Annotated Bibliography

This annotated bibliography intends to give a clear overview of some of the academic research I have carried out on a topic I will be researching for my dissertation. All of the sources being used are by authors and writers that have either spent time researching Marxism and questioning the theory of social class or studying social class and its existence in a modern society. I am going to look at six different sources – some books, some journals and some articles. The purpose of this bibliography is not only to demonstrate the research I have carried out but also summaries each one, identifying their objectives and their use to me. The theory of Marxism has been known for many years and some believe that is it dying out whilst others believe

This book aims to evaluate all aspects of Marx's work and measures the value of it for sociological analysis and explanation. As Jordan believes one must understand the work if it is to mean anything in a contemporary society, he begins by explaining the origins of social class which is vital for anyone to understand before questioning its importance. The book is quite well structured beginning with basic assumptions of Karl Marx following his different theories. The chapter that studied social classes, class differentiation and class struggle was my main interest and although Jordan offered great explanation of Marx's writing I felt he could have offered more on just how meaningful it is for the world today. I will use the book as some of Jordan's explanations of Marx's writing are well thought and do emphasise why class was so important to Marx as he believed capitalism forced social stratification on to society which only benefited a minority. Marx wanted everyone to believe in communism and argued that everyone could be equal there. The book uses some primary and secondary sources of research such as books, speeches and articles and some of Marx's personal letters and notes to have a better understanding of

The selected writings are not the writings you usually find in a Marx book so I appreciated being able to read some of his other work to grasp a better understanding. McLellen uses a lot of secondary research to complete this book as it is mostly all of Marx's own writing except McLellens introductions. There are many different writings in the book on Marx's theory of social class which were practical as class system is one of my main focuses and from reading his work I have been able to make an attempt at interpreting and analysing what class theory meant to him. Marx writes about social stratification being created through unequal property relations or unequal access to the means of production – a capitalist state creates a bourgeois class and a proletariat class. Marx claims that a communist society will come eventually where the proletariat will dictate and the exploitation will melt away. Most of the sources throughout this book are secondary however does contain some primary ones, all of the sources are reliable. I will use this book throughout my dissertation as it has a lot of useful and relative writings by Marx