FREE ESSAY ON MARXISM IS DEAD

MARXISM IS DEAD

Marxism is Dead
After class I go home to check my e-mail. A concept such as e-mail would have seemed
absurd to Karl Marx and Max Weber. It is accepted as just another part of life in our
high-technology society, however. Max Weber and Karl Marx had a difference of opinion
over what was the driving force behind changes in society. Marx vs. Weber, Social
Conflict vs. Rational Thought. In a 12 round decision it's Weber's rationalization of
society over socialism.
The essential difference in these two theories is what drives a society towards its
advancements. Marx believed that the inequality between the haves and have-nots would
lead to a revolt from the proletariat. (The proletariat are easily described as the
workers who are employed by the capitalists.) According to Marx, the proletariat and
capitalists were class descendants of masters and slaves, and nobles and serfs. When the
Industrial Revolution came to western Europe in the mid 1840's, Marx saw that the
capitalists who owned the factories, and the workers who filled them, were growing
further and further apart in class standing. The very rich could afford great luxuries,
while the lower class worked full weeks to feed their families. He summed up that an
eventual revolution was the next logical step. When the proletariat gained class
consciousness, a recognition of their strength in unity, they would overthrow the
shackles of the capitalists, and eventually capitalism itself. And what of the
capitalists? The capitalists vast wealth, protected by the institutions of society, made
them strong, indeed. Marx believed they would be slow to band together like the
proletariat. He summarized that capitalists were afraid of competition from other
capitalists, out of a desire for personal gain. Furthermore, he reasoned, because the
capitalists kept employee wages low, the workers drive to turn against them would be all
the greater, contributing to the capitalists downfall. In Marx's theories, this conflict
between proletariat and capitalist was to be the driving force that shaped society into a
cooperative socialist society that met everybody's needs.
Max Weber's ideas were formed about 50 years after Marx's work. He shared many of Marx's
views on social conflict, but they differed on what was essentially driving society. In
Weber's sociological theory, there are two different views of the world, tradition and
rationality. Weber recognized the power of new technology and its abilities to shape
people's ideas. He saw modern society as a product of not only technology and capitalism,
but of a new way of thinking. Weber argued that as technology advanced people were less
inclined to live their lives according to tradition; they moved toward a more rational
view, meaning matter-of-fact calculation of the most efficient method to accomplish a
goal. Sentiment and tradition have no place in a rational world view, which treats
tradition as merely one type of information. Modern rationalists typically act and think
on the basis of present or future consequences. According to Weber, we view almost every
relationship on what we put in and what we get out. Weber viewed the Industrial
Revolution and capitalism as the historical rising of rationality. He coined the term,
rationalization of society, to describe the change from tradition to rationality as the
dominant mode of human thought. A good way to measure a society's rationality is their
willingness to adopt a new technology. Look at the amount of homes with an Internet
connection or cable television. According to Weber, North America and western Europe are
two of the most rationally advanced areas in the world. Countries where they have not yet
had an introduction to industry are slow to adopt to rationality, sticking with their
traditional ways of life. A good example of this are the Yanomamo people of Brazil. They
hunt and gather for their food, as well as some small scale horticulture. They dismiss
the need for modern conveniences like telephones that we take for granted. In short, they
have a very different outlook on the world than we do, living in a rational society.
Neither theory is entirely correct. As society adapts to new technology, new ideas are
being formed to adapt to our rapidly changing world. Marx had several things right when
it came to the class system of the proletariat and the capitalists but his vision of a
world-wide class struggle never occurred. Weber was correct when he viewed the world as
ever-changing, adapting to new ideas and abandoning old traditions and his ideas of the
world abandoning traditional views when new technologies become available did happen.
Marx's ideas were based on his study of western Europe around the time of the Industrial
Revolution. Weber's ideas were formed from a more scientific standpoint. He carefully
observed several societies around the world, noting the more technologically advanced
societies had abandoned tradition in favor of new views of the world. His theories have
proven to be more accurate by the rise of: large scale corporations, specialized tasks
emerging all over the world, a society where you are judged more for what you are based
on technical competence rather than who you are based on your kinship ties, and finally
the rise of impersonality that specialization has brought about. They both feared wide
spread alienation brought about by modern society, but Weber's theory of the rise of
bureaucracy stifling society with rules and regulations has proven to be much more
plausible than Marx's idea of inequality causing alienation. 
In short, Weber's ideas accounted for the technological advances brought on after the
Industrial Revolution. He allows for human ideas to lead the changes in society rather
than the work humans do. I believe this will always be the case, people will always work
and most likely resent their bosses. This doesn't mean that they will revolt anytime
soon; however, their ideas and values will change triggering changes in society. Barely
ten years ago the Internet was a novelty item that was used by scientists and computer
professionals only. Now the world is witnessing a mass convergence of ideas, information,
and creations that is available to anyone with a computer and a phone line. This has
caused a great deal of change in the daily routine of several Americans, and it's
advancements like this that will change our society in the future
Bibliography
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