Karl Marx (1818-1885)

Intro

• Founder of sociology
• Looks at exploitative nature of industrial capitalism
• "Spiritual father of communism"
• Wrote the "Philosiphical Manuscripts" (1844)

Historical Context

• Rapid industrialisation
• Brutal "untammed" capitalism in Western Europe
• Development of technology and science
• Formation and unionisation of the industrial labour class

Influences on Marx

• Georg Hegel (1770-1831) was a German philosopher
• Understood things in terms of wider web of relationships
• Humans physical needs are the causal forces in human history- Humanistic approach that Marx adapted
• Classical Political Economy of the 18th Century
• Emergence of the "commercial civilisation"
• "Invisible hand" of the market- Not interffered with by the state

Main Ideas

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