Weakness and strength of Marxist theory of social develpment.

Marxist theory of  social develpment is focusing on explanation of how society works, of how and why history has unfolded, and especially an account of the nature of capitalism. These are  great value for the task of describing what is going on in the world and for understanding the problems and directions of our society today. But Marx also regarded capitalism as extremely unsatisfactory and he was very concerned with getting rid of it, via violent revolution and the establishment of a communist society. Marxism is therefore also about political goals and action. Through Marx's perception of Materialism it is the understanding that reality is only material, matter and energy. There are not gods or any supernatural phenomenon, politics and beliefs exist solely due to economic climate and positioning. Induced by the ruling classes throughout history to serve as means of social control, this is directly related to the question surrounding the struggle of class and the argument of False Consciousness.For example, through practical everyday life wage-labourers reproduce themselves physically, fore example they work to earn money in order to buy food, shelter and clothing they need to survive. This is at the heart of Historical Materialism, in the mid to the 19th century the intellectual tenents of marxism were inspired by two German philosophers Karlmarx and Friedrich Engels.

Social development theory explain qualitative changes in the structure and framework of society that help the society to better realize its aims and objectives. The main types of society Marx distinguished were primitive, slave, feudal and capitalist. In a capitalist society capitalists own and control the productive resources (capital) while, workers own only their labour and work for capitalists, who then own the product and sell it at a profit.

The following is the analyses of the Marxist theory of social development based on the important ingredients for the social development.The Marxist theory argue that the development process therefore  can not be gradual , steady movement toward equilibrium, it is a process typified by imbalances and social conflicts

Class struggle, as a major social change is not possible without revolution. Bourgeois revolutions overthrew feudal society, for instance the French revolution. Marxists insist that dominant classes will not voluntarily give up power, wealth and privilege. Their control has to be taken away from them, and this might have to involve violence.

Real Human beings,Marxist theory of social development, based on ‘real human beings’, because He,emphasising that human beings are essentially productive, in that they must produce their means of subsistence in order to satisfy their material needs. The satisfaction of needs engenders new needs of both a material and social kind, and forms of society arise corresponding to the state of development of human productive forces. Material life determines, or at least ‘conditions’ social life, and so the primary direction of social explanation is from material production to social forms, and thence to forms of consciousness. As the material means of production develop, ‘modes of co-operation’ or economic structures rise and fall, and eventually communism will become a real possibility once the plight of the workers and their awareness of an alternative motivates them sufficiently to become revolutionaries.

Productive force,  For example, inThe Communist Manifesto Marx states that: ‘The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionising the instruments of production.’ This appears to give causal and explanatory primacy to the economic structure capitalism,which brings about the development of the forces of production.

Superstructure of the society(State)  Marxists argue that the state serves the dominant classes in society. The state is "the executive committee of the bourgeoisie". In capitalist society the state rules primarily in the interest of the capitalist class for the development of the who society superstructure is necessarly. For example the state takes as its top priority increasing economic like business activity, when it is clear that this is now accompanied by a falling quality of life and by environmental destruction.  The state's most important characteristic is that is has the power to coerce members of society; e.g., to jail, fine or execute, and to make war.

Accumulation of capital,  Marxists stress that the factor which determines what happens in our society is the drive to accumulate capital  the consitant  seeking to make profits, which are then reinvested( invested), to make more profit, in an endless spiral of capital accumulation,this leads to innovation and change the societ from one form to other  form.

Apart from the factors that argued by Marxist as a couses of social development that my base on qualitative changes in the whole structure and framework of society as well as to  help the society to better realize its aims and objectives and transform the society from one stage to another, Also the strength of the Marxist theory of social development  may be traced as much of what is wrong with the world today basing on the consequences of allowing profit motivation to determine production and distribution in social development, which is what happens when a few capitalists own all the capital, The inevitable result is production of the most profitable things, not the most needed things. In a world where there is enormous inequality this means investment goes into producing consumer goods and luxuries for people in rich countries, while the needs of billions of people are more or less ignored. It means the rich few take most of the available resources because they can pay more for them for instance it is more profitable for capitalists to sell to the relatively rich, thus it means that much Third World productive capacity, especially land, goes into producing crops for export to rich countries when it should be producing food for hungry people. The follows bellow a among of the strengths of the Marxist theory of social development,

Global Economy, in which there is great freedom for market forces, because this gives capitalists more opportunities for profitable investment.The big corporations and banks have much more freedom than before to go where they wish and trade, invest and develop as they wish. Previously there were many laws and regulations restricting the entry of foreign investors, the capacity of corporations to trade and the right of financial institutions to lend and move money around. In Marxist terms globalisation can be seen as the situation to which capitalism inevitably leads, i.e., where the ceaseless drive to accumulate more and more capital obliges capitalists to try to break down all remaining impediments to investment, markets, resources, cheap labour and profitable business opportunities. Globalisation is about them being able to get into and take over markets which they were previously kept out of by government regulation, especially protection of local industries against cheap imports. Hundreds of millions of poor people in the Third World have been further impoverished because transnational corporations are now able to come in and take over the markets and resources that used to be preserved for the benefit of locals.

The capitalist class has enjoyed triumphant success, it is rapidly becoming richer and is dramatically restructuring the world in its interests. Workers, unions and the Left are very weak and large numbers of people are being completely excluded and dumped, including the long term unemployed, and one billion people in the third World.  There is increasing polarisation and immiseration. Extremes of wealth and poverty are now accelerating in even the richest countries. Globalisation and the neo-liberal agenda are destroying( gutting) society, destroying the conditions on which are crucial for cohesion, such as valuing the public good, concern for the under dog and for society, and concern for the environment.

4. In the Third World the Structural Adjustment Programs, imposed example the World Bank has imposed on indebted countries have been major forces for globalisation, because these programs impose conditions such as deregulating the economy, increasing access for foreign investors, cutting state spending and increasing dependence on exportation of commodities.  All governments in third world have eagerly facilitated these processes, which does not surprise Marxists theory of social development because they see the state as always ruling in the interests of capital.

5.Marxist theory helpse to rise the awareness on the peoples mind especialy to the low level class that one of the means for them to get rid from poor and uncondussive life stuation and get their social services is through struggling.

                                                               WEAKNESS

1. Marx he fail to relate the situation of African countries especially in class struggle as the leading force for social changes/Marx he consider the capitalist society is not desirable and he considered for overthrowing the class of exploiters and establish the new of the exploited class the class of proletariat,according to this views of Marx he forget other classes of the society, most African countries do not have many industries so the group if industrial workers almost there is small number of industrial workers,so how the socialist society may be established without leading force of industrial workers as per Marxism.

 2. Marx (and most Marxists today) failed to take ecological sustainability into account. They are strong believers in industrial development and "progress", rising material "living standards" and economic growth. They think that capitalism is responsible for all problems and that when it has been eliminated we can release the previously restricted power of industry and eliminate waste to enrich everyone. In other words, Marxism has no concept of “limits to growth”.  Affluence and economic growth are regarded as desirable and possible. .

3.Capital is crucial for development. He dismissed peasant ways and Marxists are not sympathetic to the notion of "appropriate development" conceived mainly in terms of "subsistence' and low/intermediate technology and cooperative ways focused on local economic self-sufficiency, In other words advocates of The Simpler Way claim Marx was quite mistaken in thinking that socialism would not be possible without modern technology, industrialisation and material affluence. Achieving a good society does not require elaborate technology nor abundance. It depends on whether or not the right values are held. There have been societies, and there are societies today in which people live well with very humble material lifestyles and without modern technology

4.  Marx’s theory of social development, is contradicted by the fact that industrialised countries have not moved closer to revolution. The recent revolutions have been in peasant societies, such as Africa. Capitalist societies seem to have become more secure from threat of revolution throughout the 20th century.Many would say there are no theory of social development and that Marx was mistaken in thinking he had discovered the theory of social development, and in thinking that his theory was scientific.

5. Marxist ideas on how to change society are also strongly criticised by the Anarchists(nihilists).  Marxists thought capitalism must be fought and overthrown through violent revolution, because the capitalist class will never voluntary give up any of its privileges.  There must be leadership by a vanguard party prepared to be ruthless(unpitying) and to use violence, and which will rule in an authoritarian way after the revolution. Eventually when people have developed the right ideas and values the state can dissolve and there will be a communist society.Also,changes in social development could come via increasing awareness and disenchantment(disillusionment),the building of alternative communities based on anti-capitalist principles, and thus an increase in the numbers who want to abandon capitalism, especially given that its coming difficulties will probably increasingly reveal its inability to provide for all.

6.Marxists fail to grasp the unacceptable dangers in their readiness to take an authoritarian-centralist approach. Marxists are willing to use the authoritarian state to run society after the revolution and to be ruthless in this. This is extremely dangerous; those in control can not be trusted and are very likely to become an entrenched dictatorship.

7.  Too much emphasis is given to the economic factor in explaining social development and change. Culture seemed to be explained solely as derived from the economic "substructure". However it has a degree of "autonomy";(personal independent), for example it is difficult to explain the advent of gay liberation in terms of productive or economic relations particulary in Tanzania and in other third word countries.

                                                         REFERENCE

Acton, H.B., 1955, The Illusion of the Epoch, London: Cohen and West.

Althusser, Louis, 1969, For Marx, London: Penguin.

Althusser, Louis, and Balibar, Etienne, 1970, Reading Capital, London: NLB.

Arthur, C.J., 1986, Dialectics of Labour, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Avineri, Shlomo, 1970, The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bottomore, Tom (ed.), 1979, Karl Marx, Oxford: Blackwell.

Brudney, Daniel, 1998, Marx's Attempt to Leave Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Carver, Terrell, 1982, Marx's Social Theory, New York: Oxford University Press.

Carver, Terrell (ed.), 1991, The Cambridge Companion to Marx, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cohen, Joshua, 1982, ‘Review of G.A. Cohen, Karl Marx's Theory of History’, Journal of Philosophy, 79: 253–273.

Cohen, G.A., 2001, Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence, 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Cohen, G.A., 1988, History, Labour and Freedom, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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