Karl Marx s View Of Contemporary Social Ills - 1674 Words

Power is present in every relationship and within each individual. Power is defined as a group’s ability to make another group its subject or to make some desired action either by consensus or force. Within any organization or government, some elite groups make decisions that directly or indirectly affect the lives of the larger mass. Studies have shown that such decisions in most cases are made to service the elite’s value and economic interests; property ownership or production. Such directions within the society cause resentment and inequality when the larger mass is not included in the decision making. The inequality makes the elite class to enforce their wishes and will on the less fortunate (Jessop 174). This essay seeks to give a†¦show more content†¦Between the two classes are small businesses which Marx calls them ‘petty bourgeoisie’, a group that is subject to either join the working class or the capitalists if surplus can be accommodat ed. In the ongoing industrial revolution the social surplus contributes to conflict where classes exist in the form of struggle for dominance or control over profits. Marx as a conflict theorist argued that the economy defines and dominates the societal structural change. He explained that social change and structure is a form of historical materialism that in the history come in two groups: the oppressor and the oppressed. Marx stated that the society is built on the exploitation of the oppressed. The struggle between the classes was what brought about the industrial revolution. This division and the struggle in the society have since never stopped, but instead there have been reestablishment of new classes, new oppression conditions, and new struggles replacing the old ones. The ancient societies e.g. the Roman and the Greek was built on slave labor and the two classes in conflict during those times were the slaves and patricians. The struggle between these classes resulted in th e development of feudal societies that were developed on serf’s labor under their opponent, the lords. The end of feudalism ushered in the capitalism, and Marx called the opposing forces in capitalist societies the