Marx’s work was devoted to explaining how capitalism
shaped society. He argued that capitalism is
an economic system based on the pursuit of profi t
and the sanctity of private property. Marx used a
class analysis to explain capitalism, describing capitalism
as a system of relationships among different
classes, including capitalists (also known as the bourgeois
class), the proletariat (or working class), the
petty bourgeoisie (small business owners and managers),
and the lumpenproletariat (those “discarded”
by the capitalist system, such as the homeless). In
Marx’s view, profi t, the goal of capitalist endeavors,
is produced through the exploitation of the working
class. Workers sell their labor in exchange for wages,
and capitalists make certain that wages are worth less
than the goods the workers produce.…