Marxist theory always sees class struggle, always exploitation of the haves vs. The have nots, and asks what economic systems cause societies to structure themselves in this hierarchical manner. Marx believed his theories about class struggle and historical materialism were scientific, and had the objective of developing a scientific analysis of the working class and its relationship to the owners. Marxist sociology asks: how does capital control the working class? How does the mode of production influence class? What is the interrelationship between workers, economics and the state? How do economic issues influence the inequalities in society? Thus, Marx views labor as integral but underactualized -- in a sense, Taylorism proves Marx's point about the conflict between classes. Prior to both Marx and Taylor, John Locke, one of the most influential English philosophers of the Enlightenment Period, set the stage for the role of humanity within society. His views on liberty, the social contract, rights of the individual, and liberalism transcended time and geography and, in fact, became the very...

Locke's "theory of mind" is considered by many to be one of the origins of the modern conception of identity and the self, and was one of the first to define the individual self through a paradigm of consciousness. Locke believed that the mind was a blank slate (tabula rasa), open for stimuli from the external world. In opposition to Descartes, Locke believed that humans are born without innate ideas, and instead, experience and sense perception are the basis of all human inquiry (Baird and Kaufmann, 2008, 527-9).
REFERENCES

Baird, F. And Kaufman, W. (2007). Phlosophic Classics: From Plato to Derrida.

New York: Prentice Hall.

Cassier, E. et. al. (1968). The Philosophy of the Enlightenment, Trenton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Garson, B. (1994). All the Livelong Day: The Meaning and Demeaning of Routine Work.

New York: Penguin.

Grint, K., (2005). The Sociology of Work. Malden, MA: Polity Press.