“Marxist” is one of those words that sounds a lot scarier than it is. The term refers to the economic and political philosophy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who lived in 19th century Europe.

Marx thought that capitalism—the system in which wealth is distributed unequally based on how much money people have—was a flawed way of organizing society. He came up with an alternative: communism.

However, even though we’ve been talking about Marxism for decades now, many people still don’t understand what this philosophy means or why it’s so essential today.

This is everything you need to know about the Marxist theory, how it differs from other economic theories, and how it works.

What Is Marxism?

Marxism is a political and economic theory based on the idea of class struggle and focuses on the effects of capitalism on society. The concept has become associated with communism, a political system where all property is publicly owned, but it originated as an economic theory.

How Marxism Changed the World

Marxism made several essential contributions to our understanding of economics, including its analysis of capitalist exploitation, crisis theory, and the labor theory of value. In addition to these contributions to traditional economics, it also provided a powerful critique from within the framework of capitalism which continues today through movements such as socialism.

What Are the Different Aspects of Marxism?

Marxism is a theory of history, economics, politics, and social change. The core of the Marxist theory is based on the idea that society changes because of the class struggle between the owners of the means of production (the bourgeoisie) and those who own nothing but their labor power (the proletariat).

Conflict will arise in any society where there are classes with different economic interests, even if it’s not apparent at first glance.

Marxism is a worldview, which means it’s a way of understanding the world. You can apply that to your life and use it to know how things work. Many people think Marxism is only relevant to larger systems like economics or politics — but no! It helps understand things on an individual level, too!

This isn’t about being “right” or “left.” Instead, it helps us make sense of our lives by analyzing how they’re affected by different factors (and those factors change over time).

For example: If you want to understand why someone might feel marginalized in society today but not 30 years ago, Marxism can help explain why this happens — and why specific issues are more visible now than they were then.

How Is Marxism Different From Capitalism?

Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production and the exploitation of labor. In a capitalist society, most people are wage laborers (employees) who must sell their labor to survive.

What Capitalism Looks Like

In a capitalist system, more prosperous people own the factories, machines, land, and other tools that make production possible, but they don’t actually make anything themselves. Instead, they hire workers to do it for them.

In capitalism, workers work every day at a factory or office owned by someone else; they spend their days making products (or performing services) that will be sold back to consumers while they collect wages from their bosses.

The Key Difference

The main point here is that in capitalism, income distribution is uneven—a small group controls most of the wealth. At the same time, many people at lower levels have little or no access to money or resources like food or shelter.

Marx’s theory was based on eliminating social classes based on the market economy and creating a classless society. While a capitalist economy has social structures based on wealth, the Marxist ideology intends to make the working class one with the management class.

Private property doesn’t exist, and human needs are met universally, according to Marxist theorists.

How Do People View Marxism?

Marxism has informed the mentalities and political theory of both socialist society and communist society, as seen in the Soviet Union and the Communist manifesto. Many economists and people from the capitalist class of political theory believe Marxism and its derivatives are entirely faulty, but many still subscribe to them to this day.

Why Do People Believe in Marxism?

The core of the Marxist theory is based on the idea that society changes because of the class struggle between the owners of the means of production (the bourgeoisie) and those who own nothing but their labor power (the proletariat). Conflict will arise in any society where classes have different economic interests, even if it’s not evident at first glance.

Generally, there are many very intense opinions on the validity of Marxism as a way to run a country or society. Marxian economists use Marxism as a critique of political economy downfalls, with an intense focus on the modes of production and superstructures that are a part of Marxism-Leninism.

Marxists tend to believe that the conflict theory justifies a lot of the mobilization of the poor and proletarian people to fight for Marxism.

Conclusion

We hope this article helped you understand the Marxist theory better.

If you’re still confused, don’t worry! There are many resources to help you learn more about it and its applications in everyday life. We also recommend reading some books about Marxism to get a better grasp on how it works and why everyone needs to know about this topic now more than ever before.

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Find out how to gain communication skills and expand your power of persuasion with The Word Counter blog today!

Sources:

Marxism Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com

Marxist – Definition, Meaning & Synonyms | Vocabulary.com

Marxist definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary

Kevin Miller is a growth marketer with an extensive background in Search Engine Optimization, paid acquisition and email marketing. He is also an online editor and writer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He studied at Georgetown University, worked at Google and became infatuated with English Grammar and for years has been diving into the language, demystifying the do's and don'ts for all who share the same passion! He can be found online here.