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Term Paper Title	[Category]:
# of Words	2218
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	8.87

marx

[Category]:

Social Issues

[Paper Title]:

marx

[Text]:

As stated before, the key classes in the capitalist mode of production

are the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, or capitalists and landless wage
laborers. While Marx

recognizes that there are other classes, the fundamental class division is
between this pairing of

the exploiter and the exploited. The bourgeoisie derive their class position
from the fact that they

own productive wealth. It is not their high income that makes them
capitalists, but the fact that

they own the means of production. For example, the inputs necessary for
production - factories,

machines, etc. The ability of workers to work (labor power) is in itself a
marketable commodity

bought for the least cost to be used at will by the capitalist. In addition,
the capitalist owns the

product and will always pocket the difference between the value of the labor
and the value of the

product - referred to by Marx as 'surplus value' - purely by virtue of his
ownership. His property

rights also allow the capitalist the control of the process of production and
the labor he buys. The

proletariat in contrast, owns no means of production.

Because of this exploitation, Marx viewed the bourgeoisie and the proletariat
as locked in

deep and unavoidable conflict. As capitalism expanded, the conflict would
become more intense

as the condition of the workers became worse. Over time, some members of the
proletariat

would come to understand their unfair position and would begin to communicate
with each other.

This would enable them to organize and overthrow the capitalist system. The
revolution would

pave the way for a new socialist system that would abolish private ownership
of the means of

production. This forms the basis of Marx's theory of class, and with further
discussion, the

complexities will present themselves.

This two class model is not Marx's only use of the word 'class'. He uses the
term of other

economic groups, and particularly of the petty or petite bourgeoisie and the
peasants. These

groups seem to make the neat division of the Communist Manifesto
inapplicable, for these two

- 3 -

groups obviously merge into bourgeoisie and the proletariat according to how
many workers they

employ or how much land they own. Marx even foresaw, with increased use of
machinery and

the increase of service industries, the advent of a new middle class. This
raises two main

questions.

The first concerns the complications of s...

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