Class conflict
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- | {{GFDL}} | + | '''Class struggle''' is the active expression of [[class conflict]] looked at from any kind of [[socialism|socialist]] perspective. [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]], leading ideologists of [[communism]], wrote "The [written]<ref>The bracketed word reflects the footnote that Engels added later, noting that pre-class societies existed.</ref> history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle". |
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+ | Marx's notion of class has nothing to do with hereditary [[caste]], nor is it exactly [[social class]] in the [[sociological]] sense of upper, middle and lower classes (which are often defined in terms of quantitative income or wealth). Instead, in an age of [[capitalism]], Marx describes an ''economic'' class. Membership of a class is defined by one's relationship to the means of production, i.e., one's position in the social structure that characterizes capitalism. Marx talks mainly about two classes that include the vast majority of the population, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Other classes such as the [[petty bourgeoisie]] share characteristics of both of these main classes.{{GFDL}} |
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Class struggle is the active expression of class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, leading ideologists of communism, wrote "The [written]<ref>The bracketed word reflects the footnote that Engels added later, noting that pre-class societies existed.</ref> history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle".
Marx's notion of class has nothing to do with hereditary caste, nor is it exactly social class in the sociological sense of upper, middle and lower classes (which are often defined in terms of quantitative income or wealth). Instead, in an age of capitalism, Marx describes an economic class. Membership of a class is defined by one's relationship to the means of production, i.e., one's position in the social structure that characterizes capitalism. Marx talks mainly about two classes that include the vast majority of the population, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Other classes such as the petty bourgeoisie share characteristics of both of these main classes.