Final answer:
Karl Marx argued that the interests of workers (proletariat) and owners (bourgeoisie) are in direct opposition within the capitalist system due to class exploitation, leading to alienation and class conflict.
Step-by-step explanation:
Karl Marx argued that workers and owners have mutually opposed interests because they belong to fundamentally different social classes with incompatible objectives within a capitalist system. In Marx's analysis, the bourgeoisie (owners) aim to maximize profits by exploiting the proletariat (workers), paying them less than the value of their labor. This creates an inherent conflict as the bourgeoisie accumulates wealth and political power, reinforcing their dominance, while the proletariat experiences alienation, poor living standards, and a lack of control over their work and its outcomes. Marx believed that this system of exploitation would eventually lead to its own downfall as the proletariat would rise in a revolution to establish a socialist society where the means of production are held commonly, eliminating class divisions and conflict.
The conflict is rooted in the fact that the working class, or proletariat, own only their labor power in a capitalist society. They do not own the products of their labor, which means they can't determine their own destinies or use the value produced by their actions. Meanwhile, the bourgeoisie, or capitalists, employ the proletariat for wages, keeping the surplus value created by workers' labor for themselves and leveraging it to buy additional resources and political influence. This results in deep-seated alienation and class conflict.
Additionally, Marx posited that alienation affects workers beyond the workplace, as they are subjected to the pressures and exploitation of other members of the bourgeoisie, such as landlords and shopkeepers, even after work hours. Ultimately, Marx's theory of class conflict arises from the fundamentally exploitative relationship between the working class and the owning class within a capitalist economy.