Marx believed that his methodology and values were objective and scientific. This means that in his research Marx hoped to carry out his work as if it were a scientific procedure or experiment, believing this would make it more reliable and stronger researcher to back up his ideology. The Marxist perspective has contributed many different theories to all the different subjects within sociology as a whole. An example of this is the Marxist work on religion, which is in Marx’s words, ‘religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world and the soul of the soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people’. Marx put forward the claim that religion existed to give the working class promises of better things in the afterlife waiting for them, (e.g. some religions make it a good thing that suffering occurs in life, as it gets rewarded in heaven). Also in the case of Marxist perspective on religion there is a large amount of evidence to support what the Marxist view of the role of religion in society.
Another piece of Marxist research that was quite influential was Bowles and Gintis. They believed that the major role of education in capitalist society was is to reproduce labour power. Bowles and Gintis regard work as being exploitive and alienating, which is a positive thing for capitalist society as capitalism requires a hard working, obedient, highly motivated work force. The education system hopes to achieve these objectives through the use of a hidden curriculum, which consists of the things pupils learn through the experience of attending at school rather than the stated educational objectives. This hidden curriculum If their analysis was correct the educational system can then be seen to serve legitimate inequality while being based on three main falsities; that educational attainment is based on merit, that occupational reward is based on merit, and that education is the route to success In the world of work.
There are many sociologists that criticise the Marxists for different reasons. An example of this is feminists argue that Marxists neglect or ignoring gender differences in their theories and perspectives. Functionalists also criticise Marxists for being ideologically biased against capitalism .Popper (1959) sees sciences as being based on falsifiable theories which make precise predictions, and argues that Marxism isn’t actually scientific in its methodology as Marx’s theory of the revolution is unfalsifiable, and is a left open part of his theory as Marx doesn’t state when this could happen making the prediction not precise enough to be scientific. Marxism is also criticised for economic determinism, which is seeing individual’s behaviour as determined by the economic system around them. This view neglects to show the existence for individuals having free choice. In defence of this, Marxists state that the theory isn’t economically deterministic, but just raises the point that individuals and groups in cultures have to make their own history, but the economic structure that surrounds them is a main factor in determining which context the process takes place.
Marx wanted to prove that the revolution would happen, as he wanted society as a whole to become communist. Also if the revolution did happen it would support his perspective and prove that he was right in his research in to the ruling class and the working class. The revolution would prove Popper wrong in that he had stated he thought this part of Marx’s theory was the only unfalsifiable part of it, as it could happen at anytime and hadn’t been precisely laid out. If the revolution were to happen Marx would be seen as scientific.
