In the last lecture we looked at the school of thought in the history of ideas known as dialectical materialism and saw that Marxism as a cultural theory studies the structure and evolution of societies. We are in a way tied to history and to our social circumstances. Now let us look at a few more important terms in Marxism. Class is a seminal concept in Marxism. Marx looked at society in terms of two binaries:

a)  Those who own the forces of production.

b)  Those who give their labour towards production.

Throughout history we find this core binary:

Marx argued that the relationship between social classes is unequal and exploitative. There are a very few who form the first part of the binary opposition and they own the means of production. The relationship is founded on a conflict of interest since the owners of the means of production have profit as their chief goal.