Class Division, Social Movements, Democratization and State Welfare

Abstract

In the previous chapters, we have revealed the significant role of the state in promoting capitalist development via both its strictly physical and its ideological dominance. One question remains in our minds; if state control is so complete, how could any opposition emerge to challenge the existing authority, or even lead the authoritarian regime’s transformation to a more democratic one in which the state shares its power with the people? Echoing Marx’s view that class and class conflict are the major dynamics leading to social change, we argue that the degree of state control is related to variations in the social structure. As the process of capitalist development shapes class formation in a given society, a seed of instability gets buried into the social structure that will affect, to some extent, state power.