Bourgeois Society and Class Struggle: Marx’s Analysis
Bourgeois Society and Class Struggle
Bourgeois society originated as a result of the revolution that took place in medieval society, stemming from the relationship between lord and vassal and the tensions inherent in medieval society. This society is divided into two broad classes: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. It is a capitalist society in which the means of production are the private property of the employer, meaning they are separated from the worker.
Infrastructure and Superstructure
Within the social system, we can distinguish an infrastructure, conditioned by the modes of production. Within the infrastructure, we find the forces of production linked to existing production methods, which determine the production relations between owners of the means of production and those deprived of them, who must sell their labor. This relationship has a dialectical character.
On top of the infrastructure, an institutional and ideological superstructure is built, resulting from the material conditions of bourgeois society. Bourgeois society lives based on the production of goods and develops constantly, accumulating capital. Its members are related mainly as carriers of goods. “Social relationships between people,” says Marx, “are reversed, appearing as a social relation between things.”
Alienation and Class Antagonism
It is an alienated society, where individuals engage in relationships in which they are valued and appreciated for the things they possess, for the objects that can be acquired or appropriated. Class antagonism is the essential contradiction between different social classes (bourgeoisie and proletariat) that are the foundation of society and its infrastructure.
For Marx, this contradiction causes the end of capitalism because while the proletariat’s work provides what is indispensable for production, it is not favored in the distribution of value and also suffers from a production system that generates the alienation of the human being.
The Bourgeoisie
The bourgeoisie is the social class that, through production and trade, has transformed feudal society. Marx and Engels regarded it as the most progressive and revolutionary class that had existed until then because its existence depends on revolutionizing the means of production and, therefore, constantly revolutionizing society. The bourgeoisie is a class that controls and owns the means of production. It can control the form of social organization by controlling the means of production.
Social Classes
Social groups share a common denominator: the ability or lack thereof to intervene in economic processes and enjoy, or not, the capital that is generated. We distinguish between:
- Oppressed classes: Alienated classes lacking means of production.
- Classes that possess: Own the means of production and are therefore capable of generating capital.
Marx divides society into two main classes: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
The Proletariat
The proletariat is one of the main classes in capitalist society. It has no ownership of the means of production and is forced to sell its labor to obtain the means of subsistence. The transition from the capitalist mode of production would be overcome by the proletariat’s realization of its objective interests.