Karl Marx Coursework Example

Abstract
Karl Marx was a leading proponent of the modernization theory and has had a significant influence on the modern and post-modern worldviews and beliefs. While he was a trained philosopher, he turned to engaging in the political and economic philosophical debates of his time, and his works formed the inspiration towards the establishment of many communist regimes. Marx perceived historical processes to be defined by class struggle in the many societies under capitalist-centered societies. The landowners, capitalists, and laborers formed the dominant forces in this conflict, with private property forming the oppression of the bourgeoisie. While Marx’s motivation was not geared at entrenching human equality, his socialist philosophy gravitated towards the liberation of humanity from tyranny and oppression, and this included dispensing away with capitalist societies and replacing them with systems that value humanity. Further, Marx perceived the state as contradicting the real interests of society by serving the interests of the dominant class, which, even in such circumstances, could only represent a specific section of that particular class.
Regarded to as one of the most profound proponents of modernization theory, Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a philosopher-cum-revolutionary defined by his commitment to environmental determinism (Weikart, 2008). He held the scientific socialism perspective based on what he believed were immutable socio-economic laws and the conviction that economic forces are determinants for humanity and its social institutions.

As a result, Marx was responsible for the introduction of new inquiry methods, innovative concepts, and multiple hypotheses in explaining the “rise, development, and decline of particular forms of society” (Bottomore, 2008). While he received philosophical training, he turned to contemporary economic and political-philosophical debates in his mid-twenties, and his works became an inspiration for the establishment of many twentieth century communist regimes because his political creed was intertwined with a scientific investigation. Marx viewed historical processes to be defined by the class struggle through the various methods of production, which culminate in communism following the collapse of capitalism.
In his support for modernization, Karl Marx was of the view that the economic future of less developed societies was to be shaped by their focus on those that are economically developed. In this regard, Marx consistently observed human societies as systems where there was an interrelation of institutions, social groups, doctrines, and beliefs and as such had to be considered wholly. Further, he opined that societies were “inherently mutable systems” where internal conflicts were responsible for the evolution of change in those systems (Bottomore, 2008). Indeed, through the twentieth century, modernization was largely viewed as a Western affair in which countries had to adapt to the morally and technically superior Western ways. Still solid in Marx’s modernization theory is the fact that industrialization is affecting the major societal segments, including changing gender roles and increasing educational levels.
Further, Marx was of the view that human nature is dynamic in response to economic changes happening, and trained his lenses that depicted class struggles to illustrate and define history. A capitalistic society, as described in Capital, is characterized by three dominant classes i.e. landowners, capitalists, and laborers. He viewed private property holdings as the origin of human societal evils and in particular the urban worker oppression by the “bourgeois capitalists” (Weikart, 2008). Resultantly, private property formed the genesis of class struggles throughout the ages in which the capitalists used political structures, the law, morality, and religion as tools for oppressing the un-propertied.
While Marx’s motivation was not geared at entrenching human equality, his socialist philosophy gravitated towards the liberation of humanity from tyranny and oppression. During his time, factory workers and the unemployed were living in abject misery and poverty in a dehumanizing manner during the Industrial Revolution, typified by tyranny and immense oppression (Weikart, 2008). According to Marx, capitalism must, therefore, be dispensed away with and replaced with a system valuing humanity, abolishing free markets and having it replaced with an economy under government control. Indeed, the communism advanced by Marx is replicated in the control of many countries today such as China operating on the disguise of social democracy.
Further, Marx stressed of the existential gap between the civil society and the state, of which he perceived the state as originating from the division of labor and which contradicted real societal interests, in which there existed a political organization in each production stage throughout history and which served the interests of the dominant class. Even in such circumstances, the state could be representing only a particular section of the particular class. However, he opined that the law and state were just temporary and the inevitability of a revolution would break the state’s power. State power would disappear by abolishing classes followed by the transformation of government functions into administrative purposes. This revolution would be attained by winning democracy that would transform the working class.
References
Bottomore, T. (2008). Marxism facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Marxism. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/political-science-and-government/political-science-terms-and-concepts-41Weikart, R. (2008). The Dehumanizing Impact of Modern Thought: Darwin, Marx, Nietzsche, and Their Followers | Center for Science and Culture. Discovery.org. Retrieved from http://www.discovery.org/a/6301