Life and Works of Karl Marx
Karl Marx is one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived and whose life and works has contributed and influenced enormously on the economic, political, and intellectual history of humankind. Karl Marx’s most profound works with immense influence on philosophical theories across different doctrines is based on his 1848 publication on The Communist Manifesto and 1867 publication on Das Kapital. The Communist Manifesto gave rise to Marxism theory that expounds the social, political, and economic theory composing of the struggles between the working and capitalist classes in the society (Caldwell, 2017). The theories developed in Das Kapital elucidates the composition of the labor theory of value and its impact in the society. Thus, the world is made up of splitting groups of people in the society that give rise to class conflict between the workers and the owners of the means of production and resources (Besalke, 2014).
Karl Marx’s Conflict Theory
Marx’s conflict theory is based on the formation of the economic structure in the society constituting of those who owns the means of production (the bourgeoisie) and the laborers (the proletariats) (Omer & Jabeen, 2016). The laborers are set for a lifelong of exploitation by those who owns the means of production setting a high course of imbalance in the society. The state of conflict arises when the exploited becomes more enlightened of their plight and state of exploitation by the owners of the means of production. This set a course where the laborers’ revolt against the owners of the means of production are on a collision path. To protect the interests of each group, there is a class conflict that explains the conflict theory advocated for by Marx.
How Karl Marx’s Theory Helps Us Understand Racial Inequality in the U.S.
The class conflict theory explains the extensive racial inequalities in the United States. This is based on the fact that most of the minority groups (including Blacks and Hispanics) are a major source of labor throughout history (Rashid, 2017). As laborers, they remain in the hands of the wealthy white minority that control and dictate the course of economy and the means of production. This class difference, therefore, forms the basis of racial inequality in the U.S.
