Marx's Civil Society Theory And Its Contemporary Value

The germ of civil society theory can be traced back as early as ancient Greek and Roman times. Aristotle and Cicero is a typical representative of this period. Here in Aristotle and Cicero,"civil society"representatives of the city-state or political community, is the civilized society different from the savage society.In modern times, with the development of market economy and the rise of the bourgeoisie, the civil society theory becames the revolutionary weapon which the bourgeoisie opposed feudal dictatorship, proved the individual freedom right. Locke, Rousseau, Adam Smith and Hegel are all made important contributions to the formation of modern civil society theory. In the 20th century, according to the capitalist society's new change,Gramsci, Habermas, Cohen and Arato have made the further development to the civil society theory in the foundation of inheriting the Marx's civil society theory.Marx inheriting Hegel's of civil society theory critically in the process of participating in real political struggle, and after a difficult process of exploration, gradually established own unique civil society theory, and established the basic coordinate for the development of the civil society theory in the 20th century.The"civil society"concept has broad and narrow two meanings in the Marx's civil society theory. The term"civil society"concept as the philosophical categories in historical materialism refers to the broad areas of social interaction and life in the field of material,while narrow sense of"civil society"concept represents the specific modern civil society along with the development of market economy, and bourgeois civil society are the typical manifestation. Building civil society in China in this thesis, our scholars are also grasping the"civil society"concept in a narrow sense.In the late 1980s and early 1990s with the deepening of reform and opening-up and the development of market economy, some profound social contradictions gradually revealed,and how to understand our country's modernized path becomes the scholars' thinking theme. The neo-authoritarianism boards in this case.The neo-authoritarianism stressed that China's political democratization must be based on the premise of market economy,while China's market economy can only accelerate the development under authoritarianism.So in the development process of old system changing into modern commodity economy and democratic politics,it is need to establish strong political authority wiht modern orientation to coordinate and integrate the social order,and to guide the modernization process.The Democrats opposed to the new authoritarian think the problems exposed In the process of China's reform are just the negative consequences caused by the highly centralized political and economic system.Therefore,China must change the political system,to democratize,to promote economic development through political reform.As the ideological argument with these two views,the civil society theory with its emphasis on the reality of social life gradually aroused the attention of scholars in China. Civil Society argued that the construction of civil society in China can greatly promote China's democratic politics. However, we must see Marx in a narrow sense, "civil society" is fundamentally critical of. Despite the emergence of modern civil society has important historical significance, but there are various shortcomings of its own, such as the narrow of the subject, personal interests conflict with public interest,etc. Therefore, we must adhere to the Marx's theory of civil society to reviewde the thesis of " Chinese civil society construction", and correct understanding of the limitations of civil society, vigorously promote the construction of a harmonious society in China.