As a philosophy, Marxism has a rich and varied history that spans the decades since the Industrial Revolution. In this time, it has grown several branches, including Western Marxism and Critical Theory, and has reached deeply into many academic fields such as sociology, art, and psychology. However, as an ideology, Marxism has developed a severely tarnished reputation due to its mistreatment at the hands of often brutal totalitarian regimes. These power-centralizing aristocracies have carefully isolated and exploited select concepts from Marxist philosophy, like that of commodity fetishism, to force revolutionary change in societies that were often not prepared for massive upheaval. My work will attempt to reflect upon the value of Marxist philosophy as a tool for understanding society and its interactions. I will highlight the contribution of the Hegelian-influenced Western Marxism of the Hungarian School philosopher György Lukács and the Frankfurt School Critical Theorists like that of Herbert Marcuse. In doing so, I shall attempt to qualitatively show a link between scientific Marxism's strict focus on economic determinism as the basis for national ideologies and the stagnation of communist revolutions worldwide.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses1990-2015-1786 |
| Date | 01 January 2008 |
| Creators | Cortright, Lawrence A. |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | HIM 1990-2015 |
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