After reading The German Ideology, whose theory of history do you agree with more – Hegel’s or Marx? If you have trouble beginning this discussion, then warm-up by answering whether you believe stabil

Sociological Theory in the Classical Era: Karl Marx (1818-1883)

KARL MARX (1818–1883)

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
(Marx and Engels 1848/1978:473)

The philosopher, social scientist, historian and revolutionary, Karl Marx, is without a doubt the most influential socialist thinker to emerge in the 19th century. Although he was largely ignored by scholars in his own lifetime, his social, economic and political ideas gained rapid acceptance in the socialist movement after his death in 1883. Until quite recently almost half the population of the world lived under regimes that claim to be Marxist. This very success, however, has meant that the original ideas of Marx have often been modified and his meanings adapted to a great variety of political circumstances. In addition, the fact that Marx delayed publication of many of his writings meant that is been only recently that scholars had the opportunity to appreciate Marx's intellectual stature.

Click here to view a PDF Presentation on Karl Marx.

Cyberspace

We have done our best to check each link, however, due to the constantly changing nature of the web, we cannot be responsible for the content of web sites external to this course (those not on either the UTPB web server or this courses server). External Web sites are provided as reference only. Content and links are not endorsed by UT Permian Basin, or The University of Texas System Administration. Please e-mail me with any problems or broken links you may find.

TIP: I would click on the "refresh" button a couple of times before giving up if I did not get to the page desired, if I were you.

Surfing the following sites will give you a taste of what is to follow. When you return to the main course menu, click on your reference section you will find a wide range of sites suggested, which certainly only touch the tip of the iceberg of what exists out there in cyberspace. So, do alert us to new and interesting sites.

• Karl Marx (1818-1883)
  http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html (Links to an external site.)

• Karl Marx
  http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Marx.html (Links to an external site.)

• An Analysis of the Communist Manifesto
  http://www.indepthinfo.com/communist-manifesto/engels.shtml (Links to an external site.)

• The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics: Adam Smith
  http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Smith.html
   (Links to an external site.)

• George Novack’s Understanding History, Sociology And Historical Materialism
  http://www.marxists.org/archive/novack/works/history/ch10.htm (Links to an external site.)

YouTube

• Karl Marx – Actions and Legacies
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtXF6bJUzMQ (Links to an external site.)

• Karl Marx- The Significance of Socialism
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38bM-1l2qBo&feature=related
   (Links to an external site.)

• Marx & Religion
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38bM-1l2qBo&feature=related (Links to an external site.)