Classical sociological thinkers developed their ideas in response to the profound social and economic transformations brought about by industrialization, urbanization, and the rise of capitalism in Europe. For them, the economy was not an isolated sphere governed solely by technical laws of supply and demand; rather, it was deeply embedded in social relations, moral norms, political institutions, and cultural values. Their core ideas laid the foundation for economic sociology by examining how economic structures shape society and how social forces, in turn, shape economic life. Karl Marx offered one of the most influential analyses of the relationship between society and economy. For Marx, the economy constituted the foundation or “base” of society, comprising the forces and relations of production. The forces of production included labor, technology, and resources, while the relations of production referred to the social relationships people enter into in the process of producing goods, especially class relations. According to Marx, the economic base determines the “superstructure,” which includes law, politics, religion, and ideology. This does not mean a simple mechanical causation, but rather that economic organization fundamentally shapes social institutions and cultural forms. Central to Marx’s theory is the concept of class struggle. In capitalist society, the means of production are privately owned by the bourgeoisie, while the proletariat owns only its labor power. The extraction of surplus value from workers generates profit and leads to exploitation. Marx argued that this exploitative economic structure produces social inequality, alienation, and conflict. Alienation occurs because workers are separated from the products of their labor, the labor process, their fellow workers, and their own human potential. Thus, for Marx, economic arrangements are not neutral; they structure social relationships,