually settled in London, where he died in 1883.ACCORDING TO MARX, adult male civilization has manifested itself in a series of organizational structures, separately determined by its primary agency of production, particularly the division of labor that dominates in each stage. political orientation functions as the superstructure of a civilization the conventions and cult ure that make up the dominant ideas of a hunting lodge. The sentiment ideas of a given epoch are, however, those of the ruling class The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal font of the dominant material relationships, the dominant material relationships grasped as ideas hence of the relationships which make the one class the ruling one, therefore, the ideas of their dominance. Since one goal of ideology is to legitimize those forces in a position of hegemony, it tends to obfuscate the fierceness and exploitation that often keep a disempowered group in its place (from slaves in tribal inn to the peasantry in feudal hunting lodge to the proletariat in capitalist fiat). The obfuscation necessarily leads to logical contradictions in the dominant ideology, which Marxism works to uncover by returning to the material conditions of a society a societys mode of production.The material conditions existing at a given time period Marx refers to asthe means of production. Any giv en time periods ideology is most clearly revealed by uncovering the material conditions of production the means of production, as well as the relations of production (the shipway the society structures the relations between individuals, particularly through the division of labor), which together make up the mode of production life involves before everything else eating and drinking, a habitation, clothing and many other things.The first diachronic act is thus the production of the means to satisfy these needs, the production of material life itself (48). For Marx, it is the materiality of human production that directly influences ideology Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life. Felluga, Dino. (2003) Modules on Marx, Introductory Guide to Critical Theory . 17 Mar 2004Marx states that Capitalist society is formed of the Owning Class (Borgoisie), those who own and control the economic functions of society and who can thus shape society to suit themselves a nd the Working Class (Proletariat), the workers. These classes have nothing in common they are antagonistic and in conflict with each other. This struggle will ultimately lead to revolution and the establishment of a ace class society.All relationships are based upon Economics even family relationships economics is the fundamental driving force, exceptional even religion which he described as the Opium of the People. Understanding economic relationships is a crucial bill if one wishes to gain control of them.