Marxist sociology

The foundational basis of Marxist sociology is the investigation of capitalist stratification. An important concept of Marxist sociology is "a form of conflict theory associated with…Marxism's objective of developing a positive (empirical) science of capitalist society as part of the mobilization of a revolutionary working class." The American Sociological Association (ASA) has a section dedicated to the issues of Marxist sociology that is "interested in examining how insights from Marxist methodology and Marxist analysis can help explain the complex dynamics of modern society."

Concepts and issues

Marxist sociology is primarily concerned with, but not limited to, the relations between society and economics. More specifically, key concepts in the sub-field include historical materialism, modes of production, and the capital-labour relation. Marxist sociology is also concerned with the way in which police forces are used to control indigenous populations, enslaved peoples, and the labouring poor in the name of capitalism.

Key questions asked by Marxist sociologists include:

• How does capital control workers?
• How does a mode of production influence the social class?
• What is the relation between workers, capital, the state and culture?
• How do economic factors influence inequalities such as those relating to gender and race?
• What role do police play within Marxist socialism?

Within theoretical field, Marxist sociology is recognized as one of the major sociological paradigms and is associated with conflict and critical theory. Unlike Marxism and Marxist philosophy, Marxist sociology has put relatively little weight on creating class revolution, pursuing instead the development of an objective, politico-economic study of society rather than a critical philosophy of praxis. As such, it may be understood as a field of economic sociology.

The study of "socio-nature" emerged from this line of thought. Socio-nature is "a concept that is used to argue that society and nature are inseparable and should not be analyzed in abstraction from each other."