Marxism is no longer relevant in a society alive with plural messages.
Do Marxists still exist in our society? Marxists lived here more than a century ago, so their view on the society might be not as valid or relevant anymore. It’s based on Karl Marx, which writings were a response to the extremes of poverty and exploitation he witnessed in the years after the British Industrial Revolution. Or are Marxists even more relevant now? It is a society, where capitalism takes over control. However, people in society are also getting more individual each day, they now have bigger source of information they need, to find out what’s true or not. They become more plural. For example, Religious pluralism – Pluralists speak of religion as it’s not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus that at least some truths and true values exist in other religions, or sometimes as a synonym for ecumenism (the promotion of some level of unity).
Marxists believe that society is a thing, which is controlled by the ruling classes (bourgeoisie). The bourgeoisie is controlling the proletariat (which are the working classes) to work for them, and take out of them lots of different benefits. Marxists believe that bourgeoisie is controlling the proletariat through Media. They say that Media tells proletariat what to do, and that rebelling against bourgeoisie is wrong, Marxists say that Media does it without even letting people know about it, proletariat is simply brain-washed. Marxists don’t like Media because they think that it’s not helping the poor people and supports capitalism. They believe that only way for working classes could free themselves is to start revolution and rebel, bring back the communism. Marxists are in favour of communism, it’s a political system in which everyone is more equal and they always get what they need (in terms of work, food, housing and leisure).
So, do Marxist still exist in our society or not? Capitalism is taking over control in most of the countries, America especially. However, Capitalism is now also thinking of poor people too. In UK, people have NHS, which is a free health care. Proletariat families can also take benefits, or get certain things for cheaper, if they can’t afford it. This might show that Marxists view isn’t as valid and relevant anymore, as Capitalism doesn’t seem to be as bad as they create it. This is the way of thinking that Pluralists like, they don’t believe in one-sided, biased truth; they believe that the reality is composed of many ultimate substances and they also get the belief that no single explanatory system or view of reality can account for all the phenomena of life. Also, they believe in a condition in which numerous distinct ethnic, religious, or cultural groups are present and tolerated within a society. The belief that such a condition is desirable or socially beneficial.
Pluralists know that people are becoming more individual each day. They are more likely to look for the answers themselves, rather than listening to what Media/bourgeoisie/religions serves them. People now have much wider access to the information, so if they’re not sure about the validity of the answers they get from the society, they will search for the answers themselves, and they will chose whichever answer suits them more. We now live in a ‘pick and mix’ society, when we get information/answers from lots of different sources, so then we can put them all together and make our own mind about it, which makes us more independent and individual.
The decline of religion might be a good example. In 1950-1960 (‘The Golden Age’) and before that, religion used to be one of the most influential things for people in their lives. Nowadays, people are more likely to join cults, sects or new religious movements which suit their life styles much more. They might be either Audience Cults, or Client Cults. Audience cults are the ones in which people become members of some movements, and they attend meetings, and the Client cults are the ones in which people follow their ‘beliefs & answers’ themselves, e.g. in internet. The statistics show that only just fewer than 10% of population attend churches. Marxists however, believe that religions are still as strong and also, in support of capitalism. Marx & Engels (1957) say that religion promotes capitalism in 3 ways: Legitimating social inequality, Disguising the true nature of exploitation and Keeping proletariat passive and resigned to their fate. Legitimating social inequality means that religion promotes the idea of existing hierarchy as natural and God-given. Disguising the true nature of exploitation however, means that religion insists that inequality is the product of our sin, or a sign that people have been chosen by God. Hence, religion obscures and distorts the real cause of social and economic inequality. The last way as to how religion controls proletariat is keeping the working classes passive, so they don’t want to rebel against capitalism. The religion makes them think that the suffering and poverty is fine and acceptable, as they’re going to be rewarded for this in heaven after death/in next life. Some say that religion is a drug, it keeps people relaxed, happy and away from the reality.
In conclusion, Marxism is still relevant in society as they say that the things about capitalism don’t change, but only get worse. They say that bourgeoisie controls people in lots of different ways, not just through religion, but also and especially through Media. However, the impact of pluralism is shown here too. We now live in a ‘Pick and Mix’ society, where people become more open to the different sources of the answers, rather than just one-sided answers, as the Marxists are.
