Karl Marx lived between 1818 and 1883 and is remembered as a political theorists, historian, philosopher, journalist, sociologist and revolutionary socialist. Marx was born in middle-class family in Trier. He went ahead to study both Hegelian philosophy and law. Following his political publications, he was forced to exile after ending up stateless. He took refuge in London where came up with his collaboration thought together with Friedrich Engels, a German thinker and started publishing his works. Among Marx’s best publications include The Communist Manifesto, the 1848 pamphlet and the Das Kapital. His philosophical and political ideas had great influence on the successive economic, political, and intellectual history (Mehring 45).
Theories by Karl Marx about economic, politics and economics, commonly referred to as Marxism, share a common idea that human societies normally develop as a result of class struggles (Mehring 45). In relation to capitalism, this comes out through the conflict that exits between the ruling classes controlling the production means and the working class that gives rise to the means through providing labor power to earn wages in return.
By applying a critical approach that is commonly referred to as historical materialism, Marx developed a prediction that capitalism, similar to socio-economic systems that came before, resulted in internal tensions likely to result in its self-replacement and later being replaced by a new system, which is socialism. Class antagonism according to Max, under capitalism partly as a result of its crisis-prone and instability nature, would in the long-run eventuate the class consciousness development among the working class (Mehring 45).
This development will then lead to their political power conquest and eventually the rise of a communist, class’s society that is made up of free producers association. Marx actively pushed for the establishment of these classes, insisting that the working class needs to conduct revolutionary action in an organized manner to topple capitalism and give way to socio-economic emancipation.
Marx is regarded as one of the brains that were very influential in human history and his ideas and works have both being criticized and lauded. His work in economics form the foundation of most of the recent understanding of labor and how it relates to capital and resulting economic thoughts. Many labor unions, political parties, and intellectuals across the world have been influenced by his work, with most of them adapting or modifying his theories and ideas. He is considered as one of the modern social science principle architects (Mehring 45).
Idea 1: Conflict Theory
Of all the classical social science founders, Karl Marx is mostly associated with the conflict theory. On the foundation of a dialectical materialist historical account, Marxism stated that similar to the past socioeconomic systems, capitalism is likely to inevitably result in internal tension that will lead to its destruction. Following this position, he steered a radical change and advocated for proletarian freedom and revolution from the classes that were ruling the working class. According to the Marxist theory, the capitalist production mode class structure is characteristic of the conflict between the main class who own the production means and the much larger working class who have to sell their labor power to earn wages (Sears 34-36).
This theory focuses more on the consequences and causes of conflict between classes. Basing on the implications of capitalism in Europe, Marx came up with the theory that such a capitalists system, premised on powerful minority class existence and the majority working class that was being oppressed, resulted in class conflict following the fact that the two had conflicting interests and resources were not distributed in a justified manner among them.
Theory of Deviance
Henry McKay and Clifford Shaw came up with a theory that stated social disorganization was not the main cause of crime and deviancy, particularly among the minority youth. They supported this position with the fact that kids from the inner city were observed to take a more active part in criminal lifestyle as compared to kids from the suburbs areas. Being in a position to live a better life in the city and had wealth, the kids had better opportunities in relation to education and lifestyle and this led to less crime and being involved less in crime.
In relation to Marx’s’ conflict theory, within such a society, there is an unequal social order and this tends to be maintained by the ideological coercion that results in consensus and with time, the acceptance of expectations, values, and conditions that are determined by the working class(Sears 34-36). He came up with the theory that the production of consensus work took place in the superstructure of society and what it resulted in was the economic production relations.
Marx argued that when the conditions of the working class go worse, both socially and economically, they would with time develop a class consciousness which exposed how they have been exploited by the wealthy capitalist class and after realizing this, they would go ahead and revolt as they demand for changes to smooth the existing conflict. According to the theory by Marx, in the event that the changes were effected to settle the conflict maintained by a system of capitalists, then this cycle is likely to repeat. However, in the event that the changes resulted in a new system such as socialism, then stability and peace would be achieved.
Marx considered capitalism to be part of the historical economic system progress and believed that it was based on commodities or things that can be sold and purchased. A good example is his position on labor where he believed that it was a type of a commodity. But now that laborers seem to have little power or control within the economic system following the fact that they do not own materials or factories, their worth is likely to be devalued with time. This, according to Marx, is likely to result in social conflict. Marx believed that such problems would in the long-run be fixed using an economic and social revolution (Sears 34-36).
Idea 2: Feminist Theory and Deviance
Women who are considered to be criminally deviant are in most cases viewed to be doubly deviant. They have gone against the laws while at the same time broken the gender norms on the female behavior that the society considers to be appropriate. On the other hand, the criminal behavior of men is seen as being consistent with their self-assertive, aggressive character. The double standards applied in this case is used to explain the trend of the deviance of medicalized women to look at it as the psychiatric or physiological pathology product (Sears 34-36)
The Marxist feminists’ theory is based on the Marxism principles in relation to how capitalism makes use of family to oppress women and the family consequences that are harmful to the lives of women. Marxists feminist considers gender and class inequality as dual oppression systems, with the two being very independent and powerful systems. Marxists feminists in most cases argue that gender and class inequalities reinforce one another and result in groups that are oppressed from both sides.
One of the Marxist feminist study by Margaret Benston focuses on the value of the labor women who are unpaid play in a family. This form of labor that withstands the current labor forces and cultivates the next generation, cost the owners nothing in relation to the production means. Also, the male breadwinner responsibility to support his family restrains his ability to withdraw his labor power to defend his class interests. By doing so, it assists in reinforcing the capitalist economic system that is inequitable (Sears 34-36).
The position of women in the family can be used to explain the issue of developing working class consciousness. As the case with the general exchange relationship in capitalism, what underlines these exchange relationship that seem equal are power relations (Sears 34-36). Several relationships like those between females and males, family relationships, surrogate mother hood and prostitution may seem to show equality but this is because the underlying unequal power relations hide a lot of inequalities.
Works Cited
Mehring, Franz. Karl Marx: The Story of His Life. New York: Routledge, 2003
Sears, Alan. A Good Book, In Theory: A Guide to Theoretical Thinking. North York: Higher Education University of Toronto Press, 2008. pg. 34-6
