Blog Post #4

Karl Marx was a German philosopher who believed in communism, and he developed the Marxism theory. Due to Marx’s communistic way of thinking many people believe that Marxism and communism are one of the same. However, that is not the case. Marxism is the idea that material conditions and economic practices that shape the ideology of who should be and who should not be in power. An example of Marxism would be if a basketball coach thought a certain player ought to be captain of the team, but the entire team or that certain player think it should be someone different. The goal of Marxism is believed to expose how culture tests and reinforce the status quo of power structures as normal. Another way to think about it is based on the idea of hegemony. That is the privileging of a dominant group’s ideas and beliefs over another’s. This part of Marxism is where people might confuse it with communism. Marx believed that after one stage of a social classes struggle was complete, then the next one would begin instantly. He did not believe that evolution through the phases of society was possible or could be changed. Hopefully this explanation of Marxism was helpful in one’s understanding of the subject.