Karl Marx

Karl Marx was a German philosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist, and revolutionary whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism. Marx summarized his approach in the first line of chapter one of The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” He believed that the roots of human misery lay in class conflict, the exploitation of workers by those who own the means of production. Social change, in the form of the overthrow of the capitalists by the workers (proletariat), was inevitable from Marx’s outlook. Although Marx did not consider himself as a sociologist, his ideas have influenced many sociologists today, especially conflict theorists.