The Role of Marxist Views in Understanding Society

The Marxist view of the world is that society is based upon class conflict; created by Karl Marx this ideology argues that society is split into 2 separate classes the upper class known as the Bourgeoisie and the lower/working class called the Proletariat. In a capitalist society the Bourgeoisie own the means of productions therefore exploiting the lower classes by forcing them to work manual jobs with little pay. However the Proletariat is lured in a false class consciousness; meaning that they are unaware they are being exploited by the Bourgeoisie. Marx believed that the one way which would resolve this issue would be a global revolution turning the capitalist societies into communist utopias where everyone was equal.
Marxist ideas have however been criticised, Marx’s two-class model of inequality is outdated. A new middle class has emerged, consisting of managerial and professional workers, which falls between the bourgeoisie upper class and the proletariat lower class; Marx’s theory cannot account for all the differences within the mass of the population who are not capitalists, such as between manual and non-manual workers. However Giddens argues that the two-class model should be viewed more as a theoretical construct around which to build an analysis of society. Marx believed that the Proletariat classes within society would realise that they are being exploited by the ruling class and rise up in revolution removing the class conflict and imposing a communist society where each person was equal. However, many sociologists argue that this idea created by Marx cannot be applied to today’s society due to the fact that a revolution has not occurred. Although there have been several revolutions in the past within some societies, such as in Russia, they have not occurred in all societies nor have they remained permanent. Also, Marx’s idea of communism being better than capitalism has been questioned by many sociologists, especially within today’s society;