Functionalism and Marxism

Functionalists believe that society is based on a value consensus into which society socialises its members, which enables to cooperate harmoniously and meet society’s needs and goals.

One of the honors for ‘greatest theories’ in contemporary civilization has to be awarded to Marxism. Invented in late 19th century by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Marxism has had great influences on the development of modern society. Despite its eventual failure, Marxism once led to numerous revolutions that working classes raised against the ruling parties in different countries. Consequently, it paved the way for the erection of the Berlin Wall, the formation of the Warsaw Treaties—communist camp confronting NATO, and the establishment of a world super power, the Soviet Union at the dawn of this century. Even decades later, after all those Marxist milestones

Theories have been composed and exposed by various philosophers to clarify their reasoning about the mind. Dualism, Behaviorism, and Identity Theory, are well-known theories supported by well-written explanations. A modern theory, Functionalism provides ample insight to the main problem philosophers deal with, the mind/body problem.

Marxism was founded on the principle of there being two sides to everything in life. From a socioeconomic standpoint, the masses were categorized into two main categories, the bourgeoisie, the wealthy business owners, and the proletariat, the poor workers. Moreover, to those whom were in positions of power, there were those to whom were weak. To truly understand this concept, one must look back to the early nineteen hundreds, the Russian Revolution, and the subsequent formation of the Soviet Union.

In this essay I am going to compare and contrast Functionalism and Marxism. They are both sociological perspectives which have theories about society and the people that live within it. They attempt to explain how society influences people, and similarly how people influence society. However, the two perspectives are clearly different.

This essay will compare and contrast and contrast two leading sociological theories: Marxism and Functionalism. Marxists predominantly believe that within society inequality and prejudice are rife, whereas Functionalists live under the impression that society operates in a state of social equilibrium wherein class and social status are necessities which we allow to transpire. This essay will explore the different viewpoints each theories take on subjects such as religion, community, family and education.

Marx theory states that the superstructure kept society in order and kept the proletariat in place by the use of the government, laws the media and education, teaching the future generations the rules of their society. The superstructure also favoured the ruling class by making the rules easier for them to live by and enabling them to do better in life through the better education they could afford and with the press helping them keep the proletariats under a false consciousness. The superstructure shapes the rest of society and enables to conflict between the ruling and working class to

Theories have been composed and exposed by various philosophers to explain their understanding about the mind. Dualism, Behaviorism and Identity Theory are well-known theories supported by well-written explanations. A modern theory, Functionalism has been proposed that provides great insight to the main problem philosophers deal with, the mind/body problem.

Marxism derived from German philosophers Karl Marx (also a political economist/ sociologist) and Friedrich Engels in the middle of the 1800s. ‘Marxism is based on the idea that society is defined by the conflict between the ruling class (Bourgeoisie) and the working class (Proletariat) and these beings the two main classes’ (Hart, 2013). It

Functionalism is a consensus perspective, whereby society is based on shared values and norms into which members are socialised. For functionalists, society is seen as a system of social institutions such as the economy, religion and the family all of which perform socialisation functions.

Functionalists seem to suggest that societies have rules of behaviour prior to the existence of its members, therefore leaving the enigma of who decides the functional characteristics of a society if it's not the members themselves. This is a problem called reification. Functionalists treat society as a thing by endowing it with the ability to think and act intentionally. The analogous comparison by which the operation of society and the functions of the social institutions is likened to a biological organism, illustrates the idea that all parts of society have their function and are interdependent on each other for the good of society as a whole. Sickness in the living organism would be likened to a loss of social equilibrium, an abnormal state for a society that is normally in balance. Functionalists believe that the balance is achieved through a consensus- the majority of people in society having the same moral values. Marxism however has contradictory views and rejects the idea that society is based on value consensus for the benefit of all. Instead society is acknowledged as being organised to meet the interests of the most powerful groups.

A superstructure is used as the ideology that dominates a certain era including all that men say, imagine and conceive and it is all that is found in politics, morality, laws, and religion as well as in metaphysics. The substructure or the base according to Marx determines superstructure, or it is the whole productive relationships such as a socioeconomic relationship such as a religious entity. According to Marx the superstructure exists to legitimate the

In Marx’s theory of Dialectical Materialism he theorized that each civilization can be broken down into two components: a primary economic base and a secondary ideological-social-political superstructure. The base involved in the

Marxism views human society as resting on an economic base and a superstructure. The natural basis for Marxist critique of society

The projected essay is based on two separate problematic within Marxism: the base-superstructure (foundation-superstructure) metaphor (or the economy as a last instance determining factor) and the integration of an adequate comprehension of the specific oppressions felt by groups that cannot be defined through the concept of proletariat (such as women and people victim of racism). Admittedly, these two problematic fields are large and could easily be the subject of separate works. Incidentally, literature on these subjects is vast. But this project will differentiate itself