Karl Marx's Influence on Sociology and Political Thought

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Recommended: Of Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto

There can be no doubt over the wide-ranging influence of Karl Marx’s theories on sociology and political thought. His concept of communism overcoming the socioeconomic pitfalls of capitalism has not been a theory that has seen the light of day in the way that he may have hypothesised. There have been many throughout history that have misrepresented Marx’s writing, which begs the question, if pure communism in the original Marxist sense is at all possible given that humanity appears to have an innate ‘need’ for hierarchy and a thirst for power.

Capitalism appears to satisfy the ‘need’ for power and acquisition above all else, and the evidence is seen in the growth of global wealth, which certainly does not amount to equal wealth. The gap between affluent and poor is ever increasing, which includes inequalities of life chances and participation in mainstream society. However, harsh evidence does not appear to change or transform capitalism, hence, Marx’s concept of economic class struggle remains a contested issue.

This essay will explain and explore the concept of capitalism and how Marx believed that the origins and the dynamics of capitalism were intricately woven into the fabric of class struggles throughout history. In fact, this notion opens the first part of the Communist Manifesto with the now famous quote, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Marx and Engels, p 79).

An understanding of the historical basis of capitalism is essential given that Marx based his work around the concept of historical materialism, originally derived from his development of Feuerbach’s “Hegelian inversion”. Historical materialism is a concept explaining the vital function of human production ...

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...gence of The Economy in Hall and Gieben (eds) 2001 Formations of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press

Bythell, D., 1983. The Industrial Revolution: Cottage Industry and the Factory System, 33 pp. 17-23.

Held, D., 2001. The Development of the Modern State in Hall and Gieben (eds.) 2001. Formations of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press

Giddens, A.,1971. Capitalism and Modern Social Theory: An analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Giddens, A., 1986. Sociology: A brief but critical introduction. 2nd ed. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Lee, D., Newby, H., 2000. The Problem of Sociology. Abingdon: Routledge

Marx, K., Engels, F., "Manifesto of the Communist Party." Vol. One, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1969. Web. 9 Apr. 2015.

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/

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