Marx about the social progress and fears of a frightened society: Marx’s opinion

Authors

  • Victor E. Smirnov Institute of Economics, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 1 Surhanava Street, 2 building, Minsk 220072, Belarus

Keywords:

theory of social development, social change, marxism, classes, class struggle, social revolution, freedom, social fears, social order

Abstract

It is argued that the main contribution of Marx is the theoretical basis of the theory of social progress is relevant today more than ever. This statement is substantiated by objectively occurring social processes and by the absence of a new theory, that can adequately explain the essence of social development. Modern theories of classless society, sustainable development and the end of history as ways of ideological justification of the current social order satisfying the ruling class are criticized. The reasons of social fears to radical changes in society, which have arisen in the majority of the population of post-soviet countries over the past three decades are explained. The modern Marxʼs interpretation of the theory of social progress is offered on the basis of the analysis of historical events of the last decades.

Author Biography

  • Victor E. Smirnov, Institute of Economics, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 1 Surhanava Street, 2 building, Minsk 220072, Belarus

    PhD (sociology); leading researcher

References

  1. Gottfried P. Strannaya smert’ marksizma [The Strange Death of Marxism]. Moscow : IRISEN : Myslʼ, 2009 (in Russ.).
  2. Marx K., Engels F. Sobranie sochinenii [Collected of works]. 2nd ed. Moscow : State Publ. House of Polit. Lit., 1959. Vol. 13 (in Russ.).
  3. Margaret Thatcher: life in quotations. BBC Russian service. URL: http://www.bbc.com/russian/uk/2013/04/130408_thatcher_quotes (date of access: 06.02.2018) (in Russ.).
  4. Marx K., Engels F. Sobranie sochinenii [Collected of works]. 2nd ed. Moscow : State Publ. House of Polit. Lit., 1958. Vol. 12 (in Russ.).
  5. Marx K., Engels F. Sobranie sochinenii [Collected of works]. 2nd ed. Moscow : State Publ. House of Polit. Lit., 1955. Vol. 2 (in Russ.).
  6. Marx K., Engels F. [Letter to P.V. Annenkov 28 Decemder 1844]. In: Sobranie sochinenii [Collected of works]. 2nd ed. Moscow : State Publ. House of Polit. Lit., 1961. Vol. 27 (in Russ.).
  7. Marx K., Engels F. Sobranie sochinenii [Collected of works.] 2nd ed. Moscow : State Publ. House of Polit. Lit., 1961. Vol. 21 (in Russ.).
  8. Smirnov V. E. Sotsial’nye mekhanizmy obshchestvennogo razvitiya: sotsiologicheskaya i istoriko-kul’turnaya rekonstruktsiya [Social mechanisms of social development : sociological, historic and cultural reconstruction]. Minsk : Belaruss. nauka, 2016 (in Russ.).
  9. Dahrendorf R. Sovremennyi sotsial’nyi konflikt. Ocherk politiki svobody [The Modern social conflict. Essay on politics of liberty]. Moscow : Russ. Polit. Encycl., 2002 (in Russ.).
  10. Polyakova N. L. Ot trudovogo obshchestva k informatsionnomu: zapadnaya sotsiologiya ob izmenenii sotsial’noi roli truda [From labor society to information society: Western sociology on changing the social role of labor]. Moscow : Nauka, 1990 (in Russ.).
  11. Tulʼchinskii G. L. [Social forces and civil society. (From static classification to dynamic and synergetic understanding of social life)]. In: Rol’ fundamental’nykh sotsiologicheskikh issledovanii v prepodavanii gumanitarnykh distsiplin i stanovlenii v Rossii grazhdanskogo obshchestva [The role of fundamental sociological research in the teaching of humanities and the formation of civil society in Russia]. Saint Petersburg, 1999. P. 119–122 (in Russ.).
  12. Marx K., Engels F. Sobranie sochinenii [Collected of works]. 2nd ed. Moscow : State Publ. House of Polit. Lit., 1955. Vol. 4 (in Russ.).
  13. Kagarlitskii B. Y. Mezhdu klassom i diskursom. Levye intellektualy na strazhe kapitalizma [Between the class and the discourse. Left-wing intellectuals to capitalism]. Moscow : Higher School of Econom., 2017 (in Russ.).

Downloads

Published

2019-03-13

Issue

Section

To the 200th Anniversary of K. Marx

How to Cite

[1]
Smirnov, V.E. 2019. Marx about the social progress and fears of a frightened society: Marx’s opinion. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology. 1 (Mar. 2019), 63–72.