Abstract：Karl Marx’s social development theory consists of three parts: social holism, social criticism and social development theory. Marx holds that a society is an organic system made up of various components, so each subsystem, even each individual, should be approached from the holist perspective as each man is in essence “the sum total of social relations”. His social criticism takes man’s measure, or humanism, as criterion, sets man’s liberalization and overall development as target, chooses alienation as theoretical framework, and crystallizes into the idea of man’s practice as changing the world. Marx not only insisted on his social holism and social criticism, but convinced that the society is constantly evolving and developing. As a result, he devoted his whole life to the exploration of the motivation, law and realization method of social development. A proper understanding and application of Marx’s social development theory is especially significant to the promotion of contemporary social evolution and transformation.
2009, Vol. 11 
