Karl Marx Coursework Example

Abstract Karl Marx was a leading proponent of the modernization theory and has had a significant influence on the modern and post-modern worldviews and beliefs. While he was a trained philosopher, he turned to engaging in the political and economic philosophical debates of his time, and his works formed the inspiration towards the establishment of many communist regimes. Marx perceived historical processes to be defined by class struggle in the many societies under capitalist-centered societies. The landowners, capitalists, and laborers formed the dominant forces in this conflict, with private property forming the oppression of the bourgeoisie. While Marx’s motivation was not geared at entrenching human equality, his socialist philosophy gravitated towards the liberation of humanity from tyranny and oppression, and this included dispensing away with capitalist societies and replacing them with systems that value humanity. Further, Marx perceived the state as contradicting the real interests of society by serving the interests of the dominant class, which, even in such circumstances, could only represent a specific section of that particular class. Regarded to as one of the most profound proponents of modernization theory, Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a philosopher-cum-revolutionary defined by his commitment to environmental determinism (Weikart, 2008). He held the scientific socialism perspective based on what he believed were immutable socio-economic laws and the conviction that economic forces are determinants for humanity and its social institutions. As a result, Marx was responsible for the introduction of new inquiry methods, innovative concepts, and multiple hypotheses in explaining the "rise, development, and decline of particular forms of society" (Bottomore, 2008). While he received philosophical training, he turned to contemporary economic and political-philosophical debates in his mid-twenties, and his works became an inspiration for the establishment...