Marx's Claim on Religion: Explanation, Analysis, and Problem

Karl Marx’s view of society was based around the economy. All other social structures according to Marx, such as religion, family values, and politics stem from the base, the economy. Religion played no part at all in Marx’s sociological views. He is known as an atheist. He believed that religion was nothing more than a burden on society. “The

Marxists however have a different view on religions effect on social change. They also believe that religion stops social change, but they say this Is caused due to religion being used to give the working class a false class conscience. False class conscience is a Marxists term that describes people’s positions in society being justified. This means that Marxists believe that religion was created by the working class to justifies why people are where they are in life, this suppresses them and reduces the chance of a revolt and therefore social change. Marx used an analogy of flowers on chains (making things look better than they actually are).

Althusser recognised that religion also plays a crucial role in communicating ruling class ideology to the masses. Relating back to Marx’s (1844) description of religion as ‘the opium of the people’. Acknowledging that the teachings of the church are imposed by the ruling class to allow for false consciousness as the church teaches the working-classes to comply with capitalism and provides measures to cope with hardship. Nonetheless, (Giddens, 1971. P: 7) claimed ‘the abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness’. However, ideology is necessary for social life. Regardless if a society has a class system the function of ideology allows for social cohesion (Rancière, 2011).

Karl Marx said what about religion? Why might this be significant? Karl said religion is important, people need something to believe

Generally, Marx’s position on religion is drawn up in an entirely negative manner. In his writings, he expresses his belief that religion is a set of doctrines intended to stabilize, while at the same time bring into servitude the working class people. In addition to that, he argues that the society’s inclination towards religious excitement serves to represent a reaction to disaffection. Also, Marx contends that, since religion causes human beings to feel delusive happiness it makes an erroneous mental representation in as well as of itself. Indeed to him, it is an instrument utilized to sustain cultural systems together with ideologies that in most cases encourages oppression in the society (Parsons 38-46).

The two theorists i’ve decided to compare and contrast are Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim. Firstly i’ll compare them to one another. From all the readings I did and past education on these individuals I found they have a lot of the same views in regards to religion. Both Emlie Durkheim and Karl Marx believe that religion is a projection of mans hopes and desires. They both also agree that religion plays a powerful role in influencing the members of a society. While coming up with these theories they were both more concerned with the human rather than the religion. Both of them did not believe in a god or gods. It’s been said that Marx saw god as idealization of human nature while Durkheim believed the idea of a god was society itself. They were not religious people so it’s interesting that they did have some of the same views and theories regarding religion in the society.

One of the last founding fathers of sociology is Karl Marx. He postulated many sociological theories that revolutionized sociology and modern history for that matter. Marx's Communist Manifesto was the basis of many political movements in the 20th century. In the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx describes the class conflict between the proletarians and the bourgeoisie aka the working class and the ruling class in a capitalist system. The top few percent rule over the majority working class to keep control of the scarce resources they have. Karl Marx believed in the idea of alienation in a capitalist society. Workers become estranged from their humanity and their individuality. Capitalism turns the regular human from “homo sapien” species into the “homo faber” species (human worker). Marx also believed that the bourgeoisie uses many techniques to keep the proletariat happy and servient. The whole idea of capitalism is built around a “fetishism of commodities” that makes people love material things and money as much as friends and loved ones which makes people come back for more. Religion is also used as a way to control the working masses. It is a quick and easy way for the bourgeoisie to

Ideally, a communist government values the rights of the impoverished, workers and others. Both Catholic Socialist Teachings and communism, as envisioned by Marx and Engels, suggest a more collectivist approach to society by comparison to what is advocated for by capitalism, which placed less emphasis on society’s collective. One particular element of communist teachings/government is the disdain for religion within the ideology. Karl Marx himself was known to have a negative view of organized religion, and this is expressed within his writings. To Marx, religion was a means of suppressing the lower classes, and placating them so that they would hot be hostile towards the rulers of European governments and industrial tycoons of the time. Marx’s disdain for organized religion went on to affect cultures of societies with communist governments. For example, in Russia, the revolution and the following rise of the Soviets led to decreased influence of the Russian Orthodox Church, as the state was officially atheist. The attitude towards religion in communist thought has an obvious conflict with the principles of Catholicism, when this difference in religious belief (or lack thereof) is considered. Another area where Catholic Social Ethics differ

Following the Industrial Revolution in 19th century Europe, change was in full swing and religion began to have different meanings for different people. The upper-class citizens used Religion, namely Christianity, and the power that it possessed in an attempt to keep their high status in society, while the lower class turned to faith so that their lives could possibly improve. Instead of religion being the cornerstone of faith and worship amongst all people, it was being used for power and money by the upper class. Even worse, religious leaders were using the upper class people as well, gaining money and authority from their endorsement. A man by the name of Karl Marx saw

"Money," writes Marx "is the jealous god of Israel, beside which no other god may exist. For Marx, society has become "Jewish." "The god of the Jews has become secularized and has become the god of this world. The bill of exchange is the real god of the Jew, and his god is only an illusory bill of exchange" (Tucker, p. 50). It is not the religion of the Jews that Marx is attack but what Jews have come to stand for in society that he is attack. The Jews remain subject to an external power, be it religion or money, even if in their alienated way they embrace it as their own. In fact, because politics has failed to create a home for the human spirit, the only sensible thing to do is to hang on to one's private good. However, Marx does discover

I strongly agree with Marx on the fact that there is “blind faith” involved in many religions, for instance, individuals unthinkingly practice religions in order to cope with detriments occurring in their lives. I believe this due to the fact that individuals instantly use religion as a crutch whenever something bad happens in their life. Religion is something commonly practiced in order to see the good in life, it contains the set of guidelines and rules (10 commandments) that are set in place in order to assure that an individual will enter heaven so long as they abide by these rules. The majority of individuals in our society strive in order to to get to heaven and they perform several deeds in order to get there, however, individuals

There are many of sociology's founding figures that have extremely well-built ideas, practices and studies that I could explore, but one renowned philosopher stands out amongst the crowd, and that person is named Karl Marx (1818-1883). In this essay I aim to explore and critically assess his ideas, theories, and studies in his contribution to sociology, and if his ideas, theories and studies are useful to this contribution to sociology.

Analysis of the Main Strengths and Weaknesses of Marx’s Sociological Thought “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” Marx and Engels (1967, p.67) Born in 1818, Karl Marx, using his philosophical and socialist ideas, attempted to show how conflict and struggle in social development were important in the development of a society. The works of Marx were influenced by three distinct intellectual traditions: German idealist philosophy, French socialism and British political economy. German idealist philosophy is an approach based on the thesis that only the mind and its content really exist. This philosophy maintains that it is through the advance of

Religion has existed in some form or another for centuries, and has been a cornerstone in the study of human history. It has the extraordinary power to create, destroy, and influence our every action. Therefore, the nature of religion has caused it to become the center of controversies and contentions. As a result, it has led to a plethora of scholars, and individuals alike to question whether religion been a force of the ‘Holy’, or ? However, there are several instances where religion has been harmful. Christianity in the Middle Ages, and even during the early modern period, for example, is plagued with instances of being harmful. Furthermore, many key thinkers have heavily criticized Christianity, specifically thinkers such as Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. Therefore, in this paper, I will use the works of Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx to argue that religion was used as a force of illusion and exploitation, as seen through Christianity during the middle ages to the early modern period.

According to Marx, religion can be seen as the opiate of the people (Engels, Marx 1955, p.41). Here, Marx is suggesting that just like opium, religion is trying to relieve people of the pain and suffering in their lives. Marx also puts forward the idea that religion is used by its oppressors in order to make people feel better about their lives. Thus, it can be seen that Marx chooses to adopt a negative view of religion. Max Weber can be seen as the only sociologist to place so much scope and emphasis on the subject of religion (Nisbet, p.250). Biographical and textual evidence suggests that biblical religion played a part in shaping and influencing Weber's life and the context of his sociology. Weber's main concern was to attempt to demonstrate that religious ideologies were not mechanically connected to the economic structure of society, however it does shape individuals behavior and actions in everyday life (Swingewood 1984, p.152). Weber also came to several conclusions regarding the remarkable relationship between capitalism and Protestant. According to Weber, the more capitalism had a free hand to alter social distribution, the larger the relationship between capitalism and protestant (1930, p.4). Overall, it can be seen that the three main sociology theorists differ greatly when it comes to ideas regarding to religion.