Question

Explain Karl Marx’s ‘Class Theory’.

Answer 1

In his book “Das Kapital,” German philosopher Karl Marx introduced “Class Theory” in the late nineteenth century.

According to Karl Marx:

1. History was not about abstract ideas; it was about living people.
2. Human relationships are shaped by the fundamental needs of people and the ownership as well as the nature of prevalent means of production to meet those needs.
3. The accessibility of these means to different strata of society may not be equal. This inequality causes a division of society into classes, leading to class struggle.
4. According to Marx, human history is the history of class struggle, as the class that owns the means of production economically exploits the rest of the classes. ‘Das Kapital’, a treatise written by him is the most referred book all over the world.