Karl Marx is referred to as the father of modern socialism. His guiding principle explains that all individuals should share the wealth in society. Also, he explains that all citizens should do work that fits their abilities, and results should match their needs. Marx opposes the liberal societies where the means of production is accumulated to few people in a free market through capitalism. In this kind of system, individuals acquire wealth in the marketplace (Vaughn, 2013). While in socialism, the state controls the wealth.
Marx argues that the dominant system of economics determines the structure of society and history. Also, the technological and economical means of meeting people’s needs define a society’s system. It is important to note that the ways of production shape the social relationship of the individuals in the society. In this case, individuals who possess the production compose the dominant class (Vaughn, 2013). They possess a lot of wealth, political power and end up exploit the lower class.
According to Marx, alienations are considered the objective structure of experience and activities in capitalist society. It is important to note that a capitalist society cannot exist without alienation. A state experiences less alienation than that individual who goes through it as an activity. There exists alienation of labor, in which the objectification of labor is lost to the manufacturer in a capitalist. In this case, Marx shows that the tension struggle in the modern capitalist society is between the owners of the means of production and the proletariat (Vaughn, 2013). The alienation still happens in the modern capitalist societies, where the capitalist is few and possesses all the companies and the other production means. The proletariat serves as workers in the capitalist system, and they own nothing despite their large numbers. Besides, the capitalist makes more money by hiring more proletariats and reducing their pay; when possible, they are replaced by the first moving technology and the machines. Thus, more unemployment happens, and the sense of alienation increases.
