Marxism

Describe two key features of Marxism.Marxism is a structural conflict theory. This means that it looks at society as a whole and how this influences society. Marxism believes that the structure of society is based on inequality of distribution or production. Social class is fundamental to Marxism. Marx identified the struggle for power between the bourgeoisie (the ruling class and owners of the means of production) and the proletariat (the subject class/ the workers). Society is therefore characterised by the conflict between bourgeoisie and the proletariat.Describe one strength and one weakness of the Marxist perspective.One strength of the Marxist perspective is that it recognises the power interest of different groups in society. This is particularly, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. It explains the economic struggle and conflict between these two groups. The proletariat continually attempt to strive to move up the economic ladder while the bourgeoisie do there best to stop this from happening and protect the bourgeoisie. A weakness of Marxism, however, is that is said to have an overemphasis on class, on conflict and on economy. This then means that Marxism ignores other important factors, such a culture, that also shape society. Marxism also ignores women which is a major downfall of the perspective.

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