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Marx and Engels on Bourgeoisie and Proletarians
Marx and Engels on Bourgeoisie and Proletarians
Sociology modernisation
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Marx argued that there are two classes of people that exist in society, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The bourgeoisie refer to the upper class that own the means of production and whose central concern is the value of property. On the other hand, the proletariat describes the working class wageworkers in a capitalist society. Marx argued that the bourgeoisie simply exploited the proletariat, and the physical labor produced by the proletariat generated more wealth for the capitalist, leaving laborers under payed and machine-like. During this process, Marx believed that through this system of mass production, laborers were stripped of individual imagination and as a result, left individuals feeling alienated to their own emotions and erotic feelings in order to maximize production and wealth.
In The Communist Manifesto, Marx refers to the "proletariat" or the working class as the group with the most "class struggle". Marx defines the classes as 1) bourgeois, the "capitalists" who own the social production and employ the labor of others; and 2) proletariat, who sell their labor power to make a living but don 't own their own production. Marx argues that the wealth and prosperity of the bourgeois depends on the proletariat 's production of labor. Their products are sold for a larger value that the labor itself thus exploiting the working class and allowing the bourgeois to control the production. Marx states that the nature of these classes will inevitably result in conflict and revolution.
Marx argues that due to division of labor and class struggle, “man comes to objectify himself through this mere one-dimension he has created and identifies with” (Marx p.475). The class struggle resulted from division of labor created an inequality where some will own the means of production, and the lower class who provides or sells their labor or “self” to survive working for those owners of means of product. This two groups are simply explained as bourgeoisies and proletariats by Marx. As the industrialization and society modernizes, the inequality will prevail observably. Marx argues that the proletariats will revolt against bourgeoisies and lead to the fall of capitalism and rise of communism.
Marx believed that the bourgeoisie exploit workers in capitalist societies. The proletariat will be paid enough only to afford food and housing, and the workers, who do not realise they are being exploited, have a false awareness, or a misguided sense, that they are well off when really they have bare minimum especially compared to the bourgeoisie. They think they can count on their capitalist superiors to do what was best for them when really they are being entirely used. Marx's theory can easily be applied to modern society despite it being
Essentially, the bourgeoisie make a profit at the expense of the working class, a class that only survives as long as they are able to find work, and are only able to find work as long as their work produces profit. Therefore, the proletariat are only useful, and able to provide for themselves and their family, if they can generate capital for the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie have no other use for the proletariat other than to further their own gain. Furthermore, the bourgeoisie use the technology of the industrial revolution, which simplifies most tasks, to enable them to pay the workers less for longer hours. In short, the bourgeoisie are able to use the capitalist system to increase their profits at the worker’s expense.
The proletariat was a term commonly used during the 19th century to describe the lower working class. They had very little and what they did have they worked hard for. The word proletariat identifies the working class as a whole. Proletarians were a key concept in the philosophy of Karl Marx. The proletariat was an important group in the Russian Revolution.
In a capitalist society, the bourgeoisie were the ones who owned the means of production; while, the proletariat did not own the means of production and instead were oppressed and exploited by the bourgeoisie. This difference creates an automatic conflict of interests between the two groups. Simply put, the bourgeoisie is interested in maintaining its position at the top of society, while the proletariat’s interest lies in rising up from the bottom and overthrowing the bourgeoisie to create an egalitarian society (University of Minnesota.
The proletariat being the worker, which works hard day and night all for the profits of the Bourgeoisie. As Karl Marx said “The history of all hitherto societies is the history of class struggles, ” (pg 57). This not only portrayed
The Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, remains an influential piece of literature, despite the decades. It appeals to equality for the working class, a concept still captured in modern desires. The manifesto is directed to proletariats during the mid-nineteenth century, appealing to a theoretical utopian future entailing equality and freedom with the bourgeoisie. The authors address the working class, reminding them their suffering is due to the class struggles in society (13) caused by the social hierarchy existing in every civilization (14).
In the end, the proletariats will have full control of their own lives through the implementation of global revolution, which he believes will result in a classless society. In the last hundred years, the working population has developed to produce another layer: middle class. Marx explained this idea in his writing, “a second and more practical, but less systematic, form of this socialism sought to depreciate every revolutionary movement in the eyes of the working class, by showing that no mere political reform, but only a change in the material conditions of existence, in economical relations, could be of any advantage to them” (Tucker 496). This is a devastating truth of the capitalistic system that the revolution of working class is very difficult to implement. This can be related to relationship between human perception and social
The relationship between classes is not compatible due to the emerging dominant class or the bourgeoisie. Due to this supreme division, the proletariat class will oversee a revolution that will destroy all ownership of private property the classification of different levels of society. Marx is in favor of this movement because he believes that capitalism is
“In ancient Rome we have patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves; in the Middle Ages, feudal lords, vassals, guild-masters, journeymen, apprentices, serfs; in almost all of these classes, again, subordinate gradations” (Manifesto, 1848). In the Communist manifesto, Marx discusses the class type of his time, bourgeois and proletariat. The bourgeois were the higher class who exploited the proletariats. They constantly strived to expand their power and wealth in society.
Revolution in Contemporary Society Karl Marx has been recognized as one of the most influential thinkers in contemporary society. In the “Manifesto of the Communist Party,” Marx attempts to explain his ideological concept of Communism, as well as the theory underlying his movement. Despite the fact that the Manifesto has become a very controversial work of literature, Marx’s ideas of a new economic system cannot be easily overlooked. Marx believes that the driving force of historical development has originated from class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariats. He illustrates the exploitation of the working class – the proletariat – are executed by the capitalist class –
The proletariats are the wage earners or the labour class, in a capitalist society the proletarians don’t have much wealth, and their main asset is their labour power. The bourgeoisie is the class that owns the means of production, their class interest lies in the value of property and the preservation of capital, and this ensures their perpetual economic supremacy in society. According to Marx, in the capitalist mode of production, a worker slowly loses the power to decide upon his or her life and destiny, they lose their Gattungswesen (“species-essence”), and this is a consequence of living in a socially stratified society, where human beings become a mechanistic part of a social class. Even though human beings are self-conscious and autonomous, in a capitalist society they are nothing but an economic entity whose acts are dictated by the bourgeoisie, with the aim
According to Edwards et al. (2006) Marx thought that within capitalism there would be an increased divide between the bourgeoisie class and the proletariat class in the future. The proletariats are lower of the two classes, the people who have to work for wages in order to survive. The bourgeoisie are the people in society who controlled and owned the means of production in a capitalist system.
