Page last edited :20/08/2010

My aim in this document is to introduce  some of the main ideas of Marxist theory to students beginning their Advanced Level studies of Sociology and/or Government and Politics. Elsewhere on the site students can find more detailed information on Marxist theories; on the application of Marxist theories in the Sociology of the Family, Education Systems, Social Stratification and the analysis of the State; and on comparisons between Marxism and other form of Socialism. [The Scottish Further Education Unit (SFEU) has produced Course Notes and useful student exercises on all aspects of Social Stratification and you may click here and  then on the relevant link and scroll down to pages 33-42  for SFEU notes and exercises on Marxism.]

Also if you require only the briefest of summaries of Marxist ideas you could click here for my 12 point summary of the document!

• Introducing Marxism

• Introduction

Karl Marx [1818 - 1883 ] emphasised in his theories that if human beings are to survive it is obviously necessary for them to produce the goods and services necessary for their survival. This led him to develop long term historical theories of social change in which he focussed especially on the economic characteristics of successive historical epochs which described as Modes of Production, distinguishing between the Primitive Communist, the Ancient, the Feudal and the Capitalist Modes of Production. He then provided detailed analyses of the transitions between these  and developed theories to explain how the future final transition from the Capitalist to the Socialist [and ultimately Communist ]Mode of Production would occur. In this document I concentrate on Marx' analysis of the Capitalist Mode of Production and ton he predicted transition to the Socialist Mode of Production

• The Marxist Analysis of Capitalism and of the Transition to Socialism. 

• The Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat

Capitalist societies can be divided into two major social classes -- the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie own almost all of the land, banks, factories and raw materials . [which in Marxist terminology are described as the means of production ] whereas the Proletariat own little or no property and work for wages . Intermediate classes may exist but in Marx's best-known theory, it is suggested that a process of class polarisation will occur whereby the members of intermediate classes will eventually be incorporated into one or other of the two main social classes: i.e. the size of the intermediate or middle classes will decline. (However in his  later work, he predicted that the size of the middle classes would increase and modern Marxists have analysed the nature  of this growing middle class in considerable detail.)

 The Social Relations of Production between the two main classes inevitably involve exploitation and conflict. The Proletariat (the working class) are poorly paid, work long hours in dangerous conditions, are poorly housed, poorly educated and in bad health. They are also unrepresented politically. Trade unions are weak or non-existent; no political party represents the interests of working class people who in case have no voting rights. Meanwhile the Bourgeoisie (the upper class ) exploit the Proletariat. They earn high profits and enjoy a privileged life style at the expense of the Proletariat who earn low wages exactly because the Bourgeoisie earn high profits.  That is: workers are exploited in the sense that they receive in wages less than the value of the output of goods and services which they produce and this exploitation of the workers contributes directly to the profits received by the Bourgeoisie.

In summary we can show the relationship between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat as  follows:

• The Economic Base [or Infrastructure] and the Superstructure

 Marx also believed that the economic organisation of capitalist societies would heavily influence other characteristics of these societies. In Marx's terms, the Economic Base [or infrastructure] of capitalist societies would heavily influence the Superstructure of these societies.

 Under the conditions  of C19th capitalism Marx argued that the economic base influenced the superstructure of society in the following ways.

1.  The Bourgeoisie were the economically dominant class but were also a politically dominant Ruling Class because all of the political leaders were drawn from the Bourgeoisie and could be relied upon to represent the interests of their own class.
2.  Meanwhile, as already mentioned, the Proletariat were unrepresented politically.
3.  The legal system protected private property and heavy penalties were imposed for minor thefts, with no account taken of mitigating circumstances. The legal system also discriminated against trade unions.
4.  The Ruling Class attempted to maintain its power by spreading a so-called Ruling Class Ideology via the Family, the Church, the Schools and the Media, designed to encourage the working class to accept their own exploitation and the dominance of the Ruling Class without question.
5.  Therefore, education was mainly for the rich and any education given to the poor was designed to keep them firmly in their place. According to Marx, religion played a similar role. The net effect was that the proletariat were beset by false class consciousness which meant that they were unaware of the real sources of their exploitation.
6. If it should prove necessary the Bourgeoisie would be able to rely upon the police and the armed forces to sustain its power and it has occasionally done so although under normal circumstances ideological manipulation has proved sufficient to maintain its dominance.

• Marx and the Transition from Capitalism to Socialism

Marx recognised that the operation of capitalist system had led to vast improvements in technology which resulted in huge increases in output which potentially could improve living standards for all. However he believed also that capitalism resulted in the exploitation of the proletariat and that the capitalist system was unstable and contained within itself the seeds of its own downfall.

1. Although capitalism would improve living standards for some, it would also lead to increasing unemployment, poverty and misery for many.
2. Industrialisation would lead to urbanisation and this would make it easier to organise trade unions and political parties to represent the interests of the working class.
3. There would be a polarisation of classes as members of the intermediate classes either fell into the proletariat or rose into the bourgeoisie although later in life Marx  argued that it was possible that the size of the intermediate classes would increase.
4. Gradually  the Proletariat would eventually become aware of the reasons for its exploitation. It would develop a consciousness of its class position. That is, in Marx's own terms, it would change from a class in itself to a class for itself. It would protest, demonstrate and finally rise up and overthrow the Bourgeoisie. Capitalism would eventually be replaced by Communism which was to be a classless utopia.
5. Marx tended to argue that the transition to socialism was most likely to occur in societies where the capitalist system was most fully developed as in Western Europe but in later life he recognised the possibility of a transition to socialism in Russia despite the fact that capitalism was relatively underdeveloped there. Also his theories were adapted significantly by Lenin who argued  that in Russia a small tightly organised political party  would be able to accelerate the revolutionary process despite the relative under-development of Russian capitalism.  Revolutions inspired to a considerable extent by Marxism occurred also in China , Vietnam and elsewhere in the "Third World" although in each case capitalism was relatively underdeveloped in these societies.

• Criticisms of the Marxist Theory

The Marxist theory has been heavily criticised but has also been defended resolutely by contemporary Marxists. Here are some of the main criticisms.

• The Limitations of Marx' theories of Social Class

1. It has been argued that Marx's theory of social classes is inadequate in that he is said to have concentrated too much on the Proletariat and the Bourgeoisie and failed to predict the growth of the middle class  although, as already mentioned he did predict this in his later theories..
2. Critics also argued that Marx underestimated the importance of non-class differences in societies. Gender and ethnic differences may be given inadequate coverage in Marxist theory.
3. It is also claimed that Marx underestimated the importance of divisions  within the main social classes----for example the importance of the divisions between skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled working class people that might reduce their class solidarity and, there fore, reduce the likelihood of revolution.
4. The German sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920)  several important criticisms of Marx' class theories

a. A person's class position depended not only on ownership or non-ownership of wealth but also on their incomes, fringe benefits and opportunities for social mobility. These variables, combined together, described an individual's  Market Situation.

b. Capitalist societies could be divided into 4 main social classes: the propertied upper class, the property-less white collar workers, the petty Bourgeoisie and the manual working class.

c. Divisions within these social classes were more important than Marx thought. Such divisions might mean that the working class would never unite and that, as a result, anti-capitalist revolutions simply would not occur.

d. Divisions within classes might occur as a result of divisions of status within these classes. While class, as we have seen, is basically an economic concept, status refers to one's standing or prestige in society. It might be, sadly, that black people have less status than white people in the UK, or that Catholics have less status than Protestants in N. Ireland and these status differences may restrict the unity of the working class.

    5.Marx' class theories have been criticised also from Functionalist and Postmodernism perspectives

• The Excessive Economic Determinism of Marxist Theories

Critics  have argued that Marx overstated the extent to which the organisation of the economic base determined the organisation of the superstructure. They argued that Marx had incorrectly assumed that the capitalist economic system determined how families, education systems, the mass media ,churches and states would operate under capitalism. However Marx did seek to distance himself from extreme forms of economic determinism and neo-Marxists such as Gramsci have certainly argued that the organisations of the superstructure may well act with considerable relative autonomy visa vis the economic base and that it is perfectly possible that the organisation of the superstructure will influence the organisation of the economic base while also admitting the possibility that the economic base will influence the superstructure.

•  The Inaccuracy of the Marxist Analysis of Capitalism and of Marxist Theories of Revolution

According to his critics the Marxist analysis is fundamentally flawed and has become increasingly inaccurate during the C20th as capitalism changed in ways not predicted by Marx. According to their supporters the political ideologies of Liberalism, Conservatism and Social Democracy offered much more accurate depictions of the capitalism system. in the advanced capitalist economies of Western Europe. Consequently the  revolutions predicted by Marx  to occur in the advanced capitalist societies of Western Europe simply did not occur.

a. They did not occur because the living standards of most working class people improved very much in the 20th Century.

b. Also, Welfare States developed in capitalist societies which have, for example resulted in better health care and education for working class people and more or less eliminated absolute poverty.

c. Capitalist societies have been democratised. Working class people now have voting rights; they can vote for Socialist or Social Democratic political parties; their interests are protected by trade unions and many other pressure groups so that they are no longer economically exploited and politically powerless as in the C19th.

d. Consequently the working classes of advanced capitalist societies have not evolved from classes in themselves into classes for themselves and have not developed revolutionary class consciousness. In the UK they have been much more likely to support non-revolutionary parties of the Left, Right or Centre than to support Marxist parties membership of which is very small.

e. Weber predicted that where so-called Socialist revolutions do occur, power might pass not to the working class but to the bureaucrats in control of the newly powerful Socialist or Communist political parties. The working class would be relatively powerless both before and after the revolution. Experience in the USSRand elsewhere suggests that Weber may have been substantially correct on this point. The U.S.S.R. became a near dictatorship under Stalin and was still a very repressive regime under subsequent leaders and this led ultimately to the collapse of "Communism" in the U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe.

• The Rejection of Claims that Marx had developed a Scientific theory of Socialism

It should be noted that Marx claimed to be providing a scientific socialist analysis of capitalism and of the transition from capitalism to socialism . It was on this basis that he criticised the ideas of theorists such as Charles Fourier, Henri De Saint Simon and Robert Owen as "Utopian Socialists" claiming that they had failed to analyse capitalism in detail and that their socialist proposals took no account of the historical laws of capitalist development which, according to Marx  would ultimately lead to socialist revolution. In the event history seems so far to have disproved Marx's so-called scientific theories but supporters of Marxism can always say that the theories will prove to be true eventually. What this means is that Marx's theories are actually untestable and many philosophers of science would say therefore that they cannot be described as scientific because the most important characteristic of a scientific theory is that it should be testable.

Clearly then, there are several very important criticisms of Marxist theory and critics have argued that  even if it was relevant to the analysis of 19th Century capitalism, by the middle to late 20th Century, it has become irrelevant to the analysis of 20th Century capitalism which was changing in directions not predicted by Marx.

1. Modern Marxists would, of course, dispute this and continue to defend the Marxist theory on the following grounds:
2. Capitalist countries are still based on private enterprise and this means that the owners and controllers of private industry have great power over the working class.
3. An economically dominant Bourgeoisie continues to exist and it still exercise great influence over the institutions of the State . Thus Marxist ideas may be used to suggest that current liberal democracies are in reality far less democratic than they appear to be and that business pressure groups are actually far more powerful than all other pressure groups which contradicts classical  Pluralist theories that political power is relatively evenly distributed.
4. Capitalist economies are grossly unequal as is indicated by statistics on the distribution of income and wealth and despite the existence of the Welfare State, great poverty, even if measured in a relative sense, continues to exist.
5. The overall significance of religion may have declined but schools and the capitalist-controlled media continue to brainwash the working class and prevent them from realising their true destiny, at least as Marxists would see it.  Thus Marxist theory offers an important critical perspective on the nature of the socialisation process under capitalism but it must also be evaluated relative to other perspectives on the socialisation process.
6. Max Weber's analysis of the details of class structure are interesting but these details are of less importance than the fundamental distinction between the Proletariat and the Bourgeoisie emphasised by Marxists.
7. Marxists [and others] are critical also of Functionalist and Postmodernism theories of social stratification
8. Just because previous revolutions have been unsuccessful in the past, this does not prove that they will be unsuccessful in the future.
9. Alternatively it might be argued that  Marxist theories , suitably modified, provide the best analysis of 21st century capitalism which must be changed fundamentally if the human race is to survive even if such changes are not necessarily to be achieved via original revolutionary Marxist processes.

• Summary

1. Marx presents an analysis of long term historical change involving transitions between successive Modes of Production.
2. I have concentrated in this introductory summary on Marx' analysis of the nature of C19th Century capitalism and his predictions of the revolutionary transition to socialism.
3. C19th Century capitalist societies are presented as class societies in which the two major social classes are the property owning Bourgeoisie and the property-less Proletariat. In Marxist terms class membership is determined by ownership or non -ownership of property [or in Marx' terms the means of production].
4. Capitalism is seen as a dynamic economic system which nevertheless contains the seeds of its own destruction
5. The social relations of production between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat involve exploitation and conflict since the Bourgeoisie's opportunities to generate profits depend upon its capacities to exploit the Bourgeoisie.
6. The Bourgeoisie is seen as an economically and politically dominant class because it controls the private sector of the economy and exercises considerable indirect control over the State. The Bourgeoisie retains its power primarily by ideological manipulation but does sometimes resort to force involving the reliance on the support of the police and/or the armed forces.
7. Marx  makes an important distinction between the Economic Base [or Infrastructure] of capitalist societies and the Superstructure of capitalist societies which Marx believed to be heavily influenced by the nature of the Economic Base which, according to his critics lays him open to the charge of excessive economic determinism.
8. Marx' class theories have attracted criticism from Weberian, Functionalist and Postmodernist perspectives and it has been argued also that he and his fellow Marxist have overstated the importance of class inequalities to the relative neglect of inequalities based around age, disability, ethnicity, gender and sexuality.
9. Marx' predictions of socialist revolutions in advanced Western capitalist economies have not materialised because, according to his critics, capitalist societies have changed in ways not predicted by Marx and, depending upon one's taste, the ideologies of Conservatism or Liberalism or non-Marxist Socialism provide much more accurate depictions of the capitalist system than does Marxism.
10. Where Marxist -inspired revolutions have occurred they have degenerated into centralised party dictatorships and certainly have not led to the emancipation of the working class as Marx had hoped and expected.
11. Neither is it likely that the Western European working classes  will become  revolutionary classes in the foreseeable future
12. Nevertheless despite all of these criticisms modern Marxists continue to argue that Marxist theories, suitably modified to take account of modern conditions,  still provide us with the most accurate insights into the nature of contemporary  capitalism which in their view remains a grossly unequal, unjust, exploitative system which restricts our capacities for self-development. As the recently deceased former Communist  Jimmy Reid once said "the rat race is for rats" and, as human beings, we must reject it in favour of something better. [R.I.P.  Mr. Reid]

Rat Race, Invisible Hand or something in between? The debate continues.