Marxism and its Contribution in the Society 
The concept of ‘the working of an economy’ is very much important and needs to be known and analyzed critically especially with regards to whether it embraces capitalist or socialist ideals. This is due to the fact that the ideals being implemented by the leadership of any economy affects their strategies to economic growth as well as their international relation policies. Thus, it is through a close study of the various interrelation approaches that the working of any economy can be determined. Therefore, the paper seeks to analyze the concept of Marxism, its comparison to socialism and lastly the importance of Marxism in the past as well as the current working of the economy.
Marxism is a system of economic as well as social ideologies which are based upon the theories of politics and economics brought forth by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel. In other words, this is the theory which brings in the class struggle as a critical point in the process of analyzing the social change mostly in the western parts. At the same time, Marxism can be described as the antithesis of capitalism as the Marxists arguments presents it. On the other hand, capitalism entails the private ownership of the production means together with the goods distribution in the markets. This influence and motivates the profit making by such private entities in the market. To sum up the various definitions, Marxism is the socialism system dominated with public ownership as the means of production, exchange and distribution. In the event that all the principles as well as the ideas of the Marxism are well implemented, then it can lead to communism in which the welfare of the whole community is considered within the economy. Marxism thus did not promote government takes over the sources such as the oil, but he promoted utopias!
Similarities and Differences between Marxism and Socialism
There are no proper similarities between the two ideologies except that Marx also contributed widely to the issues of socialism. In the Marxism, the theory relates to that of socialism or rather communism since, in this case, there is little to do with the future. This is similar to the concept of socialism that is also explained by Marx and Engels. To Marx, socialism is more than the welfare of the society; it implies the removal of a condition that can bring enmity between people and the competition abolition.
On the other hand, there are differences between the Marxism and socialism. One, Marxism takes a more theoretical approach in dealing with economic issues while socialism tends to be practical in the approaches that are considered in its ideologies. This is in line with the discussion in lecture 3, which made it clear that socialism is much more applicable in an economic situation than Marxism. Thus, it is agreeable that social democracy is a less radical less liberal form of socialism as argued by Marx.
In addition, Marxism is inclined towards the political view of the market operations as opposed to the socialism which tend to approach ideologies from the economical perspective. This means that Marx emphasizes on the political approach and how politics influence the way of operation of a given community in which one is in and operates. According to the Marxism, society can be changed through revolutions by the civil societies that fight for the human rights in any set up. This is contrary to the views of the socialists who believe that society can be changed through the changing of the economic structures within a country. Socialists thus have equal opportunity of reformation as well as revolution while Marxism is based purely on revolutions.
Lastly, revolution, in the case of Marxism, only becomes possible due to the imbalance that exists between social classes in the society, a situation created by the manipulation of the working class due to ownership of land, capital and the entrepreneurship. On the other hand, socialism does not experience such discrimination in terms of class. The discriminations of this nature are due to the production ownership which is public and hence works to eliminate the likelihood of revolutions that may occur in a country. This is why, as was indicated during the lectures, John Maynard Keynes, therefore, said that a Government should never be in the job of making jobs for people; instead, the free market should have that responsibility.
Effects of Marxism in the Past and Present
Marx, who is both an activist and a scholar, addressed various issues of political and social nature. The theories presented in this case, especially those of political economy has been debatable and has resulted into revolutions, and has made Marx to be considered as deity in academic and political arenas. Evidently, there has been revival of the theories of Marxism from the time the cold war ended, especially those which are dealing with capitalism and volatility. This has been so despite the fact that Marx himself died long time ago, close to 130 years ago.
The thought of Karl Marx, on the nature of the relationship between employers who are capitalists with their employees who are exploitative in nature are presently proving to be true. According to the presentation of Marx, those without property have continued to look for employment from those with the financial muscles. Evidently, the investment in the private sector has continued to offer capitalists individuals influence over the government and hence the control over the supply of labor. The theories of exploitative capitalist employment are currently applicable in the energy and climate issues that exist in employer-employee relation of capitalism. These theories are skewed towards the development of industries by using both natural and human resources irrespective of their detrimental effects.
Much of the influence of Marx work is currently being derived from the social theory. His ideas have formed the general ideas for those theorizing culture of the present age not mentioning the reasoning bit and the investigation. This was also evident during our Lectures. We noted that it is through such impacts that it is being said that Marx in his work has influenced so many thinkers making it hard for them to differentiate the theoretical concepts from the encounters of everyday life.
In addition, the analysis of the foundations of capitalists has been raising the concerns of justice on the distribution of wealth and income among the societies which are capitalist in nature. This concept is much more relevant in the current world than it used to be during the years of Marx. It has also raised the questions of environmental consequences especially of private dominance in the investment front. Of important consideration are the environmentally unfriendly activities that the privately owned and dominant companies engaged in during the earlier times. Marx seems to have had an insight on economical ideas but in developing his theories of the market operation, he approached it from the political perspective, making it totally the opposite of the socialism approach. It shows that Marx and his theories lived ahead of his time to have talked about such theories that are seen so many years after the contributor’s time.
According to the predictions of Marx when he was coming up with his theories of capitalism, there would be times when there would be the global rich and the global poor. His theory explains why currently there is much exploitation across all the societies. At the present, bourgeoisies have come up with rules and laws on their sides with politicians, state and media, all of which they use as tools to control the proletariats to avoid any disruption due to the masse’s struggle for freedom. In fact, during lectures, I learnt that even some of the wealthy nations are currently characterized with many struggles as can be seen in the recent happenings violation of the workers’ rights in China, Mexico and South Africa.
In conclusion, what is happening in the world is class struggle, something that Marx predicated those many years ago. With such situations awakening the revisit of Karl Marx’s theories, he has had vibrant contribution in the field of economy and culture in terms of economics and political issues. Much of the contributions of Marx, though not considered to be a cultural theorist, have led to the growth of movements of cultural societies. However, despite the continued relevance of the theories Marx, some economic experts have insisted that they little affect the environment of today with some others being completely inappropriate. There is need for further research to justify the criticisms.
