Throughout history, religion has played a significant function in society as a medium through which people connect, via various rituals and symbols (Marsh et al. 2009). When the subject of Marx, Engels and religion is discussed, the famous quote ‘Religion is the opiate of the masses’ (Marx as cited in Raines 2002, p.5) is one that is for the most part, at the forefront of people’s minds. It is often a misconception that Marx and Engels viewed religion in a predominantly negative light and saw it as something that human beings had no use for. On the contrary, as this essay will endeavour to show, Marx and Engels not only saw religion as a force used by the elite to control the repressed and justify their actions, but it is also an ‘active moral agency’ (Raines 2002, p.5) for the proletariat and an outlet through which their suffering can be channelled. In order to achieve this, this essay will look at Marx’ and Engels ideology, false consciousness and what that means, base and superstructures according to Marx, the Hegelian philosophy and Marx’ interpretation of this, and alienation. In addition, this essay will look at whether Marx’s views on religion are still relevant in today’s society.
Marx was predominantly influenced by G.W.F. Hegel, an esteemed philosopher of the time. Hegel used the system of dialectic to explain historical movements within society. The dialectic was made up of two points; ‘all things are contradictory in themselves’ (Hegel as cited in Callinicos 1995, p.59) and ‘contradiction is at the root of all movement and life, and it is only in so far as it contains a contradiction that anything moves and has impulse and activity’ (Hegel as cited in Callinicos 1995, p.59). Hegel used this dialectic to fur...
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First, I want to identify who Marx and Nietzsche are and their critiques on religion. Karl
... his ideals and theories were influenced by the popular philosophical circles present throughout Europe. Saint Simon was a noble Frenchman whose spin on socialism featured a government ran by scientists. Proudon was another radical thinker that influenced Marx. Proudon’s book, “What is Property” centers around privatization of property and comes to the conclusion that the factors of production is theft. When Marx moved to France, he was introduced to many different socialist viewpoints which inspired his argument known as historical materialism. This argument stated that the world is changed not by ideas but by actual, physical, material activity and practice and can be connected to his theme of injustice of exploitation. This is why in the Manifesto he speaks out against child labor and the violations of the proletariat family by the bourgeoisie.
The fear of early twentieth century dystopian writers is the fear that people in general had in this era; what is the impact of communism or what the future of religion with evolution and Darwinism would be. The may concern was that if religion was obsolete, what would replace it as the moral compass of the people. One of the most important individuals of the early twentieth century Karl Marx had his own philosophy for a replacement. The role of religion in Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto is stated as,” But Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis…’" (Marx 19) That new bases he mentioned in the quote is the state, the new morale code that society must follow.
To understand Marx point of view, lets learn some background on him. Marx and Engels
According to Marx, religion comes from the imagination of the mind, “Man makes religion.” (H/R,p.11) Marx believes in Atheism and that religion is simply justification to our actions and behaviors as “followers.”
Weber also took the same approach, but credited the rise of capitalism to the religious discipline of the Protestant faith. In fact, Weber believed that there was a connection between Protestantism and capitalism. Now, let’s not forget, that these people lived during a time of uncertainty, and if they felt protected and safe about their future they would invest in it. A central theme for the Protestant faith is the ...
"Karl Marx on Religion: The Opiate of the Masses?" About.com Agnosticism / Atheism. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
British political economy was brought about by the social analysis of early capitalism by writers such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo. (Bilton, Bonnett, Jones, 2002, p.476) Using these concepts as a base to his theories, Marx further argued against the capitalist regime and was a firm believer of the revolution of the workers which would one day bring about the destruction of capitalism. Marx was also influenced by the philosophical ideas of Georg W.F. Hegel. However, unlike Hegel who was an idealist Marx was a materialist as he believed that the processes of reality as real, concrete existences in the social world. Hegel believed that although these processes were dynamic, they were an expression of development rather than being solid.
Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism lays a theoretical basis for the creation, development, and sustainability of modern industrial capitalism. This in-depth work shows the extent to which Weber managed to connect the various fields of sociology, history, economics, and religion into one cohesive argument. This work is an example of a broad-reaching work of social theory, and needs to be studied not only for the ideas contained therein, but to understand the methodological approach behind such a sociological masterpiece.
The writings of Karl Marx spell out the philosophic foundations of his radicalism. Marx’s philosophy is complicated and detailed. However, the central theme to Marx’s theories was his view that economic forces were increasingly oppressing human beings and his belief that political action and change were necessary. Marx’s thinking is a reaction to the industrial society of the mid ninete...
According to Max Weber religion is an institution that is based on cultural needs of man and has added capacity to human development and human life. In his book “Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism” Weber argues that the values of the protestant institution and its ethics played an important role in the economy of Western countries. His study focused on how a religious sect can influence the economic behavior of its attendants. The main concern of Weber was to know until what extension the religious conceptions of the world of existence have an impact on the economic behavior of Western societies. The strongest influences according to Weber on the development of capitalism was the Calvinist sect of Protestant religion. Weber examines
He developed the socio-political theory of Marxism. One of his most famous works is The Communist Manifesto, which he co-wrote with Friedrich Engels. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx discusses his theories on society, economics and politics. He believed that “all societies progress through the dialectic of class struggle”. He criticized capitalism, and referred to it as the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie".
Marx saw religion as an evil that existed in society and that it brought down all the people that believed in that religion. Marx said that, ?It [religion] is the opium of the people,?[1] and in saying this, Marx meant that religion was contagious on society. Once the society had a taste for the religion, they became totally engulfed it in, and then they do not want to get out of that way of live because they see it as a good way to live. Then even if people wanted to get out of the religion it was hard to get out because the whole society had already been infected by the ?opium.?
Now his work has also to a great extent the political forces of today all of which his work inspired. In my point of view it is no exaggeration to say that of all theorists of society Karl Marx is a revolutionary. and has deeply touched and affected all our lives. Our modern political field reflects his ideologies and is under much of his influence. The snare of the snare.
Marx based many of his theories based of his own life experience and views of politics. He was a very radical thinker and believed that the economy and political systems were so wrong and far gone that they could not be internally fixed or rejuvenated. Marx has strong critiques of capitalism and the bases of this opposition was that capitalism would quickly exceed its maximum usefulness and need to be replaced in order to uphold the necessary level of production. The main reason he predicted the downfall of capitalism is alienation and separation and will be a direct result to the uprising of