Karl Marx Is Better Known

Karl Marx is better known for his socialist writing, but the bulk of his output was within the field of economics. In the way that he combined history, sociology and other disciplines into economics, he was able to take the field into new directions. The result is that there are very few places in the world today untouched by Marx's ideas. This purpose of this paper is to understand Marx's ideas and their importance to the field of economics.

To do this, I will examine the setting in which Marx conducted his work. This will include looking at the economic, social and political environments in which he worked; and a look at his most significant influences.

Marx was raised and educated in Germany before moving on to France and finally settling in London. This move was precipitated by his allegiances as a youth in radical groups such as the Young Hegelians. Membership in such groups essentially precluded a career in Germany, forcing Marx's move. While in Paris, Marx associated himself with that city's urban radical proletarian groups, further shaping his thought. In England, he fused his studies on the state, religion and society with substantial economic influence.

Marx was active during the height of the industrial revolution. The success of Europe's industrialists at the expense of their workers led Marx to consider the dichotomy between the two groups, which he would term the capitalists and the proletariat. His views were also shaped by revolutionary activity, such as the 1871 Paris Commune. Once in London, Marx studied the works of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, thus exposing himself to economic theory.

His first major work, co-written by Friedrich Engels, was the Communist Manifesto. This was written for the Communist League, a group with whom Marx had become associated while in Paris. The Communist Manifesto laid out his ideas for a Communist revolution, and the economic aspects of the plan would later be adopted by the Communist nations of the 20th century.

His most vital work on economics was Das Kapital. This work was a scathing criticism of capitalism, and put forth the idea that the central driving force of capitalism was the exploitation of labor. Das Kapital outlines the principles of how the capitalist economy functions, including where capital comes from; the reliance that capital has on social structures such as the rule of law; and he provides an analysis of how labor turns into value.

Marx made several significant contributions to economics. He incorporated other ideas into his writings. For example, his view of the capitalist-proletarian relationship was filled with historical and sociological context. This was fairly revolutionary at the time, particularly the degree to which he tied economics in with these other disciplines.

This approach was one of the ways in which Marx differentiated his work from those of other economists. He also created his own vocabulary, and proposed a model that was radically different. He branded his views as being from an entirely different school of economics from "classical" economics. Before Marx, there was essentially only one view of economics, with thought progressing in a relatively straight line. Marx introduced the notion of entirely new ideology. The result is that since then economics is no longer viewed as a singular line of study, but a discipline comprised of competing models and thought.

Marx' models of socialism, capitalism and communism exist today, and with roughly his definitions. His work on the nature of workers, their outputs, and their relationship to value has also contributed to our modern economic model. His work occurred during an era when workers lived in poverty and had no rights. By the time he died, those workers were gaining rights, and realized wage increases, in part due to socialist trends among their ranks. Marx made significant contribution to economics in his analysis of these relationships, and his views regarding wealth distribution eventually paved the way for the powerful economic growth in the western world during the 20th century, as putting more money in the hands of workers dramatically increased opportunity for the capitalists to make money.