Sociology and Modernization

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were full of evolving social and economic ideas. These views of the social structure of urban society came about through the development of ideas taken from the past revolutions. As the Industrial Revolution progressed through out the world, so did the gap between the class structures. The development of a capitalist society was a very favorable goal for the upper class. By using advanced methods of production introduced by the Industrial Revolution, they were able to earn a substantial surplus by ruling the middle class. Thus, maintaining their present class of life, while the middle class was exploited and degraded. At this time in history, social theorists like Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx

Change is an inalienable piece of society. Social orders are always showing signs of change to adjust themselves to the contemporary lifestyle. Social researchers generally utilize the term modernization to allude to the procedure through which

Division of labour is also credited with the rise of trade between different areas, the rise of capitalism, and increasingly complex manufacturing and industrialization. For Karl Marx, the production portion of Capitalism signalled great trouble. He believed production in Capitalist society worked in a way that the rich factory owner benefited and the poor factory workers lost. In his manner of reasoning, the Capitalist system was inherently meant to benefit the rich and exploit the poor: “All the bourgeois economists are aware of is that production can be carried on better under the modern police than on the principle of might makes right. They forget only that this principle is also a legal relation, and that the right of the stronger prevails in their ‘constitutional republics’ as well, only in another form.”[ii] Marx’s view of society and the world lead him to believe that humans create change in their lives and in their environment through practical activity in the practical world.

Marx viewed society as a conflict between two classes in competition for material goods. He looked at the history of class conflicts and determined that the coming of the industrial age was what strengthened the capitalist revolution. Marx called the dominant class in the capitalist society the bourgeoisie and the laborers the proletariat. The bourgeoisie owned or controlled the means of production, exploited laborers, and controlled the goods produced for its own needs. He believed that the oppressed class of laborers was in a position to organize itself against the dominating class. He felt that it was the course of nature, that is, it is the way that society evolves and that the communist society would be free of class conflict, "the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all." (Marx & Engels 1948, 37)

Karl Marx witnessed first hand the rise of the industrial revolution and the beginning of capitalism. He also became one of capitalisms biggest critics. Marx believed that society needed a better way of distrusting wealth but also a better way a finding people’s full human potential or what he called “species-essence”. Marx believed that what we do connects to who we are, for example, work is what makes us human. It fulfills our species essence, as he puts it. Work allows us to be creative and flourish. However, in the 19th century Europe work did the quit opposite, it destroyed workers, particularly those who had nothing to sell but their labor. To the mill and factory owners a worker was simply an abstract idea with a stomach that needed to be filled. The workers had no choice but to work for long hours for a pathetic wage. Even worse, their labor alienated them. Alienation is a disorienting sense of exclusion and separation. Factory labor, under capitalism, alienated the workers from the product of their labor. They made stuff they couldn’t afford to buy themselves. The products they made were shipped out to other places far way to make money

Karl Marx’s viewed capitalism as something that was negative for our society, but that would eventually become a positive. Because of capitalism, the bourgeoisie (upper and middle class) would often oppress the proletarians (working class). In The Communist Manifesto he discusses how capitalism is part of the transition to communism. Marx very strongly believed in the idea of having a communistic society. He believed that the ideal social situation could be

Karl Marx’s viewed capitalism as something that was negative for our society, but that would eventually become a positive. Because of capitalism, the bourgeoisie (upper and middle class) would often oppress the proletarians (working class). In The Communist Manifesto he discusses how capitalism is part of the transition to communism. Marx

Marx believed that capitalism was a temporary phase, however, it was unjust and abusive system. He describes the capitalist system as “an evil exploitation” (qtd, in Handout book 17). After the industrial revolution political, economic, and social changes drastically change. There were new opportunities, however, it only noticeable benefited one class. During the mid-nineteen centuries the bourgeoisie, those who own the means of production, were the only ones that acquire all the economical befits that industrial revolution brought under capitalism. The working class, the proletariats, were the ones who were ‘brutal exploited’ by the bourgeoisie according to Marx. Under the capitalism, the proletariat were hired with low wages and

The issues stated above led Marx to believe that capitalism favors the capitalists at the expense of the workers though wage cuts, loss of jobs, or factories closed (Ritzer, 62).According to Marx, exploitation in modern capitalism makes the rich more wealthy and the poor more poorer. In Economic and Philosophies by Marx, he speaks of the division of labor that modern capitalism caused the workers:

Since they devise a system where the bourgeoisie gain more with the growth of capitalism and the proletariat continue to loose. For instance, Marx & Engels describe the proletariat as “the modern working class” of citizens who were created by the bourgeoisie and whose only existence as mandated by the bourgeoisie is to work and further the gains of their class. Additionally, the workers, are subjected to work under their superiors, and Marx & Engels claim that “not only are they slaves of the bourgeoisie class, and of the bourgeoisie state; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine… and above all by the individual bourgeoisie manufacturer himself.” Marx argues that the more the bourgeoisie continue to exercise their absolute power over the proletariat, the more bitter, and resentful they become, creating what Marx & Engels describe as a class of citizens and they would be the “weapons that bring death to itself...” They stated this because as the bourgeoisie change the environment of workers by converting small shops “into the great factory of the industrial capitalist.” Which in turn creates a mass, organized group of people who will grow to hate the bourgeoisie because of the horrible working conditions and rebel. As a result, the bourgeoisie in an attempt to expand capitalism and cultivate more

Marx, Durkheim, and Weber together comprise the historical core of the sociological tradition. While they each come from very different perspectives and offer profound contributions to the field, they each have tried to address problems associated with the advent of modernity. The economy is a fundamental part of contemporary society because it’s a social institution. It also contributes to every aspect of

Marx understanding of society shift into modernism lead to develop a form of communism that would come to be known as Marxism, communism is the economic thought of Marxism. Marx understands that Modernism calls for society to embrace equality for the betterment of society. Part of the problem with Capitalism comes from its exploitation of the working class; Marx understands this problem to be a vein of Pre-modernism and not a pillar of Modernism. Marx calls for the working class to rise up over their bourgeoisie oppressors and seize the equality that rightfully belongs to them. “Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other – bourgeoisie and proletariat. (Communist pg. 9)” If society wants to embrace modernism, then society needs to shift its focus from fighting each other and one exploiting another to a classless society. Marx highly criticizes the bourgeoisie in The Communist Manifesto, and this stems from the problems they created for themselves and for the rest of society. In their attempt to gain more power, land, and resources, their material conditions, upon the prominence which their families had been formed, were dissipating due to the lack of foresight and selfish greed. If the Bourgeoisie continues to exploit the proletariat then society will head to conflict, as is expected of Pre-modernism, but if the Bourgeoisie cease its exploitation and relinquish its power for the group,

Karl Marx believed societies evolved through different stages: feudalism, capitalism, and socialism. He suspected social change to be strongly linked with the economy; class struggle caused by 19th century capitalism. With the decline of the aristocracy and the industrial revolution Marx believed more opportunities would be available for the poor, but that was not the case, instead the aristocracy were "replaced ' ' by capitalists. The wealthy

As capitalist societies expanded, Marx argued that exploitation amongst workers became more apparent. Marx believed that the only way to get rid of the exploitation, oppression and alienation was for a revolution amongst the proletariat workers. Marx suggests that it is only when the means of production are communally owned, that class divisions among the masses will disappear.

Karl Marx is the first in a series of 19th and 20th century theorists who started the call for an empirical approach to social science. Theorizing about the rise of modernity accompanied by the decline in traditional societies and advocating for a change in the means of production in order to enable social justice. Marx’s theories on modernity reveals his beliefs of modern society as being influenced by the advancement of productive forces of modern industry and the relationships of production between the capitalist and the wage laborers. The concept of modernity refers to a post-feudal historical period that is characterized by the move away from feudalism and toward capitalism. Modernity focuses on the affects that the rise of capitalism has had on social relations, and notes Karl Marx and Max Weber as influential theorists commenting on this. The quick advancement of major innovations after the Enlightenment period known as modernity stood in stark contrast to the incremental development of even the most complex pre-modern societies, which saw productive forces developing at a much slower pace, over hundreds or thousands of years as compared to modern times, with swift growth and change. This alarming contrast fascinated Marx who traced the spawning of modern capitalism in the Communist Manifesto, citing this record speed as the heat which generated the creation of the global division of labor and a greater variety of productive forces than anytime before. Ultimately,