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more frequent economic crises.
The increasing solidarity of the
working class, and weakening of
the bourgeoisie, will in time allow
the proletariat to take over control
of the means of production and
bring about a classless society.
A key contribution
Marx’s analysis of how capitalism
had created socioeconomic classes
in the industrial world was based
on more than mere theorizing,
and as such was one of the first
“scientific” studies of society,
offering a comprehensive economic,
political, and social explanation of
modern society. In the process, he
introduced several concepts that
became central to later sociological
thinking, particularly in the area of
social class, such as class conflict
and consciousness, and the notions
of exploitation and alienation.
His ideas inspired numerous
revolutionaries, and at one stage in
the 20th century, around a third of
the world’s population lived under
a government espousing Marxist
principles. But not everyone agreed
with the Marxian division of
society into classes defined by their
economic status, nor the idea that
social change is the inevitable
result of class conflict. In the
generation following Marx, both
Émile Durkheim and Max Weber,
who along with Marx are often
cited as the “founding fathers”
of modern sociology, offered
alternative views in reaction to his.
Durkheim acknowledged that
industry had shaped modern
society, but argued that it was
industrialization itself, rather than
capitalism, that was at the root
of social problems.
Weber, on the other hand,
accepted Marx’s argument that
there are economic reasons behind
class conflict, but felt that Marx’s
division of society into bourgeoisie
and proletariat on purely economic
grounds was too simple. He
believed that there were cultural
and religious as well as economic
causes for the growth of capitalism,
and these were reflected in classes
based on prestige and power as
well as economic status.
Although Marx’s influence on
sociology in the Western world
waned during the first half of the
20th century, the members of the
so-called “Frankfurt School” of
sociologists and philosophers
(including Jürgen Habermas, Erich
Fromm, and Herbert Marcuse)
remained notable adherents to his
principles. After World War II, with
the advent of the Cold War, opinion
became even more divided. In the
US in particular, Marxist theory
of any type was largely discredited,
while in Europe, especially France,
a number of philosophers and
sociologists further developed
Marx’s social ideas.
Today, as new technology is
once again transforming our world,
and at the same time people are
becoming conscious of a growing
economic inequality, some of
Marx’s basic ideas have begun to
be revisited by social, economic,
and political thinkers. ■FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIOLOGY
Karl Marx
Regarded as one of the
“founding fathers” of social
science, Karl Marx was also an
influential economist, political
philosopher, and historian. He
was born in Trier, Germany,
and at his lawyer father’s
insistence, he studied law,
rather than the philosophy
and literature he was
interested in, at the University
of Bonn, and later at Berlin.
There he developed his
interest in Hegel, and went on
to gain a doctorate from the
University of Jena in 1841.
After becoming a journalist
in Cologne, Marx moved to
Paris, where he developed his
economic, social, and political
theory, collaborating with
Friedrich Engels. In 1845 the
pair cowrote The Communist
Manifesto. Following the
failure of the revolutions in
Europe in 1848, Marx moved
to London. After the death of
his wife in 1881, his health
deteriorated, and he died two
years later at 64.Key works1848 The Communist
Manifesto
1859 A Contribution to the
Critique of Political Economy
1867 Das Kapital, Volume 1[Marx is] the true father
of modern sociology,
in so far as anyone can
claim the title.
Isaiah Berlin
Russo-British philosopher (1909 –1997)