Marxism vs. Feminism: Human Nature, Power, Conflict

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Human Nature
Power
Conflict
Conclusion
List of References

Introduction

In the history of governance, political theories have had a significant influence on government ideologies, principles, norms, and values of states. Arguably, political theories act as a catalyst that enhances the development of human nature, power, and subsequent conflict. The objective of this essay is to explore and provide a comparative analysis of Marxism and Feminism. In addition, it links the theories to three themes, which are human nature, power, and conflict. Both Marxism and Feminism are Conflict theories that address social, political, and economic biasness.

Marxism advocates for the protection of the proletariat or the working class against economic exploitation. On the other hand, Feminism promotes the rights of women based on the argument that women suffer unequal treatment in contemporary society (Adams 2001). Moreover, Marxism is a form of socialism that needs special analysis because it opposes the principles of capitalism. To understand the key concepts of Marxism, it is essential to understand the concept of a class difference in a capitalistic state. Feminism has multiple concepts such as Liberal, Socialist, and radical. Thus, Heywood (2003) argues that labeling such a political theory into one, narrow ideology creates biasness.

Human Nature

Marx categorizes human nature into general and specific aspects. He posits that the general nature of human being is unchangeable and shared by all people. He points hunger and sexual urge as the integral element of human nature. Everybody becomes hungry at one point and feels the urge to eat. On the other hand, a normal person will have a sexual desire for the opposite sex (Adams 2001). To sustain the body, a person must eat regularly. Therefore, according to Marx, all people must access food irrespective of social and economic differences. The argument closely relates to Feminism in its assertion that all human beings have similar fundamentals of nature. The elements such as the brain structure cannot be changed by artificial actions. However, men have been denying women equal opportunities in social, economic, and political realms (Lane 2015). Therefore, Feminism suggests that women should get equal opportunities because they also share similar attributes of human nature with men.

According to Marxism, the integral elements of human nature cannot change. Nevertheless, they can take different directions in many various political, social, and economic contexts. For instance, hunger has a close relationship with the economic status of a country. A nation with poor economic growth and food insecurity will subject its citizens to unemployment and hunger. Coupled with gender discrimination, the situation can be adverse to women, which explains the intent of Feminism (DeLue 1997). Societies treat women in different ways. Several states deny women opportunities to have equal contributions to socioeconomic and political activities. They become victims of poverty, unemployment, hunger, and sexual harassment. Thus, the reason why Feminists fight for women’s place in society is to ensure that men do not violate their basic human nature as defined in Marxism.

Power

Power is at the center of all human activities. Be it a political, economic, cultural, or social activity, power defines and controls everything that humans do. Although liberalism promotes the idea of freedom and fairness in all aspects, power limits the extent to which people access the freedom and fair treatment (Heywood 2004). It contributes to the social and economic differences among people living in the same society. The concept of power is used to define the governance system and its influence on people. Largely, the political and economic directions of people depend on it.

According to Karl Max, power is limited and only one person or a few people can hold it at a time. Marxism categorizes people in the society as the working class and the ruling class. Marx asserts that the ruling class uses power to exploit the working class and this argument forms the principle of Marxism (Vercellone 2007). In this light, Marxism tends to oppose the concept of capitalism in which the ruling class controls economic resources and workers. The state has political power and military resources they use to control the proletariat. The idea of exploitation, according to Marx, occurs when the ruling class uses the state power to manipulate ordinary citizens (DeLue 1997). The view presented in the Marxism about power examines the entire society. This is opposed to the narrow view of Feminism, which examines the power in terms of gender.

Liberal Feminism asserts that the ruling class consists of men who practice gender discrimination in political and economic contexts. To gain power, they must fight for equality in the public realm. Feminists identify education as the foundation of power. Throughout the history of humanity, men have dominated higher-learning education (Eccleshall 2003). To gain freedom and fairness, Feminism posits that women must have equal access to advanced education. Consequently, they would have required the necessary knowledge and ability to claim their position in society. Marxism explains that power revolves around politics and politicians create the ruling class. In this view, Feminism argues that women should be part of the ruling class if they must achieve fundamental rights (Heywood 2003).

The status of women as identified by Feminism is similar to the conditions of workers in a capitalistic state defined by Marxism. However, workers have not identified the systematic exploitation of those who own power. The inability of workers to identify and fight for equality is what Marx calls a “false consciousness” (Vercellone 2007). The working class has failed to realize that they have accepted the practices and values of the ruling class as the universal elements of power and governance. They have accepted their conditions and allowed the leaders to impose unfair laws and restrictions on them. On the contrary, Feminists use an aggressive approach to attack men in power through Radical Feminism.

The concept of Radical feminism views patriarchy as the source of the contemporary power held by men. The patriarchal roots in which power and governance could be traced along the male generation deem women insignificant. For instance, dynasty rulers inherited power from their fathers and their sons took over from them after their death. Consequently, men had continued to dominate politics and power. Compared to other forms of Feminism, Radical Feminism uses an aggressive approach in addressing gender issues. On the contrary, Marxism points to the workers’ failure to confront capitalism (DeLue 1997). While women are actively fighting for their rights, the working class has allowed the ruling class to control them.

In the contemporary economic realm, big companies sell their shares to the public. As a result, many shareholders of those companies are from the working group. In addition, both men and women can own company shares in contemporary society. Although this observation depicts the successful efforts of the Radical Feminism, it contradicts Marxism (Vercellone 2007). Throughout history, workers have been fighting for their rights through labor unions and courts. They have continued to identify economic exploitation and try to achieve fairness. As opposed to the traditional political and economic systems where the ruling class owned economic resources, workers now control part of the production means (Eccleshall 2003).

Conflict

Marxism addresses the concept of conflict through the class difference. To understand Marx’s view of the conflict, it is essential to explore the differences between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Initially, there were three classes, which Marx identified as the working class, the landowners, and the bourgeoisie (Eccleshall 2003). According to Marxism, bourgeoisie owned and controlled all means of production. The landowners earned their income from the rent. On the other hand, workers depended on wages paid by the bourgeoisie. Later, the ownership of production means and land merged, and their control went to the bourgeoisie or the ruling class. The situation escalated the effects of capitalistic as an economic structure in which the ruling class continued to exploit the working class. Uneven distribution of economic resources and power in society causes conflict, which results in social changes (Adams 2001). The idea of realizing these changes also influences the actions of Socialistic Feminists who fight for gender-based social equality.

The concept of Socialistic Feminism addresses the private and public life of women. It posits that women can only achieve liberation after removing all economic, cultural, and political sources of gender discrimination. Looking at this argument in the light of Marxism, it can be said that the majority of women are part of the working-class group (Eccleshall 2003). However, Feminism views women in a lower social state than men in the same class. Within this social class, culture contributes significantly to putting men on top. For instance, women continue to fight for employment in the top positions based on merits and not gender. The theory encourages women to fight gender discrimination in their social class first before climbing the ladder (Lane 2015).

While Marxism defines the conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, Socialist Feminism identifies two different conflicts. First, there is a conflict between women and men in the working-class. The second conflict is between women and the bourgeoisie who create economic barriers for women. Lower-class people embrace cultural practices that undermine women. On the other hand, those who own production means and power create hurdles that prevent women from achieving economic and political gains (Adams 2001). The conflict is caused by women’s need to access resources and have equal political contributions.

Conclusion

Marxism and Feminism are political theories explaining the struggle between two groups. Marxism describes the struggle in the form of class differences. While Feminists view the struggle in the light of gender discrimination, Marxists focus on the demerits of capitalism. A capitalistic government has two main social classes, which are the bourgeoisie and the working group. There is a diverse economic and social difference between the two classes. According to Feminists, social differences are caused by gender desperation and segregation. Marx posits that fundamental elements of human nature are shared among humans irrespective of gender. It is from this point Feminists suggest that men and women should have equal opportunities because they share similar attributes of humanity. Even though men have dominated politics and economy, they have subjected other men and women to socioeconomic and political stressors. Therefore, to realize desired social changes, conflicts between the groups should continue. Women should continue to fight for their social identity. On the other hand, the proletariat should fight for an even distribution of resources and power in order to achieve liberation and fairness.

List of References

Adams, I 2001, Political ideology today, Manchester, Manchester University Press.

DeLue, M 1997, Political thinking, political theory, and civil society, Boston, Allyn and Bacon.

Eccleshall, R 2003, Political Ideologies, New York, Routledge.

Heywood, A 2003, Political Ideology, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Heywood, A 2004, Political theory: an introduction, New York, Palgrave Macmillan.

Lane, D 2015, ‘Dangerous liaisons: the marriages and divorces of marxism and feminism by Cinzia Arruzza.’ Political Studies Review, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 393-394.

Vercellone, C 2007, ‘From formal subsumption to general intellect: elements for a marxist reading of the thesis of cognitive capitalism.’ Historical Materialism, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 13-36.

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