Society Through the Eyes of Karl Marx

Karl Marx was a philosopher, economist and theorist, largely known for the Conflict Theory in sociology. Marx believed that tension and conflict motivates people to think and act differently and that social unrest based on economic inequality would lead to a more socialistic society. In spite of the criticism received by his peers and harassment from government, Marx held to his beliefs and dedicated his life to proving his theory, a theory which I believe will come to pass, just as he predicted, only centuries later.

Born May 5, 1818 in Trier, Germany, Karl Marx was an intellectual who was intrigued by law. However, after graduation he became preoccupied with philosophy. His quest against inequality within society began during the first "New Era" in Prussia. Using a local newspaper, Marx criticized the deliberation of government. Of course this was not looked upon with satisfaction and the law was used to shut Marx down, citing the paper for defying censorship laws and eventually discontinuing production. This led Marx in yet another direction. Gaining a greater understanding of the process of the historical development of mankind was now his mission.

This new move led Karl Marx to Paris, France, where he studied the political economy and the history of the great French Revolution. After the production of his first writings on the subject Marx was expelled from France. Inspired by this and prior experiences with government and its practices Karl Marx produced "The Poverty of Philosophy", a critique of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's book Philosophie. In this article many of the theories later presented by Karl Marx in his book The Manifesto of the Communist Party, were introduced. This critique caused yet another expulsion for Marx, this time from Belgium.

At the request of the French provisional government Karl Marx returned to Cologne and with the help of his friends began the Neue Rheinishche Zeitung. The news paper was so important to the revolution that it is still held in high regard by the people of Rhine today. After countless battles, government interference ceased production of the short lived newspaper. Considered no longer a Prussian subject, Karl Marx was once again expelled from France.

Relocating to a British Museum that housed a very large library, Marx began to examine the political economy on a broader basis. During his time there he began writing articles and acting as editor of European politics for the New York Tribune until the American Civil War began. Karl Marx was determined to be a voice for the working class man. His quest was to inform working class people of the injustices in which they encounter as employees without any knowledge of indiscretion. In an interview Karl Marx said, "Most of the major states of history owed their existence to conquest. The conquering people established themselves, legally and economically, as the privileged class of the conquered country. They seized for themselves a monopoly of the land ownership and appointed priesthood from among their own ranks. The priest, in control of education, made the class division of society into a permanent institution and created a system of values by which the people where thenceforth, to a large extent unconsciously, guided in their social behavior (V.P. Lebedev)."

In 1859 the release of his first book, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Part 1, based on his study of the political economy was produced. It took him nearly eight years to produce a continuation of his study and in 1867 his second book entitled Capital. A Critique of Political Economy, Volume I, was published. Unlike the first book, A Critique of Political Economy was based on scientific deductions of society and presented a new outlook on socialism. He breaks down the division between capitol and labor as explained by the government and describes how economics work in a way anyone could understand. In this book Marx uses over forty years of research and data to highlight the conditions of workers in just about every industry pointing out the fact that those with the greatest capital invested in the industry reap far more than those who keep the industry going and thriving.

This leads us to the theory created by Karl Marx, The Conflict Theory.

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