Question

Argue for or against Marx's description of European society in the mid-1800's as two distinct groups,the bourgeoisie and the proletariat ( 30 POINTS )

Answer 1

Marx description of European society of the mid-1800s is largely correct when applied to northwestern European countries that were in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, essentially Britain, France, the Low Countries, and Germany.

Step-by-step explanation:

By the mid XIX century in these countries, the capitalist class that owned the means of production were a powerful minority that had as much power as the nobility, if not more, while the masses of people were becoming a proletariat: salaried industrial workers who in the past were farmers, but who now were urban dwellers working in the booming manufacturing sector.

The division was not perfect though, there were still many farmers whose inclusion as part of the proletariat is debatable, and the nobility and clergy still had a lot of power, and these two groups of people do not fall in any of the aforementioned categories.