Marx: The Economic Basis of Human Societies

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Marx: The Economic Basis of Human Societies

Introduction
Marxism as it is known today states that “actions and human institutions are economically determined, that the class struggle is the basic agency of historical change” (Collins English Dictionary, 1994: 959). In this assignment the worldview of Karl Marx will be discovered and the crux of Marxism will be uncovered.

Marx’s Life and Work
Karl Marx was born in 1818 in Germany during an oppressive time. His Jewish father who; under the discriminatory laws had to convert to Christianity in order to become a lawyer. Although Karl Marx was raised as a Protestant he soon abandoned religion. He ventured on to the University of Berlin as a law student. With an upheaval of philosophical, aesthetic, and social ideas in the Romantic movement of that time but he was still deeply concerned with social reform. During that time the intellectual influential force was the philosophy of Hegel. Karl Marx became a follower of Hegel’s philosophies so much so that he abandoned his legal studies and devoted himself to philosophy. In his process of learning about Hegel’s philosophies he then wrote of his Philosophy of Right in 1842-43, and became the editor of a radical journal called the Rheinische Zeitung. This journal was soon suppressed by the Prussian government and this lead to Marx’s escape to Paris. Marx’s wide reading landed him more intellectual influences including the British economist Adam Smith and the French socialist Saint-Simon. Marx and Engels in the 1840s began to formulate their “materialist conception of history”. Karl Marx turned to viewing the driving force of social change as material rather than spiritual, in the economic conditions of life. He saw that alienation is a...

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...ariat won’t find new forms of dictatorship and exploitation. But just as religions Marxism is more than just a theory, for many it has been a secular faith and a prophetic vision of social salvation.
Conclusion
Within these texts Marx shows that a worldview is more than just individual thought, but is also based on circumstances and the environment. His worldview demanded for the abolishment of economic classes and economic liberation. This worldview is greatly justified by the way in which Marx grew up and the time in which he grew up. Those two components are the most influential to a world view.

References
Collins English Dictionary. 1994. Great Britain: HarperCollins Publishers
Stevenson, L. & Haberman, D. L. 2004. Marx: The Economic Basis of Human Societies. (In Ten Theories of Human Nature. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press. 138-154)

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