POL 3102 Lecture Notes - Class Conflict, Proletariat, Bourgeoisie

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POL 3102
• Professor: Stephanie Marten

Document Summary

According to marx, the history of society is based upon the struggle of classes. Marx offers a unique conception of society in which societal evolution occurs through the struggle of the different classes rather than through such gradual changes as the introduction of new concepts and ideals to society. Marx"s conception of history, linked to this struggle, is defined through a material conception. The classes have two distinct roles in the process of production and labour in which the proletariat was the labourer and the bourgeois classes ruled over them and reaped the benefits of this labour. It is the age-old concept of the oppressor and the oppressed. Marx believed that society was defined and organized based on the different modes of production that occurred at various points in time. He presents a society that begins with classes and ends with them.