Karl Marx Classless Society

Only available on StudyMode
  • Download(s) : 758
  • Published : July 4, 2013
Open Document
Text Preview
This essay discusses the concept of a classless society according to Karl Marx. The first part aims at defining a class within the context of social class. It also defines the term classlessness. The second part focuses on the possibility of attaining and sustaining a classless society in this century. The first part of the essay starts by discussing what a class is. It then goes on to briefly discuss how classes came about, outlines the different classes and what or whom they constitute and finally briefly describes the concept of classlessness. The second part of the essays begins by discussing the concept of a classless society as defined by Karl Marx. This is followed by an assessment as to whether or not a classless society is attainable and sustainable in this century.

The term class has several different definitions. It can be defined as the segment of a population that have similar social standings in society or a similar social status. That is, a group of people in society sharing broadly similar types and levels of resources, who possess similar styles of living and, some common perception of their collective condition. Alternatively, Marxists are not concerned with the ideas of individual workers about their position in society. They hold that a person’s class is not determined by the amount of wealth that he has, but by how he acquires it, as determined by his relation to labour and to the means of production. As defined by Lenin Vladimir I., "Classes are large groups of people differing from each other by the place they occupy in a historically determined system of social production, by their relation (in most cases fixed and formulated by law) to the means of production, by their role in the social organisation of labour, and, consequently, by the dimensions of the share of social wealth of which they dispose and their mode of acquiring it" (1965, p421).

Class Struggle
According to Marxist theory, there once existed a classless...
tracking img