MARXISM AND EDUCATION

Marxism and Education

Marxism and Education

Introduction

The state of contemporary critical sociology is strong; the topics explored are expanding as scholars revisit old themes of colonialism and the origins of European capitalism, education under a changing capitalist system, the role of sociology as a politically engaged discipline, and religion—whether looking to its roots or its current challenges (Saussure, 2007). Critical sociologists continue to engage our understanding of race, how it is conceptualized and how it must be analyzed apart from concepts found in classical Marxism (Marx, 2006).

Marx's ideas influenced not only the rise of unionized labor and of the welfare state (with its leveling mechanisms such as income tax and universal education) but also the Russian Revolution, communism, socialism, and Zionism; even the ethic of the kibbutz owes a debt to Marx (Laclau, 2006).

Discussion

The proletariat, or the working class, Marx believed, would face ever-increasing poverty and more onerous working conditions. Capitalists, who held ever more economic, cultural, and political power, would oppress them until they reached a breaking point—and then would come a communist revolution. In this final phase of history, the proletariat would appropriate the means of production, namely the entire industrial capital of the world. It would thereby crush the capitalist class, ending the capitalist phase of history (Hyppolite, 2005). At that point, the workers would set up a socialist society, which would spread the benefits of industry to all.

Marxism purports to offer a scientific account of human history based on the economic and material conditions through which societies pass. Marxism is a species of communism in that it holds that the best society is one in which all property is held in common. Specifically, Marxism holds industrial communism to be the highest and final stage of social development. Its founder, Karl Marx (1818-1883), believed that this final stage of history was rapidly approaching, and he worked tirelessly to advance both his social theories and the revolution that they entailed (Davies, 2005). Many others had argued for communal property, but the enormous influence of Marx's thought guaranteed that modern communism will always be most closely associated with him and his system, especially in light of the fact that his economic theory of social ownership was predicated on the prior development of an industrial society (Benton, 2008).

Marxism is an intellectual descendant of German idealism, and particularly of Hegelian thought, which held that history is the story of the gradual development of man's spirit through a series of stages, each one more advanced than the last. Hegel viewed man's mind or spirit as progressing through a series of conflicts and resolutions, and he viewed the outward manifestation of this process as identical with “history” in its more conventional sense. Hegel argued that inner conflicts, present within the leading men and leading societies of any age, were ultimately the driving force of economic, political, and cultural change. These conflicts within the life of the mind in turn produced the various stages of human history, complete with their governments, beliefs, arts, and economics ...