Assess the Marxist views of society (33 marks)

When looking at the Marxists views of society there are three main theorists to look at, Marx, Gramsci and Althusser. All of these theorists focus on how capitalism has been maintained in many societies and how eventually it will be over thrown. Both Gramsci and Althusser’s ideas originate from the works of Karl Marx who, unlike functionalist Emile Durkheim, saw no evolutionary progress of society but a gradual change in which capitalism would increase human misery.
Marx suggested that capitalism needed to replaced by ideas such as communism. He looked at historical materialism and suggested that our society is altered by forces of production from the base and the superstructure. He argues that capitalist production forms the economic base and this ultimately shapes our superstructure, like institutions, religion, law and education. However, Althusser criticises this for being too simplistic and suggests a more complex two way causality model. He argues there are three levels; Economic level: comprising all those activities that involve producing something in order to satisfy and need. Political level: comprising all forms of organisation. And the Ideological level: involving the ways that people see themselves and their world. He believes each level can affect each other and impact different choices and beliefs on each level. This approach discourages political action because it is the role of structural forces rather than free will; it is active struggler of the working class that change society. On the other hand, Gramsci rejects that movement to communism will be brought out by economic forces.
Karl Marx looked at class consciousness and concluded that capitalism will eventually destroy itself. By polarising the classes and creating a larger proletariat from the form middle classes, this large group of people