Marx and Weber1

A detailed Summary of Marx and Weber1

Both Carl Marx and Max Weber wrote extensively on capitalism, its origins, and its future. Although, they agreed on a few very small points, for the main part, they strongly disagreed. Only through the analysis of their main differences in the two ideologies can a stronger and broader understanding of capitalism be reached.

Marx believed strongly in what he called dialectical materialism, that is, that everything is material and that change takes place through the struggle between classes. He believed that men make their own history and transform their natural habitat to fit their changing needs.

"Men begin to distinguish themselves from animals as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence. . . In producing their means of subsistence men indirectly produce their actually material life."

Throughout history men transform nature to make it better serve their own purposes. According to Marx, all societies go through five stages of history and capitalism is simply a necessary stage between feudalism and the final step of communism. The way in which men create their social organization is based on modes of production. Changes within these societies occur because as the mode of production changes, it no

This alienation of the working class is not at all natural and therefore causes great problems. As said by Marx, men are naturally productive creatures. The fundamental nature of man is his consciousness and his ability to control that which surrounds him. During the process of standardizing labor workers themselves become part of the end product and thus,

Although Marx and Weber do agree that capitalism is not the best social or economic system they differ very strongly in their views of the formation, aspects, and future of capitalism. By examining the philosophies of both men a better understanding of capitalism as a whole can be reached.

The obvious next question for Weber was why was it the Protestant culture that led to capitalism. He found a large explanation within the difference between Protestants and Catholics. For Catholics, priests had the power to forgive you of your sins. Therefore, all that was necessary for you to do to get absolution was to confess your sins. For Protestants this was much more difficult. Because Protestant priests were only teachers, they did not have the luxury of simply confessing their sins. Protestants also believed that their souls were predestined to go to either heaven or hell. Nonetheless, Protestants felt that they could determine the status of their souls through their calling. As Weber describes on page 80,

Because of the vicious cycle described above and the capitalistic drive for more profit which causes it, the working class will grow in size due to the increased demand for workers. However, through this struggle the commodification of human relations will diminish and the unity within the working class will increase as well therefore increasing and strengthening the class consciousness. The working class becomes increasingly disgruntled which leads to a struggle between the lower and upper classes which, because history is dialectical and not static, will lead to a revolution that will cause capitalism to fall. These specific conditions of capitalism are what caused the alienation and exploitation, and thus, they are the specific conditions which must be changed. Accordingly, the working class will take over the means of production and bring into being the final stage of society, that being communism. Within communism false consciousness and alienation do not exist. Once the people recognize that we all depend on each other people

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Approximate Word count = 1633
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics