The Development Of Modern Social Thought

The Development Of Modern Social ThoughtKarl Marx and Max weber be two of the to the highest degree influential thinkers in terms of impudentlyfangled social thought that there are. Both Marxs and webers plowshare to the development of social thought is in my opinion indorsement to none. Marx and weber wrote ab kayoed novelity onward it was in full swing, yet there works including much(prenominal) classics such as Marxs Communist manifesto which is a familiar name to near, not solitary(prenominal) attempted to explain something near impossible to explain in such a way that most modern thinkers base their works on a criticism or celebration of their work. These two writers are of particular interest to because of how prolific they are and because they have twain written so much on the subject, some of which is comparable and some of which is contrastable. Both Marx and Weber looked at similar themes including the reasons for modernity occurring, though their conclusions d iffer. Karl Marx leans towards the economic grimace of modernity whereas Max Weber, who writes after Marx with his findings to improve on, believes that the impact of science, arts, and religion is a better explanation of modernity.Firstly, I exit be looking at Karl Marxs component to modern social thought with his book The Communist Manifesto in which he looks at class make out. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx explains how the friction amongst classes has always existed, as he remarks 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 gradations2. Marx goes on to put forward the idea that the bourgeoisie have always existed and do indeed exist today. He puts class struggle down to society itself which through its nature leave have classes, an order. Marx explains todays class struggle as Society as a whole is more and more s plitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes, directly facing each other Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.3Marxs understanding of class divide in the Communist Manifesto is clearly true and therefrom let on in understanding society today. Marxs take on class divide can be summarised as world that class divide has always existed and go away exist today, as he predicted, rather than the classes changing, he believes that characteristics of the classes change. Where as in history, the bourgeoisie would have owned farm, they will own businesses today and whereas the labor movements would have worked in farms, today they work for businesses owned by the bourgeoisie. Marxs understanding of there being two main classes, those in strength and those in not, is important in modern social thought as all Marxists will use it to argue that there is a lack of compare and too large a divide between the two classes. Marx does not distinguish between individual situations, rath er is a big supporter of the intuitive feeling that there is no real equality for the proletariat and his voice is therefore used today by anyone voicing such an opinion.It can be argued that Marxs forecasting of an uprising by the working class has come true in modern time. The working class has never had as many rights as it does today, with measures such as minimum pay and benefits ensuring that an unreasonable amount of power is not held by the feeling class, and that the working class have enough rights and voice to be ensured a decent standard of life. There were plenty of revolutions between the 18thC and 19thC, which are evidence of Marxs prediction of an uprising against the ruling class. Marx believes that the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class4. This can be empathisen as a contribution to the understanding of modern society as it is true today, no other classes are seen to be revolting nearly as much as the working class who have been working on their rights for the last few centuries. As Marx overly states, the ruling class have all the power and it is in their nature to ensure power is kept for future generations. Marx says that the working class only touch things such as a minimum wage law because the ruling class allow them to do so, in order to keep them happy and therefore deter them from revolting more.A significant manner in which Marx contributed to the understanding of modern society is through his explanation of market expansion. Marxs argument was that for the bourgouise to remain in power, they must constantly work at creating links between themselves to ensure a global rule5. Marx argued in the Communist Manifesto that the future would see a capitalist market grow to operate on a global scale through the change magnitude of technology and communication. This idea has perhaps been the most significant contribution to understanding modern society by Marx. It is clear that what Marx predicted has become reality, with a global economy that we have today, with transnational cooperation operating worldwide. The behavior of the ruling class in modern society reflects Marxs theory on keeping wealth within the minority of the population. Businesses still work in a hierarchical social organization whereby a few at the top benefit from many at the bottom of the hierarchy who do not benefit from increase in profit, rather receive a fixed low wage.Finally, i have chosen Marxs contribution to the understanding of modern society through his literature on technology. In the Communist Manifesto, Marx looks at the effects of an introduction of technology and how it effects the exertion market. The introduction of technology such as machinery ultimately means that a humans job is done by a machine. Robert J.Antonio describes machines as something that ultimately does jobs that were formerly done by the workman with similar tools6. This will step-down the need for human labour, which will ultimately mean there are more people for fewer jobs. An increase in availability of market labour and a decrease in need for market labour results in the ruling class being at liberty to alter the wages of the manpower. This sees as the workforce become a commodity7. Linked with a need for fewer labourers, the type of work changed to less laborious, jobs were suddenly possible to carry out through the pushing of a button. This meant that a new work force was available for the ruling class to be exploited, women and children. This availability of a new workforce meant that the ruling class were more powerful than ever, as the family of a working man had now become the work force of the ruling. An introduction of a new labour force means that the ruling class suddenly controlled everything that matters to a working man, i.e. increasing the divide but more importantly cementing the existing control. The drop-off in labour intensity of jobs due to technological and mechanical improvements meant tha t working hours could be increased. This brought with it an increase in productivity and if anything a reduced cost.Max Weber was similar to Karl Marx in that he too looked at ancient Rome and the structure of the ancient economy which he, like Marx found to have certain similarities with the structure of modern capitalism. Marx believed that modern society was more of a result of the economic changes that were seen in the 18thC and 19thC due to technological improvements. However, Weber believed that the change seen after medieval times i.e. modernity, were more so a result in a change of attitude of the worlds population. Weber noticed that if we lived in a capitalist economy before and ended up in medieval times, a change in society could not solely be due to economic change. Thus Weber looked at Eastern German agriculture in 1892. Webers finding in this research supported his belief that it was through the genuine will power of the proletariat that a change resulted. The finding s of this research can be summarised as the work force having a true desire to work for them in order to confine more of the profit created by their work. Webers believe that the working class chose to want to do better is a key feature of modern society, the constant struggle for workers to better their situation.Webers understanding of capitalism, a key foundation of modernity is drastically different to that of Marx. Marx saw capitalism as a materialist economy based upon the will to acquire economic wealth. In contrast, Weber argues that the will to provided ones economic standing is based on religious beliefs such as the Protestant and in particular Calvinist teachings8. The Protestant teachings are that everything that one does must be done in honour of God. Weber argues that it is this belief that is the cause people air to do their best, be as productive as possible and generate as much wealth as possible. This dedication to giving everything cannot, according to Weber be explained by ownership relations, technology and advances in learning alone9. This attitude which Weber believes is a part cause for modernity itself is essential to the further existence of capitalism. In order for capitalism to survive, the working class must continue to have reason to work delicate and be productive, or the ruling class would not be able to live of them. This need for the work force to try their hardest true today and therefore another way in which Weber has contributed to the understanding of modern society. Weber goes on to suggest that the view point of Marx whereby capitalism is a result of solely economic change is uninstructed10and should be abandoned once and for all11this contribution to modern social thought is of interest because it offers an explanation as to why people work hard and how capitalism works i.e. capitalism depends and runs on the quality of input of the labour force.Max Weber believed that the increase in scientific knowledge was a key factor in creating modernity and modern social thought. Weber described the level of science that we have reached as valid12but noted that it only existed in the western world13. This idea was based upon Webers belief that such a structured theology was only present in Christianity, though he recognised that most fundamental knowledge did come from eastern faiths. This structured theology could be argued to have been left integrated in the religion from papist times when a form of capitalism coincided with Christianity. This structured way of thinking brought with it rationality which was in turn branded upon the foundations of western life. It is this rationalism that Weber offers as an alternative cause for modern social thought rather than Marxs suggestion of economics.To conclude, both Karl Marx and Max Weber have made vast contribution to modern social thought. Their works have been agreed and disagreed with since their creation, adapted and used to both prove and disprove ar guments and theories. Their work is still relevant today as their contribution to understanding modern society such as key issues including class and employment have changed the course of history. Their contribution to modern social thought will continue to influence thinkers on modern social thought for centuries to come.