Marxism focuses on the inequality that exists in capitalist society and suggests ways that this inequality can be overcome (i.e. through evolution). It also suggests alternatives to the capitalist system.…
Consider the mindsets of cosmopolitanism, geocentrism, and sociocentrism. Which of these makes the most valuable contribution to organizational leadership? Why?…
“A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of Communism.”1, the opening sentence to The Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels. Karl Marx was a German philosopher, journalist and revolutionary socialist whose famous works include The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. Historians have largely credited Marx’s works for influencing the key figures that went on to lead the Russian Revolution. The Russian Revolution took place in 1917 and disassembled the Tsarist monarchy, preparing for the creation of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, commonly referred to as the Soviet Union or USSR. Although there were many factors that contributed to the Russian Revolution of 1917, Karl Marx and his developed theory of Marxism played a vital role in influencing Lenin’s efforts to overthrow the Provisional Government eventually leading to the Russian Revolution of 1917.…
Marxism – Karl Marx was born in Germany in 1818 to reasonably affluent parents: Hirschel (a lawyer) and Henrietta Marx. Although originally Jewish, to avoid anti-Semitism, Hirschel changed to Protestantism and also adopted the more socially acceptable first name of Heinrich when Karl was a child. Marx attended Bonn University but spent most of his time socialising and, under instruction from his father moved to Berlin University. It was here that Marx met Bruno Bauer and was introduced to the writings of Hegel who impressed Marx with his theories that “a thing or thought could not be separated from its opposite. For example, the slave could not exist without the master, and vice versa” (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUmarx.htm 29-10-12) Marx moved to Cologne and it was when he was here he met Moses Hess who called himself a socialist. He attended socialist meetings where the members told him how deprived the German working class were. After hearing these stories he decided to write an article but when warned he may be arrested he decided to move to France. It was while in France that Marx started mixing with the working class for the first time. He hadn’t seen or experienced the kind of poverty in the working class as he had been used to moving in a different, more affluent social circle. Marxism is a structural theory which considers society to be divided into two main social classes; The Rulers and the Workers. The…
In the story “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, one can see that the author truly wishes his readers to analyze the book via the subsets of Marxism. The first and foremost rationale of the text lending itself to a Marxist analysis comes from the symbolism portrayed by the surname of the main character in the book. Bernard Marx seems to be such a unique and peculiar name that one can with certainty assume that there must be reasoning for it, especially considering the context of this novel. In the first few introductions to Bernard, he narrates his distaste towards his fellow colleagues for “talking about [Lenina] as though she were a bit of meat. Have her here, have her there. Like mutton. Degrading her to so much mutton” (Huxley 39). In the mind of Bernard, his colleagues do not treat Lenina as an equivalent human being who belongs to the same and equal faction as his colleagues. Instead, through the eyes of Bernard she is seen simply as ‘degrading’ meat. Bernard’s hatred towards this subject matter exemplifies conceivably the similarities between the thoughts of Karl Marx and Bernard. From this, one can easily anticipate that Bernard Marx will play a pivotal role that maybe shadows the thoughts of the real Karl Marx in around the period of Huxley’s era. One can even go about saying that perhaps the vast popularity of Marxism at the time of this novel’s publication posed a direct influence on Huxley’s perception of society, which he then applied to the story. Quite ironically however, later on in the novel while Bernard watches the clear ocean, “it makes [him] feel as though [he] was more [him]… More on [his] own, not so completely a part of something else. Not just a cell in the social body” (Huxley 78). In these more updated and comprehensive thoughts of Bernard Marx, one can realize that his aversion towards the collective society of the World State shatters the previous anticipations…
Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and Georg Simmel are the dominant classical voices when studying or analyzing the rise of civilization from a more cooperative, collective feudal social order to a modern capitalistic society. All four of these sociological philosophers contributed to the contemporary understanding of the nature of society and social change. Each of them eventually surmised that economic conditions directly influenced the relationship between individuals and their fellows, and individuals and their world. Although they had differences in their viewpoints, they were acutely concerned with the evolving market society and its effect on human interaction. Marx developed his concept of “alienation”, Durkheim expressed thoughts on social solidarity, Weber and Simmel emphasized how the emergence of capitalism affected the way people think, making the rational calculation of means and ends more ubiquitous and placing significant importance on rationalism and disenchantment. The outcome for the modern citizen was not naturally grounded in humanitarianism…
Karl Marx was regarded as the father of communism. He criticized the dominant form of government during his time which was capitalism. Capitalism encourages competition among the people and gives rewards unequally. He argued that capitalist nations allowed the few wealthy people to amass a great fortune while the masses seemed to work harder with little reward for their efforts (Ebrey et. al., 2005). The rich kept the resources for themselves, often denying the poor of an equal opportunity.…
The point of Appiah's essay is to explain the topic of cosmopolitanism is today's society. Basically, Appiah explains someone who is a cosmopolitan as "a citizen of the world"; it is also "our responsibility to exchange ideas about what is right and wrong in the world." We must also realize that we are responsible for other people in the world, and that every person has a different positive contribution that they can make to the "whole." He uses words, such as "shared humanity," to show that while humans may be spread all over the globe and live different lives, there are also many things that we share in common about everyday life. However, problems are caused when people cannot tolerate others or aren't open to diversity. There are also people who believe that in order to work together with another person, that person must "be like them." Overall, as long as we can work against the negatives, Appiah thinks that cosmopolitanism will be a very important factor in any successful community. The point of Appiah's essay is to explain the topic of cosmopolitanism is today's society. Basically, Appiah explains someone who is a cosmopolitan as "a citizen of the world"; it is also "our responsibility to exchange ideas about what is right and wrong in the world." We must also realize that we are responsible for other people in the world, and that every person has a different positive contribution that they can make to the "whole." He uses words, such as "shared humanity," to show that while humans may be spread all over the globe and live different lives, there are also many things that we share in common about everyday life. However, problems are caused when people cannot tolerate others or aren't open to diversity. There are also people who believe that in order to work together with another person, that person must "be like them." Overall, as long as we can work against the negatives, Appiah thinks that cosmopolitanism will be a very important factor in any…
Marxism was introduced and studied by Karl Marx during 1818 and 1883. The Marxist view is based on the conflicts and interests of the society, it also strongly highlights on the importance of conflict in societies and communities. They also believe that economics are the bases of progressing and social life this can be achieved by struggling through social classes. The two classes that Marx discussed about were the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie class is a small powerful group who may have owned factories or own companies whereas the Proletariat is a poorer group of workers. The way a Marxists thinks is based on the financial structures and systems as well as social class meaning that these factors are vital in the Marxist view.…
Karl Marx, who was a respected and important sociologist, was the central creator of the idea of Communism. His ideas for Communism were relayed through a book known as The Communist Manifesto. Communism was an idea that all people are equal; the basic meaning of the radical political view was that society should be classless. His influence was, however, short lived in its original state.…
His theory covers the culture, politics, economics and industrialization of his time. He called the leading role of the social parts of each individual societies superstructures. In Marx 's eyes there were two classes: The Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The upper class, more wealthy, Bourgeoisie, had the smaller more powerful aristocratic class. On the other hand, the Proletariat are less skilled lower class workers that are the majority. Do to the separation of these two classes the Bourgeoisie own all the means of production and have the rights to all the riches. They have the power to influence there thoughts and beliefs in society because of their economic and social dominance (Rigauer, 2000).…
Karl Marx changed the world with his Communist Manifesto. He observed the gap between the rich and the poor and wanted the world to know that capitalism does not benefit everybody, and that it would not be permanent. Marx believed the proletariat will triumph over the bourgeoisie because the self-interest of the bourgeoisie exploits and alienates the proletariat to the point where they become class conscious and politicized, and they would revolutionize society. This revolution would lead to a very different stage in history where private property would not exist, which would lead to social classes not existing, ending the dialectical flow of history.…
The Communist Manifesto, written in 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, was a way of explaining Marx's new form of Socialism/Communism. This document didn't come into large interest until Communism started to reach its highest popularity point. In it, Marx explains the science and history behind his findings. “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”(Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto). This class struggle seen time and time again throughout history was one of the main ideas Communism was aimed at to eradicate. In ancient Egyptian times: the Pharaoh and the slave, ancient Rome: the aristocrat and the plebian and most recently,…
The novella, “Brave New World,” by Aldous Huxley, introduces a futuristic world in which there are different social classes in order to keep a happy society and taught nothing else other than what the people of the world need to know. The world is meant to keep people all over happy and create no issues. The author throughout the book connects this with Marxist theory. This can be shown through the different social classes that there are in the book. There are significant differences between the classes throughout including, the condemnation of social classes, the different ends of the spectrum each class is on, and the idea that society is more important than the individuals within it.…
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote The Communist Manifesto to promote a working class revolution to overthrow the bourgeois class who controlled the factors of production at that time. It can be seen in some parts of the manifesto, the authors seemed to acknowledge the benefits or improvements that the bourgeois have made in the world. As an example, "it has created enormous cities, greatly increased the urban population, and has thus rescued a considerable part of the population from the idiocy of rural life." (The Communist Manifesto, p. 3) The author implied that the world has become much more civilized and advanced because of the bourgeois. In was stated in the document, "there is too much civilization, too much means of subsistence, too much industry, too much commerce." Karl Marx has shown that in a way the bourgeois has brought on much change towards society and the improvements of the lives of people in the world as compared with…