ABSTRACT
The importance of Karl Marx's ideas is by no means confined to the later development of revolutionary groups calling themselves Communist. His approach to history and culture has had a considerable influence on the social sciences. Socialism is much harder to define, because so many different people with so many different ideas have called themselves socialists. Capitalism will collapse not because of the actions of revolutionaries but because it has created an ever-growing class of proletarians whose interests cannot be reconciled to those of their employers. Marx predicted that capitalism would experience a secular trend toward falling profits, as well as an ever-increasing scale of industry and resultant decrease in the number of firms. Since Marx's time, the progressive impoverishment of the inner life and emotional relationships of man as modernization takes place has been a continuing concern of many social analysts, socialist, liberal, and conservative alike.
