Karl Marx, born on this day in 1818, was a foundational political theorist and journalist associated with the philosophy of Marxism.

Among Marx’s best-known texts are the “The Communist Manifesto” and the three-volume “Das Kapital”, in which he set out to define and explain the behavior of the capitalist mode of production.

Marx’s political and philosophical thought have had enormous influence on subsequent intellectual, economic and political history, and his name has been used as an adjective, a noun, and a school of social theory.

Marx’s critical theories about society, economics and politics - collectively understood as Marxism - hold that human societies develop through class conflict. In capitalism, this manifests itself in the conflict between the ruling classes (known as the bourgeoisie) that control the means of production, and the working classes (known as the proletariat) that enable these means by selling their labor power in return for wages.

Employing a critical approach known as historical materialism, Marx concluded that, like previous socio-economic systems, capitalism produced internal tensions which would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system known as socialism.

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Theory:

    • ratboy [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      8 hours ago

      I’m nearing 40 and can’t afford to move, and their masters program is very highly regarded. So for me, it’s either go back to school there or don’t. But my profession pays poverty wages; with my extensive experience I would be extremely lucky to even make 50k. Ive BEEN making 37k pretax for years. So I would likely have to try to break into another career path and I just don’t know if I can handle all that

      • Keld [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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        8 hours ago

        Do you think your refusal to enter the masters program has any chance of changing their politics? Are you organized with other people who could participate in an academic boycott? In other words, will this change anything except your own life? (For the worse)

        • ratboy [they/them]@hexbear.net
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          22 minutes ago

          I would imagine on my own it wouldn’t. That would be amazing to organize a boycott though but idk how I’d go about that. unless I could manage that, it would only keep me where I’m at now which is working low income jobs for years, probably