Final answer:
The Proletariat refers to the working class in a capitalist society that sells their labor to the bourgeoisie for wages. They are central to Marx's theory of social classes and the struggle that would lead to societal change through collective awareness and revolution.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term Proletariat refers to the industrial working class in a capitalist society, which emerged prominently during the Industrial Revolution. As defined by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the Manifesto of the Communist Party, the proletariat consists of laborers who live only so long as they find work, selling their labor to increase capital for the bourgeoisie, the owners of production means, i.e., factories, land, and businesses. This social class is distinguished from the bourgeoisie in that they do not own the means by which they produce goods and services and thus rely solely on selling their labor power for a wage to survive.
Marx posited that the proletariat experiences alienation and oppression under capitalist structures, as they do not own the products of their labor and receive only a fraction of the value their work generates in the form of wages. This, in turn, leads to a societal divide between the wealthy bourgeoisie who accumulate profits, and the proletariat who struggle economically. Marx theorized that the proletariat would eventually become aware of their collective interests, leading to the formation of trade unions and political parties, and ultimately, a revolutionary overthrow of the bourgeoisie to establish a communist society without social or economic classes.