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Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Born and educated in Germany, he was expelled for advocating revolution and spent the last half of his life in abject poverty in London where he studied in the library of the British Museum and wrote for radical newspapers but never held an academic position.

Marx, a German social philosopher, greatly influenced sociology. His critique of capitalism provided the basis for conflict theory. His reinterpretation of Hegel's dialectic provided the foundation for a conflict theory of social change. And his view that the economic infrastructure ultimately determined the superstructure of ideas-- despite its flirtation with economic determinism--has influenced the sociology of knowledge and the conflict perspective on religion.

Marx believed human history was the consequence of a continuing class struggle between the bourgeoisie capitalists who owned the means of production and the proletariat, workers who sold their labor in return for subsistence. He argued workers would experience alienation from work, gain class consciousness, and would unite in revolution to create a new classless society in which individuals would work according to their ability and be rewarded according to their need (Marx and Engels, 1848, 1967)

Marx was influenced by the industrial revolution and the increased inequality between capitalists and workers.

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