Karl Marx and European Society
AP European History
Chapter 23 Essay
Socialist views appeared in Europe wide-spread during the late eighteenth and century and early nineteenth century. Karl Marx, though among others, held the most respected and published views of socialism as described in his eloquently worded book, The Communist Manifesto. In this literary work, Karl Marx describes the upper class bourgeoisie as members of society who feed off the hard earned money and exuberating labor of the lower classes, proletariats. In Marxian Socialism, the proletariat instigates a violent uprising against the bourgeoisie and ultimately overthrows the oppressive upper class and initiates a dictatorship government by the proletariat for the proletariat. While most of these views were deemed highly radical and not widely accepted, Karl Marx did speculate about the future of European society and the positioning of socioeconomic classes. In his opinion, Karl Marx believed that European society would be brutally divided into two classes, the bourgeoisie and proletariat. However, as a result of a few social and economic influences, Karl Marx was incorrect in his conjecture that the people of nineteenth century Europe would be diversely split into two opposing social classes. In spite of growing occupational conflicting interests, the middle classes of Europe were loosely tied together by a particular lifestyle and culture. Above all, food in a middle class family was the largest item in the household budget consuming roughly 25 percent of the family’s total income. Spending time on food and drink was popular as the occurrence of the dinner party was common among wealthier middle class homes, occurring roughly once a week, while more modest families would settle for around once a month. When a family was able to employ at least one full-time maid they had officially crossed the boundary of the working classes to what contemporary scholars refer to ass the “Servant keeping classes.”
Chapter 23 Essay
Socialist views appeared in Europe wide-spread during the late eighteenth and century and early nineteenth century. Karl Marx, though among others, held the most respected and published views of socialism as described in his eloquently worded book, The Communist Manifesto. In this literary work, Karl Marx describes the upper class bourgeoisie as members of society who feed off the hard earned money and exuberating labor of the lower classes, proletariats. In Marxian Socialism, the proletariat instigates a violent uprising against the bourgeoisie and ultimately overthrows the oppressive upper class and initiates a dictatorship government by the proletariat for the proletariat. While most of these views were deemed highly radical and not widely accepted, Karl Marx did speculate about the future of European society and the positioning of socioeconomic classes. In his opinion, Karl Marx believed that European society would be brutally divided into two classes, the bourgeoisie and proletariat. However, as a result of a few social and economic influences, Karl Marx was incorrect in his conjecture that the people of nineteenth century Europe would be diversely split into two opposing social classes. In spite of growing occupational conflicting interests, the middle classes of Europe were loosely tied together by a particular lifestyle and culture. Above all, food in a middle class family was the largest item in the household budget consuming roughly 25 percent of the family’s total income. Spending time on food and drink was popular as the occurrence of the dinner party was common among wealthier middle class homes, occurring roughly once a week, while more modest families would settle for around once a month. When a family was able to employ at least one full-time maid they had officially crossed the boundary of the working classes to what contemporary scholars refer to ass the “Servant keeping classes.”