For more information
Call 1-800-351-0222
Call 1-800-351-0222
Karl Marx
Term Paper ID:27251
Essay Subject:
Argues that the theories of Karl Marx contain ongoing, & perhaps enhanced, relevance. Focuses on Marxism in information age economies & Marxism & modern feminism.... More...
9 Pages / 2025 Words
7 sources, 13 Citations,
APA Format
$36.00
More Papers on This Topic
Paper Abstract:
Argues that the theories of Karl Marx contain ongoing, & perhaps enhanced, relevance. Focuses on Marxism in information age economies & Marxism & modern feminism.
Paper Introduction:
Karl Marx
With the collapse of the Soviet Union it has become fashionable to discuss the teachings of Karl Marx as a dead philosophy or philosophical dead end. While there are particular areas of Marx's theories which clearly need reexamination, such as his views on gender, clearly there remains much relevance in his concepts for our age. In material terms the world has not completely abandoned the Marxist experiment. China certainly has not abandoned its Marxist experiment (and represents the largest government in the world in terms of population governed). In the Middle East, Muslim philosophers and economists still embrace Islamic economics whose basis lies on the Marxist doctrine regarding the equal
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
Marx wrote many of his theories during the height of the industrialrevolution and as such was profoundly influenced by this era in history.While historians and sociologists argue the industrial revolution is overin the United States, many so-called developing nations around the worldare just beginning to experience industrial revolutions of their own. In the MiddleEast, Muslim philosophers and economists still embrace Islamic economicswhose basis lies on the Marxist doctrine regarding the equal distributionof wealth. It is important to note that in this mannerI am using Marx's methods of social analysis, which were created over aspan of four decades in the nineteenth century, to predict class conflictsearly in the twenty-first century. Karl Marx With the collapse of the Soviet Union it has become fashionable todiscuss the teachings of Karl Marx as a dead philosophy or philosophicaldead end. Miller, R. Caird, E. This is primarily due to thefact that we have devoted so much preoccupation in western civilizations(in support of or against) Marx's theories which were first introduced inthe mid-nineteenth century. American society is changing radically at the end of the twentiethcentury from industrial based to information/technology based. We now talk about society in terms of controlling means ofproduction but now it is information which is the most important commodityverses raw goods and materials. This commodity of labor iscombined with the means of production controlled by capitalists in order tocreate products which in turn reproduce capital and wealth for those samecapitalists (Himmelweit, 1994, 198). Himmelweit suggests that modern social thinkers must begin to think ofthe relationships in the means of production in terms of gender since bothcapitalists and laborers essentially must reproduce themselves before theycan reproduce production or capital. Marx spent most of his adult life preoccupied with the study of theinequalities characteristic of a capitalist society. Marx has introduced terms and ideas which are stillcritical to history, sociology, economics, and politics. This concept cannot possibly be overestimated in terms of importanceconcerning how we measure our society and identify those who live in it.This theory still holds monumental importance today even in our politicalprocess. Carver, T. In fact, in the United States it ispossible to argue that Marx's methods of studying class conflict holds evengreater relevance because of the debate which rages over the control ofinformation access. Ithaca, New York: CornellUniversity Press. In the book, History & Social Theory by Peter Burke (1992), heacknowledges: It is true that he (Marx) emphasized differences between his three classes at the expense of variations within each group, and that he omitted marginal cases, such as the self-employed man, who does not easily fit into his categories, but one expects such simplifications from a model (Burke, 1992, 59). In capitalism this definition was used to describe the origins of theprocess of production in which workers own nothing but their labor and mustsell this commodity in order to subsist. In The Cambridge Companion to Marx.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. In TheCambridge Companion to Marx. As feminist historians have aptly proven, it is not necessary to throwout Marx's theories or label them an intellectual dead end simply becauseglobal trends concerning forms of government currently seem to be movingaway from the Marxist model. It is also important to understand Marx in terms of theoretical usesand how this has been applied to many social and historical circumstances,much like Darwin's theories of evolution were twisted or mutated into turnof the century social Darwinism. Today, economists andsociologists still conduct studies using Marxist constructs as in thecurrent studies where they note that the gap between rich (the haves) andpoor (have nots) in this nation is widening at unprecedented rates. While there are particular areas of Marx's theories whichclearly need reexamination, such as his views on gender, clearly thereremains much relevance in his concepts for our age. First, this model omits any analysis of how labor powerreplenishes itself. Critical reception: Marx then and now. Himmelweit, S.(1994). Karl Marx emphasized theconflicts between bourgeoisie, proletarian, and aristocratic classes and westill tend to look at society in these terms. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press. China certainlyhas not abandoned its Marxist experiment (and represents the largestgovernment in the world in terms of population governed). Carver writes: A few moments' reflection, however, will suggest that ignoring the past is not an acceptable way of examining the present...The present is not a succession of fresh moments into which we can insert our views and actions as we like. (ed.) (1991). Even in the United States, the bastion of capitalism and classcompetition, there exists relevance for Marxist ideology and observations.Particularly when one considers some of our most pressing social issuessuch as the fact that over 44 million Americans have no health care. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Social philosophy and religion of Comte. References Burke, P. Reproduction and the materialist conception ofhistory: A feminist critique. Paul Thomas (1994), in his essayentitled, "Critical Reception: Marx Then and Now," notes that Marx iswithout a doubt the most influential figure of the twentieth century(Thomas, 1994, 23). (Carver, 1994, 1-2) Marx's career was marked by a fantastic output of literature analyzingthe nature of society and theorizing on forms of government. Thomas, P. For example, our currentpresident and his Republican opponent in the last election both ran on aplatform of legislating new aid packages for the middle class - fromeducation incentives to tax relief for children. Congress' feeble attempts to legislate censorship onthe World Wide Web or the multi-billion dollar empire of Bill Gates andMicrosoft which continues its ruthless practices in order to control how weaccess information, are two examples of society's new conflict. Thisis due to the trend by western companies who increasingly farm out theirmethods of production to nations with cheap and exploitable labor pools.This form of exploitation represented a central concern for Marx's theorieson industrialism. Himmelweit notes several critical omissions from this theory onreproduction. His interestsspanned a wide range of fields including discussing theoretical forms ofgovernment in the Communist Manifesto, considered one of the best sellingpamphlets of all time, to analysis of the causes of the French Revolutionin his work, The Civil War in France (in which he analyzes the merits ofrepresentative government and discusses the role of class interests in thatconflict). In material terms theworld has not completely abandoned the Marxist experiment. While Marxist experiments might be dead in many parts of the world,perhaps one of the remaining important uses of Marxist doctrine is in termsof social study and historical commentary. His observations certainly still hold relevance as theworld embraces a global economy which allows "industrialized" nations andtheir business conglomerates to exploit workers internationally through"trade pacts and zones." It is inevitable that these exploited populations the world over willeventually become conscious of their unenviable positions (as many havealready) particularly in this new information age. Rather, there is no knowledge of the present that is not constructed from ideas that were generated in the past. Forexample, Marx also coined important terms such as class struggle,consciousness, and warfare, to describe the conflict between groups withina capitalist society over controlling raw materials and the modes ofproduction. To somethis might suggest the end of relevance of Marx's intellectual relevance.After all, Richard Miller (1994), in his essay, "Social and PoliticalTheory: Class, State, Revolution," states that in Marxist terms society isidentified as capitalist: If the production of material goods is dominated by the use of wage labor, that is, the use of labor power sold, to make a living, by people controlling no significant means of production and bought by people who do have significant control over means of production and mostly gain their income from profits on the sale...(Carver,1994, 55) Nevertheless Marx still sets the guidelines for understanding thistransition. (1992). I believe that as theygain class awareness they will also demand greater control over the meansof production. In The Cambridge companion to Marx. As such, he believes that Marx still has much to offer interms of helping us understand ourselves. (1993). It is remarkable to note how deeply Marx and his theories haveinfluenced how we study ourselves. A new generation of Marxist historians and sociologists have beenworking to fill the gaps in Marx's model. (1994). 1968Reprint. (1885). Marx noted that this pattern has repeated itself throughouthistory and there is absolutely no reason to suggest it won't happen againearly in the next millennium. All of these terms were associated with Marx's central themein his works which is: "The mode of production of material life conditionsthe social, political, and intellectual life process in general" (Marx, inThomas, 1994, 24). Furthermore, the best means ofunderstanding this primary form of reproduction is to systematicallyanalyze the division of labor within capitalist society regardinghouseholds as well as the workplace. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press. History & social theory. New York: Kraus Reprint Co. In her essay, "Reproduction and the Materialist Conception of History:A Feminist Critique," Susan Himmelweit (1994) argues that Marx used abroad definition of the term reproduction to describe a society's means ofkeeping going or recreating itself: In Marxism, the term is used in a particular and precise way to mean the ability of whole social systems to keep going...by means of the processes that define and determine them, laying the foundation for their own continuation (Himmelweit, 1994, 197). Terms whichinclude: "proletariat," to describe the labor classes of western societies;and "dictatorship of the proletariat," which describes the exploitative andrepressive control of the labor class by those who control the modes ofproduction, are still important concepts in social studies today (Thomas,1994, 24). Auguste Comte: An intellectual biography, volumeI Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. However, Marx's theories, especiallyregarding the class characteristics of society, were very broad and thusneglected some very important variations within these groups such as raceand gender. In the Cambridge Companion to Marx (1994), editor Terrell Carverassembles essays written in the shadow of the Soviet Union's collapse whichtake a fresh look at Karl Marx and his theories. Marx created a whole host of terms associated with understanding thenature and relationships of class (in fact he coined the term class toidentify different groups within society according to their relationship orlevel of control in the process of controlling modes of production). Pickering, M. Social and political theory: Class, state,revolution. His theories should be taken in thetheoretical sense in which they were originally proposed in order tounderstand how they may be applied to dramatic changes in our society. AsCarver argues, "future options arise from an exhumation of the past, andthe more thoroughly and sympathetically contextual the research is, themore critical perspectives that we will acquire on ourselves" (Carver,1994, 2). In the workplace this obviously meansunderstanding divisions of labor according to gender and why they exist.In the home Himmelweit notes that this analysis must include a study of thefamily unit (traditional or otherwise) and how family roles affect thedivision of labor according to gender (Himmelweit, 1994, 219). Carver warns that noexamination of the present is complete if it ignores studies of the past.He argues that Marx was first and foremost a social historian and politicalphilosopher. Second, since workers rarely consume products they buywith their wages directly; instead inputting them into another process ofproduction which occurs in the household, it is unfortunate that Marxneglected to analyze the importance or relationship of housework tosociety's overall means of production (Himmelweit, 1994, 2 1). The Cambridge companion to Marx. (1994). Perhaps some of the most dynamicwork in regards to completing Marx's picture is being done by feministhistorians who are closely analyzing and attempting to broaden, Marx'stheories regarding reproduction.
If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:
or
We can write a Custom Essay just for you.
Browse Essays by Subject