|
| |
Some words are not readily defined in
dictionaries. Marxism is the philosophical and sociological approach of Karl Marx,
Friedrich Engels, and their followers. It is very much influenced by the
dialectical method of Hegel, but rejects Hegel's philosophic idealism
and replaces it with dialectical materialism. Marxism sees the economic factors as the
base causal and conditioning factors in both individuals and history. History is seen as
basically a series of class struggles, with
classes being defined in terms of their relation to the means of production. According to Marx, each period
of history has a dominant economic class and a developing rising economic class. In time,
a conflict breaks out between the dominant and
rising class, which results in the overthrow of the old ruling dominant class and the
establishment of the new rising class as the new dominant class. In this manner, the
capitalist class or bourgeoisie
replaced the feudal aristocracy or ruling class
as the dominant class in the West. This historical process does, however, end for Marx,
and it is the industrial working class that is given this special historical role of ending
class conflict
once and for all and establishing a classless society. Marx maintained that industrialized, capitalist societies were becoming
increasingly polarized into two classes: the dominant capitalist class (the bourgeoisie)
and the rising working-class (the proletariat), and that
the working-class would eventually overcome the ruling bourgeoisie to establish the
classless-socialist-communist society.
| |
|
