Examine citically the ways in which Marxist Theory seek to establish a Essay

Examine citically the ways in which Marxist Theory seek to establish a relationship between Law and the Economy - Essay Example From the Instrumentalist point of view, capitalism and its effects on the working class is dependent upon the ruling class’ distribution of economic power. The economic base is understood to be accountable for determining all other social institutions such as criminal law, religion and the media. The media conveys mass communications that help maintain capitalism and historical documents assume that the wisdom of any time period is generally held by the ruling class. Business owners, the rich and the government, including the judicial system, control cultural structures to maintain the status quo which enables them to retain an element of supremacy. Thus, Capitalists’ power depends on the making and enforcement of the prevailing law. Instrumentalists assert, however, that the capitalist state must be relatively autonomous in order to best serve a capitalist society. â€Å"Its relative independence makes it possible for the state to play its class role in an approximate ly flexible manner.   If it really was a simple instrument of the ruling class, it would be fatally inhibited in the performance of its role.   Its agents absolutely need a measure of freedom in deciding how best to serve the existing social order.†2 Instrumentalists contend that the state works as an intentional and planned instrument for the supremacy over society: â€Å"Instrumental exercise of power by people in strategic positions who either manipulate state politics directly (direct instrumentality) or through the exercise of pressure on the state (indirect instrumentality).†3 While Marxist theorists agree that capitalism provides for the well-being of the social elite by the exploitation of the working class, some differ in their rationalizations of how a capitalist nation accomplishes this.   Instrumental Marxism views law as a tool of the ruling class