Marx's Theory of Class

The theory describing class as determined by social relations of production stems from the revolutionary German philosopher, Karl Marx (1818-1883). Ultimately, his social, political and economic ideas rose to prominence and greater recognition following his death. Marx himself grew up in a content middle-class home and it was only thirty years later that Marx published his first pamphlet in relation to class, notably in the same period he joined a communist organization known as the Communist League.
Marx believed that there were two basic classes that existed in his period: capitalists and labourers. He distinguished capitalists as the dominant group and the labourers as the inferior. The dominant class control the means of production and the lower class is forced to provide labour. Based on this, it is axiomatically acknowledged through historical evidence that forms conflict occur in every differentiated society. More importantly, Marx said “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”, meaning history is basically a struggle between classes for dominance, regardless of the era.
Marx’s theory serves as an observation of the past and a hypothesis for the future. It is thus a Marxist aim to strive for equality among classes, a solution proposed through the communist idealism.
In Paradise Road, according to this theory, the dominant class is the Japanese in the given circumstances with the woman being the inferior. This is demonstrated through their inferred superiority, when the women are made to bow before the soldiers, as well as their abusive punishment methods. However, there is an inter-conflict among the woman themselves as the aristocrat women are exposed to the “commoners” at camp. For example, one woman says “We never mixed with missionaries in Singapore, we were told to look down on them”, indicating her class as a capitalist in her respective society. Marx’s theory coincides with the class conflict seen in Paradise Road, which illustrates views of class conflict through the abusive power of Japanese and the class-related diversity seen between the social groups of the women, both conforming to the main principles of the theory.