Karl Marx was a German philosopher, socialist and political scientist; he is considered one of the most influential thinkers of all time. He was born in Trier, Germany and lived from 1818-1883. Marx was a German Jew, his father was a lawyer. When Karl Marx was six years old, his family converted to Christianity, but Marx was not a religious person. Karl Marx has many contributions to the field of sociology and has had a big influence on society and has gained a large following; his works are very historically significant. He is the creator of Marxism, he has authored works such as 'Das Kapital' and the 'Communist Manifesto', which was the basis of Marxism. He believed that capitalism was created against the working class and that workers all over the world should detach their ties to big business and take control of their societies. Overall he believed workers should have more power in deciding the societies and the economy's needs. (Milios, 61-74). .
The key components of Marxism are historical materialism, capitalism, society, capitalist elite, social class, and revolution. Karl Marx notion towards the understanding of history is called historical materialism. Marx thought that the advancement of society overtime in history could be decided by utilizing and owning the different modes of production. A mode of production is the resources of production used by a society, including things like factories, machinery, and raw supplies. Mode of Production also involves organizing of the labor force and labor in general (Miliband 378). Relations of production is the association between the people who own the means of production; which would be capitalist and those individuals who do not; which would be workers or working class. Karl Marx believed that history changed through the combined efforts of the mode of production and the relations of production (Miliband 378).