How did Marx analyze capitalist society?
I analyzed capitalist society by examining the process of production itself. Central to this is the concept of surplus value, which is the unpaid labor of the worker that the capitalist appropriates as profit. This exploitation is inherent in the wage-labor relationship. I focused on the dialectical tension between the bourgeoisie (the owners of the means of production) and the proletariat (the wage laborers). This inherent antagonism, I argued, would ultimately lead to the system's downfall.