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Marxian Theory In The Film The Bicycle Thief

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Marxian Theory This essay is a critical analysis of the theories given by Karl Marx of class struggles and alienation with specific emphasis on the concept of 'bourgeois' and 'proletariat' and it is illustrated with the help of the Italian film 'The Bicycle Thief'. Karl Marx is a German sociologist and has given many theories till date. His theories of society are important as they are concentrated on economic issues whereby he has connected economic problems to social institutions and have inspired many communist regimes in the 20th century. "Marxism refers to the political and economic philosophy of Karl Marx in which the concepts of class struggle plays a central role in understanding society's allegedly inevitable development …show more content…

Firstly, as per the Marxist theory, there are only two classes when in real world there were not only two classes. There was one class which consisted of the royals and only ordered others around, the other was of the people who were working hard and earning lots (rich working class). Other than that there were the lower working class who weren't working much and then there were the ones who weren't earning at all. So generalizing and saying that there were only two classes is not right. Secondly, the Marxian thinking is too utopian. Also, Marxian theory is a bit inclined towards the Capitalists. As per his theory, the capitalists are able to manipulate the proletarians for their own benefits. About the movie, it also had it's own flaws. To begin with, in the movie 'The Bicycle Thief' we hardly saw women in the working class population. All we saw were women being concerned about some or the other family issues or doing the household chores. Only men were working outside the house and earning a living. Also, the movie only gives us the view of the proletariats and their lifestyle. We hardly get a view of the bourgeoisie class and how their lifestyle

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Karl Marx believed that the bourgeoisie gained all their wealth by exploiting the proletariat. It’s hypocrisy that CEOs or people in the government get a bunch of money by the working class why they live in poverty. This leads poor people stealing because it’s a way for them to survive. All in all, there are different theories as to why crime exists. It’s a form of living for some people to get ahead in life

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The Trailer Park Boys demonstrates the division of classes in relation to Marx's work and how the ruling class influences a society.

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According to Marx society was divided into two classes that were in eternal conflict in the battle for resources, or as Marx coined; “the means of production”. The first class were the bourgeoisie, which Marx described as the sole owners of the means of production as well as the media. The bourgeoisie used their power and influence to exploit the second class, which Marx called the proletariat which consisted of all the workers of the world. Marx rejected the idea that the wealthy pulled themselves from their own bootstraps, which he called “false consciousness” and in return coined the term “class consciousness”, which referred to a persons awareness of their own social status, especially in terms of class conflict. Overall, Marx concluded that social order is created maintained by domination and power.

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This essay will delve into the Marxian concepts of class struggle and alienation based on the classes that he has theorized in his capitalist theory of society that is the bourgeoisie and proletariat and will discuss these concepts in reference to the Italian movie "the bicycle thief". Karl Marx took up the concept of the ancient Greek method of resolving conflicts and disagreements through arguments and applied it specifically to the changing economic base of society which according to Karl Marx is the common method of producing goods by humans, therefore production is the real base of the society. Development in production leads to change in economic structure which in turn leads to change in the superstructure that includes political, religious,

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Karl Marx talks about the role of communism and his conjecture of underlying this type of revolution. He speaks of two different class struggles, the "Bourgeoisie and Proletarians". Bourgeoisie are the people with authority, the ones who own production and are bosses of wage labor while the proletariat are the individuals with no authority, no ownership and are giving up their own power to the Bourgeoisie in order to survive. Societies began to separate and became hostile and aggressive classes. It all became about social ranking because of the increase and need of production.

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Karl Marx was a German philosopher and economist in the 18th century. He is known for his book the Communist Manifesto that was published in 1848. Marx believed that a revolution of the working classes would over throw the capitalist order and creates a classless society. The Industrial Revolutions led to the proletarianization; his partner Friedrich Engels explained why the changes created by the proletarianization of the worker would develop into a huge problem for industrial societies. I do believe that Karl Marx’s vision of communism in the Communist Manifesto could re-emerge as a popular and workable philosophy of social, economic, and political organization.

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Capitalism, according to Karl Marx is divided into two major social classes: the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie, which is the minority of the class system, own the means of production such as land, machinery, factories and raw materials whereas the Proletariat, which is the majority of the class system, having no means of their own production and have to work to earn wage for a living. Karl Marx has his own theory that history is made up by class struggle which he mentioned in his book – Manifesto of the Communist Party: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” (Marx and Engels, 1848) and had predicted that the Proletariat would lead a revolution to overthrow the Bourgeoisie. Karl Marx believed that there will be intrinsic conflict like exploitation, alienation of labour and commodity fetishism between both of the classes.

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Question 1. What do you make of Karl Marx’s contributions to sociology? Answer: It would take volumes to describe how important Karl Marx’s work is in sociology. His work is important in the 21st century because his concepts and ideas are the only genuine seeds for a better society.

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