Neo-marxism

Development of the Neo-Marxism
Perhaps we could claim Karl Marx to be the most influential sociologist whose work is the platform on which sociology stands. Marx had developed many sociological theories that continue to be redefined and reemployed in a variety of contexts and structures. However, there are many gaps in his work that contemporary theorists sought to link. Marx major contribution to society is the in-depth analysis of economic forces. Marx recognized that almost any society is divided into two classes of people with relation to their mean of productions. He categorized people into the bourgeoisies and proletarians and was able to coin many terms related to the capitalist system. He is the father of conflict theory; he saw that conflict was the essence in creating a change in the society. The capitalists wanted to maximize profit while paying less to their workers, while the workers simply wanted less working hours and a sufficient amount of money for them to be able to live. This conflict is merely the seeds of revolution; class-consciousness must develop prior to such event to take place. He also stated that since the proletarians are the majority of the society, their success in revolting against capitalism is inevitable.
Marx envisioned that capitalism was essential to create a conflict that would result in a utopian society (communist society, for Marx). However, after several decades, many sociologists realized that such prediction was never born and the communist system that was established by the Soviet Union differed greatly from Marx ideas. Marx ignored an indispensable vehicle of change in his theories; that is the role of individuals in maintaining their societies. For Hegel, it was consciousness that dro...

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What Marcuse and Horkheimer uncovered could be explained in the following example. We look at tribal societies and think they are primitive in their technology, and the rituals they engage in are not civilized. We can see here that materials have become a measuring tape on which we categorize barbaric and primitive activities. These underdeveloped societies are able to survive and provide themselves with the essential needs for living (that is true needs). On the contrary, we spend enormous amount of time and energy trying to fulfill a false pleasure through technology and retain from using the most powerful tool provided to us- our consciousness- to free ourselves from the domination of the totalitarian system. The working class became domesticated consumers with no pure conscious. We have become alien to our reason, and therefore, alien to the objective truth.