It is logical to assume that for as long as human beings have existed in organized societies, so social inequality has presented itself within these societies as an obstacle to overcome, an instrument to exploit, or at the very least, a reality to accept. Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber, acting at times as sociologists, economic theorists and above all, social critics, each explore in their writings the origins and functions of the social inequality that had grown rife in the modern, industrial, and capitalist society of the 1800s. The class struggle throughout the industrializing world had, by the middle of the nineteenth century, begun to deepen and widen. Why this was so was of profound interest to these thinkers, and their respective analyses of modern social inequities incorporated theories of history, human nature, and economics. The resulting ideas reveal very different approaches for dealing with social inequality. Whether revolutionary or reformist, each of these three thinkers has left an indelible mark on those that have since sought to understand human society and its functions.
Karl Marx, more than any other theorist, directed his fury at the capitalist system and its inherent proclivity for exploiting the working class. The structures of capitalism, for Marx, were responsible for creating virtually all of the problems of modern life. This observation, though complicated in itself, engendered a simple conclusion: the only way to solve the problem of social inequality was to topple the capitalist structures that perpetuated the pattern of exploitation (Ritzer 20-23). Totally unwilling to accept that modern society, in order to function, must exploit, alienate, and expand, Marx sought to expose the fallacy of capitalism by showing the cruel ways in which a few capitalists can subjugate masses of workers by controlling the means of production.
In order to better understand Marx's ideas concerning c...