Karl Marx: Creator of Marxism & Analyzer of Capitalism - Essay Sample

Introduction

Karl Marx is a philosopher famed for creating the doctrine of Marxism. Marxism is a doctrine integrated with social, economic, and political philosophies that defines the impact of capitalism on the economy, throughput, and labor. Karl Marx argues that there is an incessant progression of the labor revolution that will occur to override communism over capitalism. Marxism observes the existence of two distinct social classes; the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie represents the capitalists while the Proletariat represents the workers in the capitalistic environment.

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Karl Marx observed that there would exist a social class struggle between the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat, whose result is revolutionary communism. Simply, Marxism defines the basis of the struggle between workers and capitalists (Jones, 564). The basis of this struggle is the exploitative relationship that empowers capitalists at the expense of workers. As a result of this struggle, Karl Marx ascertains that workers will overthrow capitalists and control the bargain.

Karl Marx lived between 1818 and 1883, and this means that the derivations of his theories stem from the analysis of European society. In his Europe excursion, Marx discovered that poverty prevailed in society as a result of social and economic inequality. Inequality in this context was related to access to resources, property ownership, as well as wealth. The working class, which was principally associated with the production of wealth, was being exploited by the capitalists (Jones, 563). The working class, which was referred to as the Proletariat, received fewer wages and worked under poor conditions.

The Bourgeoisie, on the other hand, received principal returns and kept all profits. When this was happening, the capitalists gained more control of the wealth and factors of production. As a result, the Bourgeoisie became richer while the Proletariat became poorer. This progression was meant to happen in the time immemorial. Karl Marx then devised that the only way this exploitation can be reversed is when workers form unions that will overthrow the capitalists (Jones, 198). Overthrowing the capitalists will introduce communism, which will employ social equality.

There are two basic social classes referred to by Karl Marx. The first social class is the Bourgeoisie. This represents the capitalist class in the society who own and control the wealth in the economy. This social class controlled factors of production such as land, labor, and capital. According to Karl Marx, the factors of production form the economic base of the country. The Bourgeoisie became organized in production, exploiting factors of production to create output, which is then sold in the market at a profit. The Proletariat is the second social class. It represents the largest sect of society (Jones, 201). The Proletariat represents the workers that form the labor sect of the economic base. The Proletariat were involved in selling labor for wages and salaries paid by the Bourgeoisie.

Karl Marx argues that the creation of wealth in the capitalist industry is based on profit maximization. The wealthy, which represent the Bourgeoisie reproduced their wealth by exploiting the workers. The nature of the relationship between the Bourgeoisies and the Proletariats is known to be exploitative. How? The wages paid to the workers are below the market rate. The market rate of wages was measured at the price of relative products that the workers produce. Capitalists thus maximized profits by accumulating surplus value, which then exploited workers. The interests of the workers were to maximize wages while that of the capitalists was to minimize production costs to maximize returns. This difference in interests formed the basis of the conflict between the Bourgeoisies and Proletariats.

Karl Marx explained that the social class that controlled wealth also instituted political control over other social institutions in society. The wealthy, which includes the capitalists in the economy, controlled factors of production as well as the superstructure. The superstructure includes systems such as mass media, the legal structure, and education, among others. In this system, the dominant class controlled the ideological perspective of society. Marx claimed that the inferior class, which was comprised of workers, observed ideological inferences of the wealthy as common sense (Jones, 140). The workers thus could not dispute the ideologies of the wealthy, meaning that they fully accepted the exploitative capitalist system instituted by the wealthy class. The working class lived in apathy, having to believe that the discriminative social status is inevitable and that constant production will be the only way to lead a performing society.

According to Karl Marx, discriminative ideologies exerted false consciousness, which the masses failed to expound its consequences, thus ending up disregarding their common interests. This gives power to the wealthy classes in the society; power the wealthy used to exploit the workers in terms of wages and working contracts. Marx believed that the people lacked a wakeup call that will stir the workers to urge for their common interests. Marx observed that such an action could only be achieved through political interception (Jones, 360). The result of this interception will be a conflict that will lead to the abolishment of capitalism and introduce a communist society that exerts social equality.

Marx believed that capitalism is built on commodities. The control over the ownership and sale of a commodity is what defined the influence of a social class. For instance, the capitalist economy refers to labor as a commodity that can be owned, sold, or exchanged at a price. Workers who own the labor industry lacked the means of transforming labor as a factor of production to produce the desired output (Jones, 398). The wealthy, which is the dominant class in the society, owned factories, and materials that they can use to make end products. As a result, the capitalists realized that labor could be exchanged and valued at an insignificant price based on demand and supply needs.

Marx ascertains that the wealthy, who were the bearers of social ideologies, instituted political control over the superstructure system of society. Politics is a powerful tool that acts as a weapon against the lesser society considering the capitalistic view in this analysis. This can be viewed from various perspectives. For example, the majority of the legislative officials were comprised of the dominant persons. This meant that policies and ideologies created to govern the society favored the dominant class in cases such as property ownership (Jones, 311). The dominant class controlled the media, the result being suppression of awareness regarding the nature of the relationship between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariats. The result of this system is that the capitalist system is rationalized at the expense of the workers.

Karl Marx also observed that the wealthy dominated the religious system in the society. Religion was then used to infer intimate ideologies to the Proletariat, convincing them to accept exploitation in a system Marx defined as "the opium of the masses." The financial system also necessitated property ownership and undermined the bargaining power of workers. For instant, workers are supplied with destructive debt. As well, the economic recession controlled the economy at times, ensuring that the rate of unemployment rises significantly. With a high supply of unemployed labor, it was easy for the dominant class to exploit the labor industry.

According to Karl Marx, the communist's view is the social unit that will dominate the capitalist unit as a result of the existence of a conflict in human transformation. Marx claimed that the human revolution occurs when humans develop an urge to satisfy their unmet needs. When people, for instant workers, determine this exertion, they infer a valuable means in which they will use to realize their goal of gaining satisfaction. To be appropriate, fighting to meet one's needs opens up higher needs as this is the nature of humanity.

Humans then start by ascertaining basic needs such as food and clothing, then to higher needs such as intellectual ability and artistic control. Constant approval of these means of satisfaction makes humanity to realize their incessant control over social transformation and thus start to value their productivity. Achieving a level of control and value over production empowers laborers to establish their free consciousness. Naturally, humans dictate absoluteness and the need for freedom (Jones, 487). Gaining a free consciousness then means that workers will start opposing the capitalistic system that suppressed their deserved social equality.

Marx dictated that the communist view defines the reality of human transformation. A society that is once oppressed develops the urge of social and political freedom. Since the capitalistic society oppressed the workers, then a conflict will arise to establish a communist view of the economy.

Works Cited

Jones, Gareth Stedman. Karl Marx. Harvard University Press, 2016.