FREE ESSAY ON HISTORY IN MARX AND FREUD

HISTORY IN MARX AND FREUD

Marx and Freud are regard as very controversial individuals. They both had very unusual
view of the world around them but were not afraid to express their ideas, which to many
people were revolutionary. Marx and Freud formulated their opinions about the development
of human history with which some might disagree. In the Communist Manifesto, Marx states
that development of human history is based on economics, while Freud in Civilization and
its Discontents claims that history of civilization is influenced by human nature and
interaction with one another. 
Marx views history as being determined by economics, which for him is the source of class
differences. History is describe in The Communist Manifesto as a series of conflicts
between oppressing classes and oppressed classes. According to this view of history,
massive changes occur in a society when new technological capabilities allow a portion of
the oppressed class to destroy the power of the oppressing class. Marx briefly traces the
development of this through different periods, mentioning some of the various oppressed
and oppressing classes, but points out that in earlier societies there were many
differentiations of social classes. Marx sees the modern age as being distinguished from
earlier periods by the simplifications of the class conflict, splitting up society into
two great hostile groups: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. 
Marx starts off stating that in order for men to make history they must be able to live.
According to him a human beings needs for survival include food, water, shelter and
clothes. All these things need to be produced therefore the first stage of history is the
production of the goods needed for survival. Without organized way for production Marx
claims, no civilized society can function well and therefore by able to make history.
This materialistic approach leads to the conclusion that the commerce and industry are
fundamentals of any civilization. 
The second point Marx argues that helps shape human history is the interaction between
people. Men realize that close interaction with one another is necessary for
well-developed society. Yet when humans begin to form families it creates new social
relations between them and leads to division of labor. The separation of the individuals
into families and division of labor in the family develops unequal distribution, where
the children and the wife are "slaves of the husband"(159) and where the more powerful
and wealthy gets control over the weaker. Division of labor Marx states shows the
distinction between the interest of the individual and the family and the general
interest of the whole community. The ruling class, bourgeoisie, controls the productive
forces and sets up the standards for society, so in the end it can alone benefit from
them. The way the history develops is through the oppression of a more powerful
individual, whose main goal is to satisfy his own needs. There is obvious lack of unity
and equal interaction between members of the community. The pressure is placed upon the
satisfaction of an individual needs not the general interest of the whole community.
Unlike Marx, Freud stresses a great deal about the importance of community. He argues
that the main factor in the development of history is human need for unity and
well-organized community. He points out that from basic needs of human, which include
food, water, shelter and clothes comes a greatest of all: the need for close interaction
between people. Since the beginnings of every civilization people realized that living
together in a close relations is very beneficial. Even though Freud argues men are very
aggressive, they tend to overcome this inclination and try working together to attain
happiness. The need for individual interest is lost as members of the community discover
that one will not be able to survive alone without the help of others. The way the
history is developed is based on the idea that humans in any possible way want to take
control over the nature and make their lives better than their ancestors. Everything
people work on is eventually going to be beneficial to them in one-way or another.
Freud's approach to history is that, without strong relations between individuals, no
society can exist and therefore no history would be made. The basic principles is that
people need one another in order to survive and no one class can get too much control
over another because that creates a problem. The division of power and labor according to
Freud is essential, because it creates an order yet there should not be a big gap between
the workers and the owners. This would create tensions and would eventually lead to
disruption of peace and also of the means of life. 
Even though Freud and Marx's view slightly differ, they both provide us with many new and
interesting ideas that are well supported. Although some might disagree with all their
opinions about the development of history and how it affects humans, one cannot say that
Marx and Freud's ideas are not to some extend correct. When all they have to say is well
thought and analyzed one must conclude that some of the ideas are very well constructed
and that actually can be beneficial in solving problems in our society. Maybe they both
do not have the exact definition to the origin of human history I think they give us some
basic principles that one can thing about and expand on.