Karl marx - society

Karl Marx believed society was divided into two main groups: Bourgeois (anyone who doesn’t get their income from labor as much as from the surplus value they appropriate from the workers who create wealth) and Proletarians (anyone who earns their livelihood by selling their labor power and being paid a wage or salary for their labor time). Through many years these social group statuses have changed from freeman and slave to patrician and plebeian and so on. The disagreement between the Bourgeois and Proletarians has existed for a long time uninterrupted yet when a dispute occurs it ends due to some social rebellion of some sort. In early history we find many complex social groupings, for example Ancient Rome. The modern capitalist has found new social classes with new ways to dominate social production. The middleclass (bourgeois) in our era has simplified the opposition. Society is now dividing into the two main groups. The discovery of America gave the bourgeoisie a chance to use their dominance to their full advantage. Many events such as the colonization of America brought trade and gave to commerce which was never known before. This brought rapid development. The out of date system of industry was replaced by the manufacturing system as the wants of the market grew larger. The ‘ guild-masters’ were replaced by the manufacturing middleclass. There wasn’t splitting of labor between different organisations anymore. Meanwhile, the market and demand kept increasing. Manufacture was no longer good enough. Steam and machinery transformed industrial production ruled by powerful bodies (industrial millionaires, leaders of the armies etc.) Modern industry has created the world market which has contributed to commerce, navigation etc. This has had a knock on effect on the allowance of industry development and also has developed the bourgeoisie, their wealth and pushed aside the other lower classes. The bourgeoisie has played a very active role in the past in relation to sociology. The bourgeoisie will now do anything to get to the top. They don’t care who they affect or hurt in the process as long they are on the path to success. It has made jobs which were honoured in the past less impressive. They are now seen as paid labourers of society. The bourgeoisie has turned the family into a mere money object forgetting that it is meant to be a loving bond between relations. The bourgeoisie cannot survive without constantly evolving productive materials. Conserving has not changed from the past which is strange as it was at the beginning stage when industrial classes began. The bourgeoisie must settle everywhere to be certain that the expanding market continues to grow persistently. The bourgeoisie has changed or even destroyed national industries to make international ones. Industries are less close-minded and jobs in industry require more intelligence. With the very fast development of industrial tools and transport, the bourgeoisie even attracts the most stubborn into their way of society. The attractiveness of the bourgeois mode of production invites many countries to join this civilization. The bourgeoisie had successfully transformed small cities into huge metropolitan empires. Unfortunately it couldn’t save the rural areas. It has made uncivilized countries dependent on the civilized ones who have taken the bourgeois way on board. The bourgeois has increased the population, controlled the way of production and strengthened property resulting in political control. The bourgeoisie is definitely the most dominant ruler in the role of productivity. The way of production and exchange was created by the feudal society which was what the bourgeois used to build itself up. At a certain stage of feudal production and exchange, the feudal property could no longer keep up with the current productive services. Other competition replaced them bringing a social and political structure. Something similar is going on right now. The strategies the bourgeois used to demolish feudalism is now being used against itself. And who is going to carry the missiles to destroy the bourgeois? The opposition — the proletarians (working class). As long as the bourgeois develops, the proletarians develop at the same equivalent. The proletarians are a service in the bourgeois machine which means they are exposed to all the instabilities the bourgeois bring. HUMAN HISTORY AS CLASS CONFLICT BY KARL MARX (SUMMARY) WRITTEN BY AISLING FOLEY