Marxism: the basics

In short: Marxism, founded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the 19th century, analyzes society primarily through economic relationships and class struggle. It influenced both political movements and scientific theories far beyond philosophy.

In more detail: Marx saw history as a sequence of class struggles in which a ruling class controls the means of production and exploits the working class.

In detail

• Historical materialism: Marx viewed societal development as driven by economic relationships, not primarily by ideas or great individuals.
• Class struggle: History is interpreted as an ongoing conflict between propertied and propertyless classes, for example between capitalists and workers.
• Alienation: Marx described how workers in capitalist production become alienated from their own labor and its results.
• Theory of surplus value: Capitalists appropriate the value workers produce beyond their own wages, which Marx saw as the central form of exploitation.
• Base and superstructure: According to Marx, economic conditions (the base) shape a society’s culture, law, and ideology (the superstructure).
• Practical impact: In the 20th century, Marxism inspired numerous political movements and states, with very different and sometimes contradictory implementations.
• Criticism: Critics fault the economic reduction of social phenomena as well as the historical development of Marxist-influenced states (kategorischer-imperativ-kant).