Marx is one of the most important of all Socialist thinkers. One of his greatest sociological insights centered on the thought that social class was the deciding principle of social life. Much of his work focused on the plight of the working class, and he felt it imperative that the class structure of society be changed. In Marx's view, the relationship between people was determined primarily through who controlled the mode of economic production, such as land or factories. The land, resources, and factories were controlled and owned by the wealthy citizens; thus, the working class had little choice but to work according to the terms dictated by the upper, controlling class. For this reason, Marx detested the concept and practice of capitalism; he felt that it only allowed the rich to become richer and the poor to become poorer.

Marx saw the exploitation of the working class as a catalyst for change. He felt that the capitalistic system of the time could and should be destroyed, and Marx called for a revolution by the working-class members. However, before the revolution could occur, Marx felt that the working class first needed to develop what is known as class consciousness. This is a subjective awareness of common vested interests and the need for collective political action to bring about social change. Simply put, the workers needed to see themselves as one unit and, together, could revolt and change their working conditions.

There was one stumbling block to Marx's hope of a working-class revolution, and that was the fact that the working class did not see themselves as one unit, but individually, in terms of 'I' and 'me.' This is known as false consciousness. A false consciousness is an attitude held by members of a class that does not accurately reflect their objective position. Basically, workers would see themselves as 'I,' as in 'I am being exploited by my boss,' rather than 'we:' 'We are being exploited by our boss.' Marx's revolution to end capitalism and bring down the wealthy controlling class would not come to light as long as the working class was viewing life through a false consciousness.

While Marx hoped for revolutions in large industrial countries, such as Britain and Germany, smaller ones occurred in Russia and China. Many factors that Marx did not foresee may be the very reason the revolutions did not occur - factors such as the development of labor unions and political ideologies teaching people that they controlled their destinies within their circumstances. Nor did Marx see the rise of Communism, which gave government complete control. To date, Marx's political vision has not been seen; however, his economic theory of the gap between the wealthy and the poor growing larger has never been truer than today.

Karl Marx is one of the greatest socialistic thinkers of all time. His works and his ideas influence those in a variety of arenas, such as historians, economists, sociologists, political scientists and more. His writings were seen by many as radical, and he was expelled from his homeland of Germany and other countries throughout his life. Karl Marx felt that one's social class dictated one's social life and that those who owned the modes of production - land, resources, factories, businesses, etc. - would be the ruling social class, which controlled the lower working class.

Marx focused a great deal on the exploitation of the working class by the wealthier controlling classes of society. He had hoped for the working class to revolt against the ruling class to create an equal collective-type society. However, before this could happen, Marx stated that the workers needed to overcome their false consciousness (their thinking in terms of 'I' and 'me') and reach a thinking of class consciousness (thinking in terms of 'we' and 'us').

Marx's revolutions did not occur on the grand scale that he had hoped for, but many of his economic theories are being proven, even in today's society. He is seen as one of the greatest contributors to the study of sociology.

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