Marxist on Education

‘Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries, unite!’ (Karl Marx). Karl Marx is one of the most influential men in modern history. He is well-known for ‘The Communist Manifesto’ which was written in 1848. Karl Marx was born in 1818 in Trier, thereafter, earned his living as a journalist after studying philosophy and economics in Berlin. His belief was that the economic system shapes society to a great extent and education plays a large role into this theory. Marxist, the name of his theory, was established during the Industrial Revolution of the mid-19th century. In this essay, I am going to assess the history of the Marxist theory, and also assess the contribution of this theory on the role of education in the Caribbean society.
Marxists perceive a capitalist society is being ruled by the economy. The minority, the ruling class or 'bourgeoisie' rule the majority, namely the workers or 'proletariat'. The bourgeoisie have the wealth and the power to rule whereas the proletariats are capitalized on, hence, not treated fairly. This results in inequality among the classes. In addition, Marxists believe that institutions such as organised religion, the mass media, the political and the education systems all support the ideology that the rich and powerful should dominate society. They encouraged the ideology or belief that society is fair and just and that the proletariat should just tolerate and accept the capitalist society. A capitalist society is one in which natural resources and the means of producing goods and services are privately owned (Macionis & Plummer, 2008). Marx argues that the high growth of this wealth is as a result of the masses, proletariat, being exploited. He also debated that the conflict between classes brings about such consequence and this will eventually revolutionize the capitalist society into a class- less society.