Marx's Theories on Social Class Applied to Modern-Day Brooklyn

The dust covered books, mostly by Marx, that where on the shelves is what my first encounter was in researching the concept of class. Social Class, being a taboo subject in American society, offers little account of how involved the separation and struggle is between classes. It affects our everyday lives, our past and our futures. Marx set the foundations upon which we define and understand class. In his work, Manifesto of the Communist Party, he claims the history of all society is the "history of class struggles," {Massey, 159}.

Marx's theories can be loosely applied to modern American society today; the differences are in the emergence of the dominant middle class. For Marx "class is quintessentially a relationship of exploitation and conflict," {Katz, 9}. What happens when that conflict is hidden even deeper than it was in Marx's time?

Marx; Dead or Alive?
Marx's theories focused on the class struggle between the "bourgeoisie and the proletariat"{Massey, 159}. Modern society and economics have created many mutations and variations of these two class brackets. The attempts to clearly define what class means today have been few and far between and often lack the passion to which Marx held his theories. This is why his theories have sustained the impact they made more than a hundred years ago.

Overview:
"Means of production" were the defining lines of class for Marx where two groups, the owners and those who sold their labor power, made their living, {G&D, 170}. In this class separation existed a struggle where the proletariats were exploited by the bourgeoisie. Both classes worked towards profit, but only the owners, or the bourgeoisie, reaped of its rewards. The proletariats suffered long hours, low pay and increasing alienation as the upper class bourgeoisie profited from the fruits of their labor.

A typical middle-to-upper class Brooklyn Brownstone. Extreme differences in class status can be seen literally across the street in many Brooklyn neighborhoods. This unique aspect is part of what makes Brooklyn a microcosm of the world.

Credit: Michael Conners

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