Karl Marx Research Paper

Karl Marx was a German philosopher from the 19th century. Marx came up with many ideas and focused on studying the conflicts that occurred between the different classes of society. Although he had some influential philosophers who shared their ideas, he still believed in and stuck to his ideas. Some of his ideas consisted of: alienation, conflict theory, class consciousness and labor theory of value; which all have different meanings behind its concept.

According to Marx, alienation is, “....inherent in capitalism, because the process of production and the results of our labor confront us as a dominating power” (Edles 41). In other words, alienation is the relationship to the workplace; when individuals become blind to the world that they

These classes are identified as proletariats and bourgeoisie, the proletariats sell labor to get money and the bourgeoisie are the middle and upper classes with political and economic power. During this time, proletariats were experiencing exploitation, not getting paid enough for the amount of work they completed, “In bourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is dependent and has no individuality” (Edles 62). In a sense, conflict theory can relate to class consciousness on a certain level. According to Marx, “class consciousness is an awareness on the part of the working class of its common relationship to the means of production” (Edles 26). In other words, class consciousness is being able to understand where one stands in a social class; to understand the different levels of a social class; Marx hoped for change for the

This can relate to white privilege, having a difference in power. This is when the whites have unearned social and political advantages, everything is just given to them. Most white Americans are born with a financial head start; they already have their life planned out for them. For example, if a black man and a white man sat down and played a game of chess, and the white male shows up to the game with a set of cheat codes. Say this to say, white people are given the tools from a very young age, which allows them to be free; in this case they can be seen as the bourgeoisie. In the world we live in today, white Americas are over privilege, they have many opportunities and have plenty money and live their life with no struggles. It’s sad to say but white Americans are blind to the fact that they are over privilege because they’re used to being treated a certain way and it then becomes a norm for them. On the other hand, “the proletariats” are sometimes deprived of opportunities and have little money. I’m not free because I’m not rich. Although, I can do something that I want to do, I can’t do the majority of things that I would love to do. All the working people of all races are oppressed in this society, by the ruling class, the wealthy owners- the