Sociologist Views on the Means and Ends of Socialism Essay

Once in complete control, it would abandon its dictatorship to form a higher state of democracy then had been seen before. He thought then that the classes which separated people would surely fall as the bourgeois withered away. He believed that people must liberate themselves. On the other hand, Eduard Bernstein’s revisionist socialism wanted the proletariat to rise to power through democratic office and reforms. He believed that the change should be more of an evolution rather than a revolution. The revisionist also did not want the proletariat to be in total control.

Socialism along with many other ideologies has a vast number of different strands and with a couple of different roads to achieving what is fundamentally socialism. Socialism being the ideology that utilises collectivisation to bring people together and to unite people by their common humanity. The two most obvious roads of socialism would be that of revolutionary socialism and also that of evolutionary socialism. This are taken on by two different types of socialists, revisionist socialists and fundamentalist socialists. Revolutionary socialism is the belief that capitalism can only be overthrown by revolution against the current political system. To them

Marx begins by writing, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. (Jones, 219)” The existing society was divided between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat, as I stated before. The Bourgeoisie consisted of the social class who owns the means of production. The Proletariat consisted of wage-laborers who have no means of production of their own and they are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live (Jones 219). As you can see the bourgeoisie had the upper hand because they were the people who were mainly in charge of the proletariat. Marx believed that the

Karl Marx and Max Weber were influential sociologists that paved the way for modern sociological school of thought. Both, Karl Marx and Max Weber contributed a lot to the study and foundation of sociology. Without their contributions sociology would not be as prominent as it is today. From the contribution of how sociology should be studied, to how they applied their theories to everyday life has influenced many sociologists. Predominantly, both of these theorists’ discussed the effects of capitalism, how it has developed, shaped and changed society into what it is today. Specifically, Karl Marx’s contribution of the bourgeoisie vs. the proletariat class and Max Weber’s social stratification has helped individuals to understand how modern day society has transformed into what it is today. Particularly, this paper will lie out Weber’s theory of social stratification and Marx’s theory of the bourgeoisie vs. the proletariat class; additionally this essay will also compare and contrast the ideas of these two influential sociologists. Finally this essay will criticize both of these sociologists’ theories and display that Marx and Weber do not explain how modern day society and classes have been formed.

Socialism is the underlying motivation behind communist movements in history. Socialists believe that it is unjust for a small amount of people to own the biggest portion of the wealth in society. This idea lead to the concept of a communist society, in which the existence of private property is eliminated in favor of government-owned property being shared among all it’s people. The government would provide jobs and care for all people equally. The idea was that through communism, there would be no social classes, thus eliminating alienation for any of the people in the society.

The early 20th century socialist revolutionary theorists Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxembourg and Leon Trotsky believed that the withering away of the state and the removal of the capitalist mode of production was a necessary outcome if the individual was to ever realize their true nature as being free, equal and self-determining. This, however, could only be achieved through the development of the proletariat’s class consciousness and their defeat over the bourgeoisie. It is in this manner where both socialist revolutionary theory and practice share a dialectical relationship. However untied in their revolutionary visions of this international process, these theorists differ in what the role and functions of the revolutionary party should be in the historical development of the new socialist state.

Initially we shall examine the concept of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels view of Socialism as described by Michael W. Doyle. At the very beginning of the chapter he states that “[Marx and Engels] are perhaps best known for the materialist conception of history in which the conditions of production shape all other areas of society — institutions, laws, ideas and morality” (Doyle 322). Both of

Three different types of economic systems used by governments are Communism, Capitalism, and Socialism. Each type of system is unique in different ways. Each has distinct aspects that make it what it is. In communism, the government runs everything and there are no social classes. The government in capitalism doesn’t interfere with any businesses and lets the citizens own and operate them. Socialism is basically a mixture of the two economic systems. The government runs certain businesses, but citizens run the rest. The three economic systems are different in the way they run things and regulate things.

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

Karl Marx, a German philosopher, once said, “Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains” (BrainyQuote 1). Marx dreamt of a utopian society where everyone was equal and the government was ran by the proletarian. From what can be observed in history, specifically the Russian revolution, the ideology of eliminating social classes and pursuing equality were neglected by corrupt Soviet leaders. The working class of the Soviet Union were the most dutiful to their nation; yet they were the most deceived. The natural arrogance of mankind persists to overshadow the desire for tolerance and justice for people who truly.

If we can take Marx’s and Engel’s phrase of “dictatorship of the proletariat,” it can be interpreted as the state’s power is in the control of the working people, not the higher classes. This idea was directed towards having finally separated capitalism and communism. According to spunk, a website I’ve found, it states that it is “ the vehicle of abolishing the state” (spunk.org). The necessity of having the phrase “dictatorship of the proletariat” was to create a progressive life for the workers, an equality way of living and ruling. On the same website it states that the need to create this proletariat-led state, was to “…suppress capitalist resistance, and develop the nationalized means of production as rapidly as possible in order to overcome relative scarcity and shorten the workday, this allowing all workers to participate in the affairs of society” (Spunk.org).

Accordingly, one idea or fact that is often raised to differentiate socialism from communism is that socialism in general is the political movement that refers to an economic system in that they believe that the state should be in charge of all important producing industries thus taking hold of the control of free market in order to promote economic parity and egalitarianism. Theoretically, socialism seeks to distribute wealth equally among its citizens in a way that the rich don’t take

Unfortunately you could see that the totalitarian nature of the Marxist view on state wasn’t so easily discerned. But after a glance at Marxist theory the practice put Marxist organisations into reveal what appeared to be a paradox. Marx and Engels claimed to be opponents of state but this insist that a fundamental goal to abolish the institution. But in, the vast majority of Marxist organisations has been advocates of the drastic extension of the role of the state in society. The Marxist movement has no longer aimed to revolved in the social-democratic which can promotes the systemic expansion to the role of state in capitalist society.

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.

“South African sociology” (Webster, 2004, p. 28) can be considered as the result of the combination of different types of sociology due to the various changes that taken place in South African society throughout its history (Webster, 2004, p. 28). “Marxism” (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 117), which is one of the main contributors to this sociology, was coined by Karl Marx, a German sociologist who by observing the various relations within a society came up with his own beliefs on how society has changed and how it can be improved which have been widely used across the world (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 117). He believed that in the past, people lived in collective groups and were not divided by economic status but shared what they had and focused more on working together than working for each other and this was referred to as ”communism” (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 119). However, Marx suggested that as time progressed people began to fight for land and possessions and this led to weaker groups being kept as “slaves” (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 18) and were used for the benefit of their capturers and this ultimately created a distinction between those who had power and those who did not (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 119). Marx also suggested that from this came what is known as “capitalism” (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 117), which was the result of technological advancements such as the use of machines to produce goods in “factories” (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 117)