Sociological analysis of the great depression - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... To begin with, it would be important to provide an account of causes of the historical period in question from the point of view of the conflict theory. Thus, the primary premise that should be engaged is the notion, according to which the working class is exploited by the capitalists which resulted in unequal wealth distribution (Brussee, 2009, 56). Indeed, there is no doing that prior to the Great Depression the factory workers of farmers could hardly make a living, while the capitalists in the cities were enjoying the money that the former produced.
Another important point which should be mentioned with regard to the causes of the Great Depression as seen through the prism of the conflict theory is the disastrous consequences of overproduction. Thus, the capitalist urged the workers to work more and more while the necessity to produce producing was condition not by the demand, but for the need to exploit the people. As a result, there was excessive amount of good which nobody bought (Robbins, 2011, 14). Such disproportion in the economic life resulted failing prices and the overall collapse.
Finally, the Marxist approach criticizes the free market, arguing that in this case there will be a lot of room for actions which are likely to contribute to destabilization of it. Indeed, prior to the Great Depression the stock market in particular witness a tremendous number of instances of speculation which resulted in the crash (Rothbard, 2010, 1917). What is more important is that speculation appears to be the slippery slope which brought the entire country into disaster from which the United States had to recover for roughly a decade. In other words, lack of strict policy that was implemented by the government greatly contributed to the collapse of the economy.
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