Marxism

Karl Marx, a German philosopher, and social critic from the nineteenth century states that society is broken down into three economic classes: the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, and the proletariat. The aristocracy is the traditional notion and nobility of the upper class. For example, it is a society with kings and queens in which their power is build up through the labor of the working class. The bourgeoisie, on the other hand, are middle-class individuals who control factories, business, and…

Sociological concepts are portrayed throughout many films of the American culture today, as they may be analyzed to view social theories that are included in them as the societies in the movie comes to a common goal. Many theories can be seen in the movie The Hunger Games: Catching Fire exceptionally clear in many ways as the whole society lives with scarce supplies as the government lives in supreme wealth and comfort. Specifically the sociological theory of conflict can be viewed as the plot…

Jamrozik (2005) on the other hand explores capitalism with reference to unemployment. He explores the way in which individuals who are unemployed are ostracized and blamed for their own situation whilst the fact is that most unemployment is structural and an effect of how the capitalist system of production decides who and how people can be employed (Jamrozik, 2005, p. 318). The Howard government’s idea of the two theories ‘mutual obligation’ and ‘work for the dole’ has been perpetuated by both…

Winners and losers A capitalist society is based on the idea that you can’t get ahead in life without stepping on someone else’s back. In Ursula Le Guin’s story “The ones who walk away from Omelas”, written in 1973, show a society where everyone is happy and full of life. This town is an almost utopian society when the story begins. Children are running and playing, and the narrator talks about how great the city is. However, the city is not as good as it seems. This is because the source of…

This essay argues that Asia has contradicted modernisation theory’s relationship between capitalist development and political change because of the positive relationship between Asian states and their middle and upper classes, against the lower working class. Firstly, this essay will explain modernisation theory’s concept of capitalist development and political change and how the middle class is an important political class; referring to examples in Western Europe and Asia. Secondly, this essay…

In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began in England to improve the living standards of people, which quickly spread to western Europe, North America, Russia and Japan. New machines, such as the steam engine and the cotton gin, and factories transformed the agricultural societies into industrial societies. With the development of new technologies, economic production increased as high-quality goods and services were produced quickly, cheaply and more efficiently. In addition to…

Capitalism, for decade’s historians basically fell into one of two camps. One either followed the concept of enlightened self-interest put forth by Adam Smith, or the Karl Marx’s cycle of production and exploitation. Either way, the history of capitalism was thought to be a settled issue. A system that could be universally explained by looking at one theory or the other, but above all it was profit based, mechanical, and boring. However, in the past decade there has been a shift in the way…

Part A: Boyer’s (1998) article argues that the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx is only relevant within the historical context of the 1840s, and not in any other decade of the 19th century. Boyer (1998) then agues that the primary thesis of this argument is that Marx wrote this document during the “hungry” 1840s, which defines a unique period of economic collapse as a timeframe in which communism was an increasingly common idea in the development of European political ideologies (151). More so,…

Many of the works and theories of the social theorists during the 19th and early 20th century are still relevant today even with all the changes that we have gone through as a society. The issues discussed in Weber’s and Marx’s class theories; DuBois’ theories about race and Durkheim 's theories on society and labor are the basis on which many of today’s ideologies are derived. Karl Marx was a class theorist and theorized about class struggles and the ideal class society. He also had…

The shooting of Michael Brown and the subsequent rioting in the city of Ferguson last year is still a hotly debated and contested issue for everyone from average citizens to academics. Taking a look at how theorists and great minds of the past would view the shooting, the riots, and the reactions to both, gives an interesting overview of just how important and unavoidable the role of power is understanding the possible motives behind the behavior of all parties involved. The events in Ferguson,…