Karl Marx and Class From

Karl Marx and Class

From the perspective of Karl Marx, modern society is comprised of two distinct classes that are historically pitted against each other, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The bourgeoisie consists of the owners of production while the rest of the downtrodden masses make up the proletariat who provide the actual work needed by modern society. Although some societies are intentionally class-less, such as the United States, Marx maintained that such class divisions were the inevitable consequence of capitalism where the bourgeoisie get richer and the proletariat, of course, just get poorer. To determine if Marx's perspective concerning class remains relevant in the early 21st century, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature, followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

Review and Discussion

In his seminal work, Das Kapital (1867), Karl Marx introduced the world to communism and influenced the paths that would be taken by a number of countries in their pursuit of equitable distributions of wealth for the next century (Manton & English, 2008). While the precise circumstances differed from place to place and time to time, Karl Marx believed that by and large, modern society was controlled by a group of "haves" who inevitably come together to control and exploit the "have-nots." In this regard, Szporluk (1999) reports that, "In Marx's view, modern society consisted of two classes that were engaged in an irreconcilable conflict: the ruling class of the bourgeoisie or the capitalists and the exploited class of the proletariat, i.e., the industrial workers" (p. 3). This class arrangement, though, did not just fall out of the sky, but was rather the result of a lengthy series of historical events, with the most recent being the Industrial and French Revolutions (Szporluk, 1999). These historical events were all part of a larger process that was leading to the development of capitalism (Szporluk, 1999). Indeed, in the opening remarks of the Communist Manifesto, Marx argues that all history is "the history of class struggle" (pp. 4-5).

This inevitable struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat is based on irreconcilable and mutually exclusive human needs and objectives. In this regard, Fischman (1991) reports that, "That is because each class, in accordance with its place in the mode of production, seizes on certain powers, needs, and ways of appropriating the world. Each class fights to reorganize society so as to emancipate its particular human capacities" (p. 64). Thus far, Marx appears to be on solid ground in his reasoning because after all, everyone acts in their own self-interest, but his reasoning quickly becomes muddied by references to nebulous but innate human desires that compel people to instinctively act in a certain fashion. For example, Fischman (1991) reports that, "We can read Marx's theory of alienation as an attempt to capture in words the plight of an exiled group in a society without purpose: namely, the workers under capitalism. The reality of the proletariat, Marx argues, is structured by its members' deep and abiding need for creative work" (p. 106). Moreover, although his own personal life was marked by a series of bad debts, financial failures and troubled family relationships (he engaged in a scandalous affair and was a terrible provider and most of his children died or committed suicide), Marx was not scared of being labeled hypocritical when he applied his theoretical views concerning class to others. In this regard, Jennings (1999) reports that, "Marx held the British working class in very low regard because of its bourgeois habits, political reformism, and lack of militancy" (p. 162).

In a perfect world, then, Marx believes that everyone would be allowed to pursue whatever creative activities that best suited their individual preferences at the time like a global Montessori school for grown-ups irrespective of their economic needs. For Marx, the desire for creative work is universal but the downtrodden proletariat class is prevented from becoming self-actualized by the evil bourgeoisie class. For instance, according to Fischman (1991), "This need is generated by the task to which Marx believes all human beings are drawn, but in which the working class, of all segments of society, is most frustrated: the realization of their human powers" (1991, p. 106). Many working-class people, though, may believe their "human powers" are being fully realized on a daily basis as they enjoy their hobbies and sports, socialize with their friends, pursue their gainful employment and otherwise provide for their families, but even the most affluent blue collar workers are essentially trapped in their class with no upward social mobility available in Marx's class-based view of modern society. In this regard, Fischman writes, "As its end product, too, alienated labor reproduces a class system and a mode of production which allows no room and provides no resources for the workers to develop in any direction that does not boost profit and productivity" (1991, p. 107)

This observation suggests that there is no escape from this seemingly inevitable social outcome, and the working class is doomed to a life of alienation, frustration and poverty as a result. In this regard, Fischman notes that Marx believed that, "Workers feel the pull of this aspect of themselves as something tangible and they suffer from not being able to pursue it" (p. 106). According to Marx, the so-called "alienation of labor" consists of "work [that] is external to the worker, that it is not part of his nature; and that, consequently, he does not fulfill himself in his work, but denies himself, has a feeling of misery rather than well-being, does not develop freely his physical and mental energies but is physically exhausted and mentally debased" (quoted in Fischman, 1991 at p. 106).