Essay About Rural Areas And Carl Marx

Human Relationships
Essay Preview: Human Relationships
Report this essay
Human relationships have always been dynamic. Change and
adaptability have gone hand in hand with the passage of time for human
society. Systems have been developed to regulate, direct and control
the resources of this society. The systems are referred to as
governments and the resources as the populace or inhabitants and forces
of production. A government must be dynamic in its nature reflecting the
change in society. At times these systems have resisted the necessity
to adapt with its components (Society) creating a deficit between the
system and those it regulates. As the deficits develop, they cause
instability, and could lead to revolution.1
Theories have been developed to explain the systemic phenomenon
called revolution. This paper will discuss three modern theories and
apply them to the English revolution of 1640. The first theory,
developed by Carl Marx (Marxism), will address the economic evolution in
English society. This theory will emphasize and explain how the shift
from a feudal/mercantile system to capitalism affected English society.
The second, called the Resource Mobilization Theory (RMT) developed by
Charles Tilly, will explain how the English organizations (the Crown and
the Parliament) effectively obtained, amassed and managed resources.
Samuel Huntingtons, “Institutional Theory”, will argue that the
existing government at that time was unable to incorporate the demands
and personnel that the socio-economic changes created.
Marxism was formulated in the 19th century. Carl Marx and his
associate Frederick Engels observed the socio-economic changes that were
transpiring in Britain. England was the dominant world power and had
the largest industrialized economy during the 1800s. The development
of the factory and the institution of the assembly line created a large
demand for workers. This demand was satiated by migrating peasant from
the rural areas in England and Ireland to developing urban centers. As
these urban centers or cities evolved using industry as the economic
backbone for the population, a large number of factory workers were
accumulated to operate the machinery in horrid conditions. These
workers, which would be termed as the peasantry under a feudal system,
were now the working class or proletariat. They entered cities with
hopes of bettering their lives and survival. Though revolution never
took place in England during this period, it allowed Marx to study
industrialization, urbanization and imperialism.
The theory of Marxism has three basic concepts: historic
materialism, forces of production and relations of production. Historic
materialism is defined as a societys past performance and present
capabilities of satisfying the basic means of life. Humankinds basic
needs of eating, drinking and shelter need to be met properly. The
forces of production (technology, capital, the infrastructure of
society, etc.) are important for the simple fact of who ever controls
them controls the society. The last aspect of Marxism, the relations of
production, deals directly with the relationships between classes of
people (the aristocracy, the middle-class and the working class).2
Marxism includes a predictive analysis of socio-economic
structures. Using history, logic and the dynamic nature of humankind as
guidelines, Carl Marx attempts to map out a sequence of events which
will eventually lead to utopia (anarchy). In his work, Das Capital,
Marx details the six steps. These steps are primitive socialism,
feudalism, capitalism, socialism, communism and then anarchy.
The evolution of the English economic system during the 16th and
17th centuries points to a shift from feudalism to capitalism. This
shift is exemplified by the enclosures. The landlords began to fence
their