Review Of Karl Marx's 'The American Spirit'

Daniel Barrera
Soc 356

Paper #1 “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas: i.e., the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling its ruling intellectual force” (Reader 35). Karl Marx was basically saying that the ruling class would always stay in power, why? When the ruling class changes, so to do the ruling ideas and the new ruling class instills upon society its own ideas. While giving these “ideas the form of universality, and represent them as the only rational, universally valid ones” (36). However, one might wonder how does this ruling class control these ruling ideas? Marx believed, “the class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control
Tedd Ginn Sr. principal of an all boys academy in Cleveland, Ohio says, “if you goin’ right and it’s not workin’ you gotta do something different.” Obviously Marx knew that society was going in the wrong direction his ideas to go in a different direction, a direction towards communism. Marx believed that the working class was depressed into a false consciousness to the point where there was no point in dreaming because they would never get to where they wanted to be. Ginn, dealed with boys with the similar problem “at risk teens” is what they were referred to in the segment, “you have to teach a kid to dream, and not just to dream but to dream big”. These kids in relation to Marx’s readings would be the working class; before Ginn started this academy these kids had an unequal education along with living in poverty they were destined to be enslaved by a future job. Marx believed in equal education through communism and this is what Ginn was giving these troubled teens. This school, in a way is run like an equal communist society in the same way Marx was preaching. The students wear a uniform along with a bright red blazer, “I got the red jacket because you have to be tough to wear a red jacket everyday, they’re gonna laugh at ya, but if you believe in why you’re wearing that jacket…whatever they say don’t matter, so you got to have courage to be different” said Ginn. This is what Marx was saying, that to beat capitalism you have to not care about the “ruling ideas” and indeed you need to be tough to do that. It is not easy to be different, because the ruling class has and wants is that way. However if everyone did it, it would be much easier, Ginn says, “a big part of standing out, is standing together,” just like Marx was explaining, to beat capitalism it must be a worldwide