Why Does Marx's Social Theory Place So Much Emphasis On Class Conflict And Economic Processes?
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Why Does Marx's Social Theory Place So Much Emphasis On Class Conflict And Economic Processes?
Whilst social theories vary greatly between different schools of thought they all have the same purpose; to aid scholars in analysing society through the use of theoretical frameworks.
Karl Marx’s social theory is today known as Marxist historical materialism, though throughout his life Marx referred to it as ‘the materialist conception of history.’ Born in 1818, in a small town in the south of the German Rhineland, to a middle class Jewish family, Marx had a comfortable start to his life. Home schooled until the age of 13, he then enrolled at the Faculty of Law at the University of Bonn at 17 before his poor grades lead to his father forcing him to transfer to the increasingly academic University of Berlin. Hegelianism was prominent in Berlin at this time and thus this is where Marx’s interest in social theory began; the theoretical writings of Georg Hegel would influence him throughout his life time. This point is reiterated by Ken Morrison,
‘..even though he had died in 1831, the legacy of his writings were extremely important to the intellectual and social background in which Marx lived. In fact a great deal of Marx’s early writings can only be understood in relation to Hegel’s early thinking.’
It was Marx’s break with Hegel’s theories that led him to first look at the economy and ultimately led to him developing his theory of materialism. Hegel believed that the consciousness had a primary role in determining the world around us; society as we know it is a product of human thought and interaction. This is known as Idealism. Marx disagreed with Hegel on a number theoretical premises; firstly he disagreed with the emphasis and role Hegel had placed on Philosophy as this ‘.. led to the view that only philosophic categories were real, whereas the real problems of living individuals were overlooked and ignored’ (Morrison 2006). Secondly whilst Hegel believed that ideas acted as causes thus leading them to be important in the history of human development,...
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