Marxist Theory And Its Impact On Society

Functionalists believe that society is based on a value consensus into which society socialises its members, which enables to cooperate harmoniously and meet society’s needs and goals.

Functionalists look at society as a whole. They explain crime and deviance by stating that the source of deviance lies in the nature of society rather than the individual.

Marxism is a theory that analyses social hierarchy and class struggle though the proletariats (lower class) and the

Functionalism is based on the view that society is a system of interdependent parts held together by a shared culture or value consensus (agreement) amongst individuals as to what values or norms are important in society. Therefore they take a positive view of the education system. As item A suggests they see it as a form of secondary socialism essential to maintaining society i.e. the values and norms transmitted by social institutions and groups which build upon those learnt in the family (primary socialism).

Functionalism is a theory which allows an individual to understand their place in society, and understands the relationship between physical input and behavioural output. It also believes that society is a system of components that are internally connected and that all the components work together to maintain stability in the society.

Marxism is a theory based on “a materialist interpretation of historical development and a dialectical view of social transformation” (Wikipedia, 2017) by philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism focuses on social contradictions and the struggle between socioeconomic classes, which are proletariat, who are the poor people and the working class; and bourgeoisie, the rich people that control the means of production. Marxist theory states that the only way to eliminate the differences between both classes is a violent revolution that will lead to a communist society.

Functionalism also known as functionalist perspective is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. Functionalism clarifies each part of society in terms of how it contributes and helps the balance of the society as a whole. Each part of society is functional for the

AQA AS/A SOCIOLOGY ESSAY: CRITICALLY EXAMINE MARXIST PERSPECTIVES ON TODAY’S SOCIETY Classical Marxism is a conflict structural theory which argues that, rather than society being based on value consensus as functionalists would contend, there is a conflict of interest between different groups (social classes) because of the unequal distribution of power and wealth. Marxists are also interested in the way in which social change can occur, particularly in sudden and revolutionary ways. However, there are differences between Marxists especially over the way which social change can come about. For example, humanistic Marxists like Gramsci give a greater role to the conscious decisions and actions of human beings than do structural Marxists

Functionalism is a theory by Durkheim that conveys that all aspects of a society serve a function and are necessary for the survival of that society. In this way, society is like an organism. If all institutions work properly it contributes to the

Marxism is often cited as being irrelevant within contemporary society due to the fact that Marx had critiqued an almost incomparable society. McDonald & Brownlee (2001) argue

Functionalism is a consensus perspective, whereby society is based on shared values and norms into which members are socialised. For functionalists, society is seen as a system of social institutions such as the economy, religion and the family all of which perform socialisation functions.

Functionalist looks at society on a macro level. It is a consensus theory and structuralists prefer to use functionalism as it agrees with their ideals and models and they prefer to look at society as a whole. Functionalists are interested in studying what family is most functional.

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

Another example of Marxism in the movie is when the circus insects are working for their owner and he doesn’t pay them enough for what they are producing, which is their circus act. The bugs have no control over the amount of money the boss is selling it for but they are aware that its not fair. In this situation the circus bugs are the communist and their owner is the capitalist. This is an example of Marxism because the owner of the bugs pay them less then what they are work. They do a lot of hard labor putting on acts every night and traveling place to place but they can not control the money distribution until they leave. Once they have left their owner is frantic about their absence and wants them back. This is also Marxism because in Marxism they said that the common working people make up the society, with out the working people we wouldn’t have most of the things we have. True in real life and the movie because once the act left the owner wasn’t anything and he agreed to pay them right if they accept him back as their owner.

Western Marxists take a more modern view on the orthodox position that in order for any progress to be made in the working class society a complete overthrow of the current capitalist society will need to happen. Western Marxism has potentially ‘reclassified’ the class boundaries of the bourgeoisie to have property ownership superseded by managerial authority, the ability to exercise discipline over the workforce. Modern day Marxists are redefining the boundaries of the classes with highly paid white collar workers professional and