The Feudal era was a time when communities were smaller (rural) and people worked the land to support their family. It was therefore an agricultural time where goods and services were solely produced to meet basic needs for local demands, for example the family or guild systems. Manufacturing of such goods was generally undertaken within households using tradition skills (Western capitalism and state socialism). However, industrial production in this era was dominated by guilds (organising governing body of things such as cotton workers in the towns). A division of labour did exist between the landowners and the surfs, but the relationship was not held as it was in times of slavery. (A Glidden’s). Furthermore the guild owners imposed many regulations including equal division of labour.
During this era there was class struggle between the guild owners and Merchants. The merchants won and eventually took over, which marked the beginning of capitalism. New markets evolved from the closed guilds due to the discovery of America and rounding of the cape. Thus the manufacturing system took the place of the guilds because they could no longer fulfil the growing wants of the new markets. The masters of the guilds were replaced with the manufacturing middle class, and thus the means of production belonged to one minority group. As the new markets continued to grow there was a massive increase in the volume of goods put into circulation, which in turn lead to the multiplication of circling commodities and the expansion of the world market. As these new markets continued to thrive so did the importation of precious metals, which in turn created a new economic base. Demand grew, as the new markets did and the manufacturing system no longer sufficed, thus manufacturing lost its place to giant modern industry. Those who owned these giant modern industrialised companies formed the modern bourgeoisie (communist manifesto).
The modern bourgeoisie can therefore be seen as developing through stages, with each stage corresponding to a political advance of that class. As the bourgeoisie developed its capital increased, and as a result each class that had been handed down since the Middle Ages was pushed into the background. The serfs were thrown from the land and forced to sell their labour for wages, and thus formed an urban-based working class. Due to this people found himself or herself belonging to part of the bourgeoisie or part of the proletariat. This mass change in society did not dispose of class antagonisms, as indeed it was supposed to, but instead it created an even bigger divide. In a very inarticulate manner, it became a case of them against us. The reason behind such profuse antagonisms lies in the exploitive nature of the bourgeoisie, who by owning the means of production are in extremely powerful positions. It is through the sweat and toll of the proletariat that wealth is accumulated but it is ceased in the form of profits by the ruling class (Karl Marx, selected writings).
Marx believed that capitalism would inevitably lead to increasing class polarisation and class conflict. Through its own inherent processes of development it is destined to give rise ultimately to its own dissolution: to a revolution which will result in its own overthrow and to the creation of a socialist society. According to Plummer (1998) Marx maintained that “economic production underlies and shapes the entire society. He called technological and social process of economic production the infrastructure on which all additional social elements like religion, education, family, ideas and values are built to form the superstructure.” In other words, he would explain that people's values, ambitions and ideas are related directly to their economic position, i.e. their function in capitalist society. Marx found that "conflict between economic groups is the major engine of change".
Marx saw the church as having some significance towards the evolutionary process of capitalism, but failed to recognise how religious influence could have been the reason for the move towards industrialisation. This was a point argued by Max Weber who after conducting a comparative study of capitalist and non-capitalist societies stated that religion had a huge impact on the industrialisation of society. Weber further states that values of society determine social change, not economic reasons (Gidden, an analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber).
Other criticisms of Marx’s view are that he presents an excessively deterministic view by asserting that individuals have no say or control over their future. Furthermore Marx concentrated on conflict and therefore ignored any type of consensus in the emergence of capitalism and industrialisation. Lastly it is argued that Marx theory is biased and takes no consideration into other aspects by concentrating on economical reasons.
Another criticism that is often levelled against Marx is that his interpretations of class and society were too simple and do not reflect real life situations. Marx claimed that a member of one class could only work to favour their own class' interest but this has been proved to be inaccurate, notably by Marx's contemporary Engels who was a middle-class businessman but at the same time advocated Communism and equality for workers. His division of society into stages such as slave societies, Feudalism and Capitalism was also too simplistic: 19th century America, for example, combined a Capitalist economy with the widespread use of slavery.
In conclusion Marxism emerged as a philosophy following the death of Karl Marx is 1883. A determinist philosophy, it sees society as being on an inevitable course towards socialism. Marx’s ideas have provided an evolutionary explanation of how societies developed through a series of stages and provided knowledge of how during pre capitalists times mans knowledge grew with the development of science. However, his view is heavily criticised as shown in this essay and therefore it is somewhat difficult to assert that the industrialisation of society occurred in the manner that Marx ascertains.
Bibliography
Giddens. A, (2001). Sociology, forth edition, Polity press, Oxford.
Craib, I (1997) Classical social Theory: An Introduction to the Thought of Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Simmel
Giddens. A, (1992). Capitalism and modern social theory, an analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber, University press Cambridge, Great Britain.
Davis. H, and Scase. R, (1985). Western capitalism and state socialism, an introduction, Basic Blackwell limited, Oxford and New York.
