Hoorcollege 2 (4-4) Class Society, Civil Society
Society depends on involvement (civil society) and position within a society (class society).
Key Questions
- How did Marx understand class society, and Tocqueville civil society?
- Was Marx ‘right’ about industrialization, the bourgeoisie and the working class?
- Was Tocqueville ‘right’ about associational life and civic activism?
- How were civil society and class society related?
Karl Marx
- Radical writer, political activist.
- Émigré in Paris, Bruxelles and London.
- Critic of class society and the bourgeoisie.
- Prophet of communism.
- One of the first to see the problems of the working class.
- Bourgeoisie has ownership over the means of production (factorers). Bourgeoisie had replaced the
position of nobility. Bourgeoisie driving force behind industrialization.
- New nobility -> bourgeoisie. Dominant in 19 th century society. Bourgeoisie saw the working
class as undisciplined and they thought they had to force them to go to work. Elites thought
that only the elites should vote, someone who was educated and had property had more
stake in politics than someone who owned nothing. These people of knowledge and property
should have more to say in politics.
- Bourgeoisie is a necessity. But bourgeois society produces working inequality, alienated and
impoverished working class.
- Marx was closer to the upper middle class than he thought. Mix of orderly life and not so orderly
life. Marx wanted to keep up his middle class appearance.
- But revolutions occurred earlier in agricultural society than in industrialized societies.
- Many people in middle class didn’t own means of production. Was this really as decisive as Marx
suggested? Many scholars looked at the family centeredness and cultural factors than on economic
factors.
Marx and the working class
- Marx looked beyond his own time.
- Artisans were more important than industrialized workers. Artisans were prominent, increasingly
under pressure. Many artisans among the democrats and left-wing politics. Many Marxists were
actually artisans instead of industrial workers.
- Very poor living standards on the countryside, many people came to the cities.
- Socialist parties appeared in Europa -> not specifically Marxist, but conscious that Marxist ideas did
tie in with own experiences and the living standards of the working class in their own cities.
- Society didn’t develop along Marxist lines:
-> There were also workers who earned more (low unemployment, skilled workers, trade
unions more pragmatic). Does the working class really always grow?
-> According to Marx the exploited class will grow until in explodes. But many people become
office workers, Marx didn’t predict this.
-> Consumer society -> Service economy workers needed.
-> Working class united because of their fate. But many differences between catholic and
socialist workers. Different political choices of these workers than Marx predicted.
Society depends on involvement (civil society) and position within a society (class society).
Key Questions
- How did Marx understand class society, and Tocqueville civil society?
- Was Marx ‘right’ about industrialization, the bourgeoisie and the working class?
- Was Tocqueville ‘right’ about associational life and civic activism?
- How were civil society and class society related?
Karl Marx
- Radical writer, political activist.
- Émigré in Paris, Bruxelles and London.
- Critic of class society and the bourgeoisie.
- Prophet of communism.
- One of the first to see the problems of the working class.
- Bourgeoisie has ownership over the means of production (factorers). Bourgeoisie had replaced the
position of nobility. Bourgeoisie driving force behind industrialization.
- New nobility -> bourgeoisie. Dominant in 19 th century society. Bourgeoisie saw the working
class as undisciplined and they thought they had to force them to go to work. Elites thought
that only the elites should vote, someone who was educated and had property had more
stake in politics than someone who owned nothing. These people of knowledge and property
should have more to say in politics.
- Bourgeoisie is a necessity. But bourgeois society produces working inequality, alienated and
impoverished working class.
- Marx was closer to the upper middle class than he thought. Mix of orderly life and not so orderly
life. Marx wanted to keep up his middle class appearance.
- But revolutions occurred earlier in agricultural society than in industrialized societies.
- Many people in middle class didn’t own means of production. Was this really as decisive as Marx
suggested? Many scholars looked at the family centeredness and cultural factors than on economic
factors.
Marx and the working class
- Marx looked beyond his own time.
- Artisans were more important than industrialized workers. Artisans were prominent, increasingly
under pressure. Many artisans among the democrats and left-wing politics. Many Marxists were
actually artisans instead of industrial workers.
- Very poor living standards on the countryside, many people came to the cities.
- Socialist parties appeared in Europa -> not specifically Marxist, but conscious that Marxist ideas did
tie in with own experiences and the living standards of the working class in their own cities.
- Society didn’t develop along Marxist lines:
-> There were also workers who earned more (low unemployment, skilled workers, trade
unions more pragmatic). Does the working class really always grow?
-> According to Marx the exploited class will grow until in explodes. But many people become
office workers, Marx didn’t predict this.
-> Consumer society -> Service economy workers needed.
-> Working class united because of their fate. But many differences between catholic and
socialist workers. Different political choices of these workers than Marx predicted.
