Domination on a Broader Basis - Marx

Reading through Marx and Althusser, I cannot help but envision an atmosphere completely founded on the ideas of capitalism and production. Reporting on the newly realized practices and apparatuses, I find myself suddenly aware of the working class divide that controls our world. However, whether proletariat or bourgeoisie, both equally contribute to the “material force of society” and the constant push of progress (Marx 39). Marx explains that for “every new class, therefore, achieves domination only on a broader basis than that of the class ruling previously” and this can be realized in governmental structures, social movements, and technology” (Marx 40). With the concept of “bigger, better, faster” constantly propelling the world to new knowledge, it seems that what came before is no longer acceptable or realized. Examining this through a commodity-based angle, I also think of the technology of war. The powerhouse countries are those that have access to the technology and funding to create more of an impact. The smaller countries are acknowledged at times, but everyone can recall the Axis Powers and so forth from the previous wars due to their “material force.” However, what riffles and cannons were able to do centuries ago are done with high-tech atomic bombs, fighter planes, and machine guns today. The environment has changed, the atmosphere has shifted, but in turn it comes down to the classes looking to complete that concept of domination on a larger basis than the classes that came before. Every day is war with technology and class structure, and it is incredible that Marx could realize the threat of this at the end of the nineteenth century. While his backing may be related to that current time and environment, his theory is just as relevant today as we push forward in post-modernity and a time of instability in speed.