Analysis Of The Purge

Moreover, it argues that economic exploitation causes political oppression and the powerful will then use their power to turn the state into a “servant of bourgeois economic” (Marx). For that reason, the only way to breakout of this conflict is through revolution, in which the working class people overthrows the owner of the capitalist system. Conflict theorists might argue, for instance, religion fulfills the bourgeois interests by appeasing the population by pacifying them. In essence, under this theory there will always be conflicts for scarce resources, and whenever one group gains control of the resources there will be an oppressed group. And according to Marx, this can be broken if we have a classless society where resources are allocated equally.

Under Karl Marx’s conflict theory, society has two classes of people: the owners and the workers. The theory suggests that owners basically exploit the workers, depriving them of the basic human necessities such as food and shelter. Meanwhile, the workers believe that they are taken care of adequately, and they rely on the owners for their well-being. But the owners do not have the workers’ best interests in mind because they want to produce wealth by any means. “Potent social forces [capitalism, patriarchy, imperialism, home ownership] do exist and being homeless is to lose a stake in several of them” (Neale, 2007,

Conflicts and revolutions have occurred throughout history from the beginning of time. These conflicts and revolutions can all be explained by one theory, Karl Marx’s Conflict Theory. This theory describes a two-class system and how the two classes opposing views ultimately lead to revolts and change of the traditional system. These opposing views stem from a suppressed and exploited working/lower class.

“The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones.” Marx (1848, p.74)

The purge is great for so many reasons, not only does it help end overpopulation, but it would also help relieve citizens of their sinful desires (regarding murder) and your mother’s will to devour hamburgers. Relieving the inner rages of citizens, would ultimately contribute to a society of lower crime rate and stronger economy. It is projected that after the purge, unemployment rates would plummet to 1%! Of course, the less people alive, the better possibility for jobs. For a small sacrifice of purging once a year, you can prevent tens of thousands from dying in the near-future, 364 days a

Violent memories are the nightmare that stays with people after they wake up. The poem “Early Purges” and the short story “The Destructor ” both talk about how children lose their innocence through the influence of violence. In the poem, the narrator becomes desensitized to death because of the slaughter in the farm. On the other hand, in the short story, it is war that deadens the characters' normal human emotions. Although the childhood memories of all the characters in both pieces of literature are unpleasant and traumatizing, the level of ferocity and the repercussions are dissimilar

Conflict theory is a term that was first advocated by the German philosopher and sociologist Karl Marx (1818-1883). First and foremost, it is important for us to understand how conflict within society can arise. Marx’s methodology or another phrase; ‘Marxism’, applies mainly to the rise of capitalism (i.e. advanced industrialised societies in which certain people came to own the means of production and exploited workers in order to enrich themselves). Marx saw this as resulting in class struggle and the eventual overthrow of the capitalist class. This is an emphasis on power and the control of people and land leading to oppression; in the context of this essay; oppression being the exercise of an authoritative figure of some kind acting in a cruel or unjust manner, note; this is more likely to apply to an already advanced society.

Marx’s political theory is based on the idea that social history has been defined by a series of class struggles. When a new class overtakes the prior ruling class, a new order emerges. Ideally, this new order would be an improvement on the past system. But in reality, misery still exists in tiers of society because the new systems typically embody a similar model of the oppressed-oppressor relationship, where lower classes are exploited in a similar way. The modern bourgeois society “has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones” (14). In this way, new systems are part of a natural progression of society, but they continue to exhibit

Karl Marx describes “Society as a whole [as being] more and more [split] up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other-bourgeoisie and proletariat” (Marx 124).  As Marx made his distinction between upper class, bourgeoisie, and lower class, proletariats, it is important to keep in mind the societal structure at the time.  To understand how classes were created and the disparity between the rich and poor, or, bourgeoisie and proletariat, it is necessary to examine how people came to be rich and poor.  Exploring a time before money existed will help us to process and understand reasons why the binary between rich and poor exists and how it is reflective of low and high art distinctions.

The decline of aristocracy in The Communist Manifesto began with Karl Marx’s statement, “The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles.”1 Marx recognized the ideals of the social rank, which has influenced every society throughout history. The two social classes described by Marx were the Bourgeoisie, or the upper class, and the Proletariats, or the lower class. Before the Bourgeoisie came to social power, landowners and corporate organizations ran the society. Marx believed that the severe separation of the two classes greatly troubled society and that the two classes must coexist as one with each other.2

Karl Marx, also a philosopher was popularly known for his theories that best explained society, its social structure, as well as the social relationships. Karl Marx placed so much emphasis on the economic structure and how it influenced the rest of the social structure from a materialistic point of view. Human societies progress through a dialectic of class struggle, this means that the three aspects that make up the dialectic come into play, which are the thesis, antithesis and the synthesis (Avineri, 1980: 66-69). As a result of these, Marx suggests that in order for change to come about, a class struggle has to first take place. That is, the struggle between the proletariat and the capitalist class, the class that controls

But not only has the bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bring death to itself; it has called into existence the men who are to wield those weapons—the modern working-class—the proletarians.”2 Marx has introduced the solution to creating his equal society. He believes that the proletarians are capable of overthrowing the bourgeois because of their large population.

He respectively labels these “two great classes” as the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. According to Marx, the simplification of the class structure into these two opposing groups greatly increases the hostilities between them (1888: 474). These intensified class antagonisms inevitably create a proletariat uprising, as this class “…has to bear all the burdens of society without enjoying its advantages…and from which emanates the consciousness of the necessity of a fundamental revolution…” (1846: 192). Therefore, the forces of production that develop within capitalism will eventually cause the destruction of this system (1859).

‘Every form of society has been on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressed classes…The modern labourer instead of rising with the process of industry, he becomes a pauper, and pauperism develops more rapidly than population and wealth. Here it becomes evident that thy bourgeoisie is unfit any longer to be the ruling class in society…Society can no longer live under this bourgeoisie, and it’s existence is no longer compatible with society…’ (Marx, Manifesto of the Communist Party 1847)

Karl Marx believed that struggle or conflict among classes was an inevitable feature of capitalism based on the argument that various groups in a society or social classes perpetually fight and compete for resources and power, hence the groups remains polarized against each other. The Karl Marx’s conflict theory views behavior from the perspective of conflict or tension among two or more groups. The conflict does not necessarily translate to violence but rather takes the form of struggle within political negotiations, business, philosophical ideologies or personal attitudes. A critical analysis of Karl Marx conflict theory’s point of view reveals that the conflict of social classes is the major aspect of societal conflict, and is mostly propagated by the differences in economic statuses and inequalities in distribution.