Sociology :: Sociology Essays

Some sociologists have marked the course of the history remarkably. Others with lesser impact, have been rapidly forgotten. Karl Marx belongs to those with unforgettable memory. His works didn’t perish, but are rather classified as everlasting. Karl Marx, German political philosopher and revolutionist, is one of the most influential thinkers of all times. He’s the founder of modern socialism and communism. He’s by many appraised and glorified and in the eyes of others, he’s viewed as a shame to mankind. Karl Marx’s achievements are numerous but the main issue of this paper is aimed to analyze his theory on capitalism. It is as an economist theorist that he commands our interest here. It’s important to mention that karl Marx was, in his youth, influenced by many sociologists and it is through their influence and ideas that he had shaped his overall doctrine. To mention, Adam smith, in reference to his economical views; Ricardo, as a political economist; Williams Friederick Hegel, by his dialectical process of thesis, contradiction and antithesis even though he rejected his view about idealism. Not to forget, his close friendship with Frederick Engels who had an enormous effect on his writings and who had continued many of his unfinished writings after his death. Marx’s theory of capitalism firstly emerged in â€Å"The Communist Manifesto†, a book written by Marx in 1847,and which was the first systematic statement of modern socialist doctrine. It contains a statement of principles that clarifies his theory. In few words, â€Å"The Communist Manifesto† embodies the materialist conception of history or historical materialism. The manifesto’s propositions are that in every historical epoch, the prevailing economic system by which the necessities of life are produced, determines the form of societal organization, and the political and intellectual history of the epoch is a history of struggles between exploiting and exploited, that’s between ruling and ruled, social classes. A further explanation will be given latter on. Karl Marx’s theory appeared again in a book written in 1867, the â€Å"Das Kapital†(volume 1). It’s as well, a systematic and historical analysis of the economy of the capitalist system of society, in which he developed the theory that the capitalist class exploits the working class by appropriating the â€Å"surplus value† produced by the working class. Now, the theory of capitalism will be analyzed deeply.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle†(communist manifesto). Capitalism, for Marx, is a historical development.