Karl Marx 2

From Geography

Karl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher who was born in Trier in 1818. Besides a philosopher, Marx was also a historian, political economist, sociologist and communist revolutonary. Much of the characteristics of what we know today as communism and socialism, are based on the ideas of Marx. The main theme in Marx's works is the challenging of capitalism. According to Marx, capitalism would, just like previous socioeconomic systems as for example feudalism, necessarily produce internal tensions which would lead to its own destruction. Marx believed that after this selfdestruction, capitalism would be replaced by socialism, just like feudalism was once replaced by capitalism. After this, a transitional period would take place which Marx called 'the dictatorship of the proletariat', sometimes also referred to as 'workers democracy' or 'workers state'. According to Marx this transition would finally lead to a classless and stateless society, which Marx called 'pure communism'.

Contributions to Human Geography: Marxist Geography

As Marx's theories were applicable on much of different scientific disciplines, they were also implemented in human geography. In Marxist geography the traditional geographical relations, like natural environment and spatial relations, are reviewed as the results of the mode of material production. To understand these relations, Marx argued that it's important to first examine the social structure in which these relations emerge. One of the key points of Marxist geography is to change this basic social structure. In line with this, Marxist geography radically criticised the positivist spatial science and it's methodologies, which, according to Marx, failed to account the underlying mechanisms of capitalism and exploitation that form the basics for human spatial arrangements.

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