ty. This infrastructure largely shapes the other elements of society known as the 'superstructure' and for this reason political, educational, legal institutions and belief and value systems are largely determined by economic factors. Marx claimed that all historical societies contained some contradictions, which means that they cannot survive indefinitely in their existing mode. These contradictions involve the exploitation of one social group by another. This creates an underlying conflict of interest since one-group gains at the expense of another. As mentioned previously, Marx drew upon Hegel's dialectic, which can be loosely defined as trying to understand change that occurs through conflict. However, while Hegel saw this conflict as taking place with ideas, Marx saw these ruptures as occurring in material conditions in the form of social revolution. Therefore, according to Marx, the conflicts of interest within society provoke the rising class to overthrow the present system and create a new one. This corresponds accurately to the feudal relations of production, which acted to repress the capitalism, which was developing within feudal society. Capitalism therefore overthrew lord-serf relationships and replaced them with a new set of relations known as the bourgeoisie or dominant class and the proletariat or subordinate class. Marx believed that this pattern will recur and lead to the collapse and replacement of capitalism with communism and despite the fact that this process has not yet taken place, Marxist thought still holds great relevance and plausibility in contemporary society. ...
