The Sociology Book

28

T H E F A L L O F T H E

B O U R G E O I S I E A N D

T H E V I C T O R Y O F T H E

P R O L E T A R I A T A R E

E Q U A L L Y I N E V I T A B L E

KARL MARX (1818–1883)

I

n the mid-19th century,

Europe was characterized

by political instability that had

begun with the French Revolution.

The insurrectionary spirit spread

across the continent, and there

were attempts to overthrow and

replace the old order of monarchies

and aristocracy with democratic

republics. At the same time, much

of Europe was still coming to

terms with the changes in society

created by industrialization. Some

philosophers had explained the

problems of the modern industrial

world in political terms and offered

political solutions, and others

such as Adam Smith looked to

economics as both the cause of the

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Class conflict

KEY DATES

1755 Genevan philosopher

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

identifies private property as

the source of all inequality.

1819 French social theorist

Henri de Saint-Simon launches

the magazine L’ O r g a n i s a t e u r

to promote his socialist ideas.

1807 Georg Hegel interprets

historical progress in The

Phenomenology of Spirit.

1845 In The Condition of the

Working Class in England

in 1844, Friedrich Engels

describes the division of

capitalist society into two

social classes.

1923 The Institute for Social

Research is founded and

attracts Marxist scholars to

the University of Frankfurt.