For the existing social order is not simple and static it contains tensions and conflicts. This is the vital insight of the dialectical approach. According to the dialectical view, tension and conflict give rise to change and development. The established order is not stable or ultimate. It is destined eventually to perish and be superseded.
History takes the shape of a development through distinct stages.
In the normal course of development, according to Marx, feudal society is succeeded by capitalism which, in turn, will give way to socialism. Each of these stages involves characteristic conflicts and, through their working out, undergoes a process of development. As a result, the conditions for the emergence of the next stage gradually take shape within it. Thus the process of historical change is not an arbitrary succession of merely different and incommensurable forms. It is in this context that Marx criticizes capitalism and envisages socialism.