There are many different theorists, theories, perspectives and ideologies all around the world today and have been present for many years. They range from the Micro (interpersonal relationships) to the Macro (society) perspectives and have been adapted numerous which has saw the creation of many different ideas, thoughts and collaborations in order to try and determine how every part of the world works. Karl Heinrich Marx (1818-1883) founder of the theoretical base for communism and Marxism was a German philosopher, social scientist and a historian and is one of, if not thee, most influential sociological thinkers of the 19th Century. During his lifetime his work and writings were massively ignored and did not inspire to anything substantial till after his death in 1883. Wheen explains:
Although he may not have had a ‘job’ as such, he was a prodigious worker: his collected writings of which were not published in his lifetime, fill fifty volumes.
Additionally, Marx’s work became a solid foundation for many adaptations throughout the world due to him writing in a time when majority of countries were living under a powerful and strict regime. Marx was widely unaccepted in many countries due to his political and economic beliefs and views and throughout his life moved from place to place attempting to establish a concrete place where he could concentrate on his writing.
Marx was born on the 5th of May 1818 in Trier, Germany, into a middle class family. His father Heinrich, who was part of the French Enlightenment, was widely admired and respected as a lawyer and was influenced by many figure heads such as Voltaire and Lessing. Although Marx’s family were profoundly Rabbis (teachers of Torah) on both sides of his family his father became protestant in order to keep his stature as well as his job. Marx studied Law at the University of Bonn when he was seventeen and became influenced by Baron von Westphalen, father of his later wife Jenny von Westphalen, which led him to focus on Romantic Literature and saint-simonian politics (a French political and social movement in the early 1800’s influenced by the thoughts and views of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825)). Marx then went on to the University of Berlin, where he deserted Romanticism for Hegelianism which prompted his involvement in the young Hegelian movement – fellow members included Bruno Bauer (1809-1882), a German philosopher who was a radical rationalist in philosophy, politics and biblical criticism and David Friedrich Strauss (1808-1874) a German liberal protestant Theologian who insulted Christian Europe with his depiction of the Historical Jesus who he dismissed.
Berlin, Germany, was where Marx composed an analysis of Christianity and of the involvement of the Liberal opposition to the Prussian dictatorship. At the end of 1842 Marx position within the University of Berlin was terminated allowing him to move his interests on to journalism and he became editor of the inspiring Rheinische Zeiting (a Liberal Newspaper that was supported by Industrialists). Marx wrote various articles for the paper within his time there such as:- ‘On the freedom of the press’ (May 5th 1842), ‘Failures of the Liberal opposition in Hanover’ (November 8th 1842). Through his controversial articles regarding economics the Prussian Government then closed the paper which led Marx to immigrate to France in 1843. This is where he met Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), a lifelong prosperous friendship began and as a fellow German philosopher partnered with Marx in 1848 and co-authored The Communist Manifesto . The contents and the ideas within the Communist Manifesto became the fundamental method used in the statements of the European Socialist and Communist parties of the nineteenth and twentieth century.
While in France Marx became a communists and also editor of the Deutsh-Franzosische Jahrbucher, a paper that lasted briefly and was designed to connect French Socialism and the German radical Hegelians. It was also in France that Marx expressed his views in a wave of writings known as the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts (1844) that were not published until the 1930’s. The basis of the manuscripts were derived from the philosophy of Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) and summarised a humanist conception of communism and the differentiation between the isolated nature of labour under capitalism and a communist society where human beings willingly established the nature in cooperative production. Marx’s exile from France at the end of 1844 led to him and Engels moving to Brussels for 3 years where he committed his time to history and embellished what became known as ‘the materialist conception of history’ which he reinforced within a manuscript. The manuscript ‘The German Ideology’ was based upon his assumption that ‘The nature of individuals depends on the material conditions determining their production’ which was not published until after his death. Within the manuscript Marx uncovered the background of numerous methods of production and prophesised that the industrial capitalism that was present in that time would disintegrate and be substituted with communism.
Although at the end of Marx’s life and the very few that showed at his funeral to pay homage to a man of great intellectual abilities he did however become a notably important figurehead in many instances. In 1863 there was a movement brewing which involved working men from all over Europe. Primarily commencing in France, it soon spread over countries throughout Europe and Marx was the directing genius of the first International. The international was a federation that was devised of working class men who took a vow to end the prevailing economic system and substitute it with a system that had some sort of collective ownership (something such as land or industrial assets by all members of a group for the benefit of all). It was assembled mostly of French proudhonists and blanquists, Italian nonsocialist radical democrats and British non-political unionists and radical reformers. Through his work within The International, which he dedicated ten years of his life to, along with other now famous writings Marx became a well known and inspiring individual. Near the end of his life he consulted with many high powered European socialists that came to him for his advice and knowledge on various subjects and saw him consulting with the likes of Russian radicals and the German Social Democratic Movement. According to Sperber:
The problem with the writings on economics is that there was too much. Two books were published in Marx’s lifetime: on the Critique of Political Economy of 1859, and Capital, Volume One, 1867….Besides the mater that appeared in print, Marx left behind an enormous array of manuscripts on economics that Engels sorted as Theories of Surplus Value .
Marx derived many theories throughout his life and aired his ideas and views publically for many years through his writings. Marx believed that the history of society was based upon a class division where the bourgeoisie held the power and the wealth and the proletarian was the one that was controlled and exploited through the means of religion, education, wealth, production, status and power. Marx’s theory on religion was that it is not needed in societies where people are not being exploited as the reason for it is to control and exploit. Religion to Marx was something that man created and it was created due to the fact that man is lost. He believed that it oppressed the majority in order to keep the dived between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat…it is the ‘opium of the people’. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) the founding father of sociology and the functionalist theory disagreed with Marx on the religious aspect as well as the perspective as a whole. Durkheim believed that institutions within society were used to collective means in order to meet the needs of individuals and to keep order and solidarity through institutions like education, religion, family etc. Religion for Durkheim was something that was there to maintain solidarity where as Marx believed it helped with alienation. Functionalist today still disagree with the Marxist perspective as a whole and on religion as they still believe that it does not answer why people choose not to follow religion and that the old traditional religions are fading fast.
Marx works may not have been influential when he was alive but they have become very influential in this day and age. However there is still some controversy over his writings as some philosophers or sociologists still believe there is no truth in his writings. As Wheen explains:
When I first started researching this biography many friends looked at me with pit and incredulity. Why, they wondered, would anyone wish to write about – still read about – such a discredited, outmoded, irrelevant figure?
Marx predicted that the economy would crash under the bourgeoisie as they would over produce and the economy would crumble. Many believed that Marx’s theories should belong in the past and that he was wrong to suggest that this could happen to the economy. However the major Global crisis of 2008 suggests that Marx prediction was right and that even in this day and age his theories are still very much alive and relevant today.
Alan Woods states:
However, when we speak of the relevance of Karl Marx today we refer not to cemeteries but to ideas—ideas that have withstood the test of time and have now emerged triumphant, as even some of the enemies of Marxism have been reluctantly forced to accept. The economic collapse of 2008 showed who was outdated, and it was certainly not Karl Marx.
Marx is still a major figurehead in today’s society and his work is still very influential but also critiqued. The Marxist perspective on society can still be seen throughout the world today and that there is still an element of exploitation of workers/working class or lower class people/groups. Between high taxes throughout Britain and a low minimum wage it is hard for an individual within the working class to become anything more than that regardless of their hard work and effort. In 2015 it was found that India’s tea farms (which supply products to Britain’s biggest tea brands) were exploiting their workers while the production manufacturers made an extremely large profit. Big brand tea bag producers were found to be buying supplies from a farm that ill treated their workers by extremely poor wages and living conditions to the point that many were suffering from malnutrition and susceptible to fatal illnesses. Furthermore, there is also an element of control and power through the means of religion seen in various places around the world today like the powers and control that ISIS has over its people . ISIS controls and manipulates its followers through the means of their religion in order to exploit and control them to the extent that they commit various acts of terrorism throughout the world today. However, the fact that particular religions in other parts of the world such as Catholicism are dying out shows that Religion is not just used as a means of control to the extent is did in the 1800’s.
Karl Marx has undoubtedly made a lasting impression within the sociological world and will always remain a very influential and well admired man for his genius, intellect and theories. His work was profoundly accurate and offensive to many in his day and age but so much so that it made him famous. There may always be people there to criticise Marx but there will always be an admiration for him due to his predictions and views that he wrote in a different century that are still relevant today. Marx remains a large part of sociology and while his theories and perspectives are being taught all around the world his legacy will remain for a very long time.