Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, [ 1 ] better known as historical materialism , to analyse class relations, social conflict , and social transformation. Marxism originates with the works of 19th-century German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism has developed over time into various branches and schools of thought , and as a result, there is no single, definitive " Marxist theory ".
In addition to the various schools of thought, which emphasise or modify elements of classical Marxism , several Marxian concepts have been incorporated into an array of social theories. This has led to widely varying conclusions. As a school of thought, Marxism has had a profound effect on society and global academia. To date, it has influenced many fields, including anthropology , [ 8 ] [ 9 ] archaeology , [ 10 ] art theory , criminology , [ 11 ] cultural studies , [ 12 ] [ 13 ] economics , [ 14 ] education , [ 15 ] ethics , film theory , [ 16 ] geography , [ 17 ] historiography , literary criticism , [ 18 ] media studies , [ 19 ] [ 20 ] philosophy , political science , political economy , psychoanalysis , [ 21 ] science studies , [ 22 ] sociology , [ 23 ] theatre , and urban planning.
Marxism seeks to explain social phenomena within any given society by analysing the material conditions and economic activities required to fulfill human material needs. It assumes that the form of economic organisation, or mode of production , influences all other social phenomena, including broader social relations, political institutions, legal systems, cultural systems, aesthetics and ideologies. These social relations and the economic system form a base and superstructure.
As forces of production i. Karl Marx wrote: "At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or—this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms—with the property relations within the framework of which they have operated hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters.
Then begins an era of social revolution. These inefficiencies manifest themselves as social contradictions in society which are, in turn, fought out at the level of class struggle. Friedrich Engels explained that "the capitalist mode of appropriation, in which the product enslaves first the producer, and then the appropriator, is replaced by the mode of appropriation of the products that is based upon the nature of the modern means of production; upon the one hand, direct social appropriation, as means to the maintenance and extension of production—on the other, direct individual appropriation, as means of subsistence and of enjoyment.
