Capitalism from a Marxist Perspective - Coursework Example

Capitalism from a Marxist perspective Almost all the economies of the contemporary world have been being administered by either of the two economic systems i.e. capitalism or socialism for the last several decades. The first of the economic systems looks for allocating all the resources to private ownership, where the entrepreneurship enjoys the lion’s share in production and profit generated out of industrial works, manufacturing and trade and commerce activities; consequently, the workers find their least share on the basis of the growth level and increase in the profit volume, and have to stick to the limited wages they have been obtaining in past. Hence, in capitalistic economic system, neither the fate of the laborers change, nor they contain any hope of becoming financially sound or prosperous in life. On the other hand, the second economic system i.e. socialism lays stress upon the nationalization of industrial units and commercial estates, where the individuals are equal shareholders in the business activities and profit earnings. It is due to the fact that socialism is determined to distribute the wealth and resources to the workers belonging to different categories and classes on the foundation of equality and moral values, so that no stratum of society could be deprived of the fruit of the hard efforts it has made for the growth and progress of an industrial unit, a factory, a mill or an economy. It is therefore, the Marxist theorists declare capitalism as the condemnable system of exploitation and maltreatment of the weaker groups and communities of society at the hands of the rich and powerful individuals. Hence, capitalism, according to Marxists, is a form of slavery, where an overwhelming majority of the population serves as the slaves of the capitalist exploiters. Karl Marx, the illustrious leader of German Communism, justly observed in his magnificent work Das Kapital that if the contract freely entered into by the vendors of money -in the form of wages - and the vendors of their own labor -that is, between the employer and the workers - were concluded not for a definite and limited term only, but for ones whole life, it would constitute real slavery. (Maximoff, 1953) Before embarking upon the topic under study, it would be advisable to define Marxism in brief, which is as under: The terms Marxism and Marxist Perspective have been coined after the theoretical framework of social conflict articulated and emphasized by the great German philosopher, thinker, intellectual, economist, writer and reformist of 19th century Karl Marx (1818-1883). This illustrious philosopher does not belong to one single region or time period only; on the contrary, his exceptional intellect, unabated passion for the obliteration of class discrimination, and his unflinching devotion for the cause of working and labor classes make him the thinker of all ages as well as belonging to all societies of the globe at large. Karl Marx was a visionary philosopher, and had foresighted the negative impact of the growing industrial developments upon the poor stratum of society. He prescreened that the industrial developments being made at the hands of the industrialists and capitalists would serve as the source of constant exploitation of the laborers and workers, and thus would add to the financial miseries and social downfall of the individuals belonging to the poor stratum of society. Marx had knowledge that though the industrial revolution had brought tremendous positive changes in socioeconomic structure of society, it would not improve the lot of the workers at all; instead, the industrialization would pave the way towards their further exploitation. He looks for the just distribution of opportunities and wealth to different strata for escaping tension and turmoil in society. He is of the opinion that since laborers work at industrial units for ten to eleven hours daily, they have highest level of contribution in the production process; consequently, they must be the major shareholders in the profit earning too by getting their dividend in the revenue against the services they render for the capitalists by working from dawn to dusk and allocating their energies for the cause of the production. Marx lauded the basic premise that the labor was the source of all wealth, and the profit of the capitalist was based on the exploitation of the laborers. The capitalists performed the rather simple trick of paying the workers less than they deserved, because they received less pay than the value of what they actually produced in a work period. (Ritzer & Goodman, 2003) Marxist theorists view capitalism as the vital malevolence behind all social injustices and inequalities existing in a capitalist society. Social inequalities, they submit, can be observed in all fields of life within the state that has adopted capitalism as its economic system. Such injustices give birth to the intellectual and social movements like Marxist and Feminist perspectives. Karl Marx has affiliated social stratification with the means of production, which divide the society into groups, communities and classes on the bases of socioeconomic status as well as financial position of the individuals. The major modern classes are, according to him, the owners merely of labor-power, owners of capital, and landowners, whose respective sources of income are wages, profit and ground-rent. Different individuals make up the production of an organization, but the major profit goes to the upper class or bourgeoisie only, which struggles far less than the labor classes. The deprivation of rights arise the sentiments of revenge in labor class and conflict arises in society. Hence, Marxist perspective shows that Karl Marx lists a number of classes and (antagonistic) social relationship such as freeman and slave, lord and serf, oppressor and oppressed in describing different classes in a society that characterize different historical stages or modes of production. Marxists declare social conflict as the outcome of capitalism. Under a capitalistic society, all wealth and resources transfer in few hands i.e. in the hands of the bourgeoisie, which leave no stone unturned to deprive the proletariats of their rights, and confine them to awfully low wages against their labor. Exploitation of the people and such an uneven situation where social justice does not prevail, invites conflict in society, where the proletariats rise against the exploitation and unite under one banner to break the shackles of maltreatment and oppression. Consequently, the resources come into the hands of the workers, and they obtain the right of equal distribution of resources. The Marxist conflict approach emphasizes upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical method of analysis, a critical stance towards existing social arrangements, and a political program or revolution or, at least, reform. (Skocpol, 1980) History is replete with the examples of such exploitations and subsequent conflicts in their wake prevailing in various societies of the world. There was a time when the kings and queens in the European countries looked down upon the masses and courtiers and they always remained at the beck and call of the rulers, knights and dukes. The British were the cruelest nation, and spread their awkward clutches even outside their country. It is therefore, the British imperialism is considered as the pioneer in respect of inflicting their atrocities in their Asian and African colonies. The entire cruelties were the outcome of capitalism, as the Great Britain had always been under the sway of capitalistic form of economy. In addition, the French Revolution of 1789 was also the outcome of the social injustices and inequalities, where one percent of the total population, consisted of the royalty, nobility and clergy, exploited the 99% population by snatching all their resources from them. It was a famous maxim of 18th century that 99% of the French population dies due to hunger and starvation, while the remaining 1% expires because of over digestion. Consequently, the philosophers, writers and intellectuals rose to the occasion and led the French nation towards the historical revolution by the fall of Bastille on 14th July, 1789. In addition, in Russia, the slaves were not allowed to even get married without the permission of their masters. Not only this, but also they were deprived of basic necessities of life like proper food and wine to keep themselves warm. At last, the proletariat united under the dynamic socialist leadership of Stalin and Lenin, and abolished the royalty by replacing it to democratic system in 1917. Karl Marx infused new ray of hope and courage in the minds of writers, theorists and workers alike by realizing them regarding their rights and motivated them to unite to revolt against the prevailing injustices the capitalistic economic system has brought in society in its wake. His illustrious book under the title Das Kapital got the status of a sacred script, and the socialists declare it as the Bible of Socialism, which was the outcome of the heroic struggle and philosophic thoughtfulness of Marx and Engels. Marxist perspective turned into an intellectual movement, which influenced almost all theorists for the future years to come. The future theorists, on the basis of their researches and studies, affirmed the existence of conflict in each and every society as an inevitable social phenomenon, where capitalism always causes exploitation of workers, which gives a go to rivalry and conflict between haves and haves-not within a social establishment. Thus class struggle is always the outcome of atrocities and cruelties inflicted by the rich stratum upon the poor and down-trodden individuals. Lockwood insists on the presence of some mechanism in all societies resulting in inexorable conflict among its individuals.” (Porter, 1997) The mechanism of such kind serves as natural check and is responsible for the survival and solidarity of societies and cultures. Modern world also witnesses the existence of capitalistic societies, which are always busy in inflicting biased ness and prejudice on the foundations of caste, class, clan, community, race, ethnicity, region, religion, gender and socioeconomic status. In the contemporary US society, the White Anglo Saxon population (WASP) maintained feelings of hatred and extreme disliking against the black, brown, yellow and Latin races. Though, the country has elected an African American as its president, yet the overwhelming majority of WASP maintains serious reservations against him. This racial prejudice can be observed in health, education, housing and transportation sectors of the US society of today, which can be found by going through the literature produced by Betty Freidan, Dorothy Alison, Jack Grieger, Janice Mirikitani and many other writers and poets of the USA. Canadian feminist novelist Margaret Atwood has also elaborated class struggle in her novel Handmaid’s Tale. In addition, the capitalist nations have captured the political and social systems of the third world countries under their nasty clutches, which are being exploited at the name of loans, aids and so called peace plans devised and designed by the capitalistic nations of the world. It is therefore, the contemporary world undergoes severe situation of uncertainty, turmoil and chaos, where the conflict is at its peak these days. Modern sociologist Lewis Coser views conflict as violent confrontations. Conflict can be antagonistic or potentially antagonistic, he opines. These antagonisms have promoted integration and adaptations among the parties to the conflict. Fink, like other sociologists, also supports Coser’s broad definition of conflict. Theorists opine that Dahrendorf’s statement of the concept of conflict is limited and narrow. In his work, “Some Conceptual Difficulties”, Fink (1968) argues conflict as a social situation or process in which two or more entities are linked by at least one form of antagonistic psychological relation. (Quoted in Coser, 1989) Marxist perspective showed new rays of hope to the laborers, students, women and peasants alike. His notion of the division of labour on gender basis gave birth to feminism, which served as a powerful echo of Marxism against the inequalities drawn by men upon women in respect of social status, division of power as well as work and gender discrimination. Hence, Marxism is a universal movement in its structure, function, theme, ideology and message, which looks standing as a solid rock against the injustices, inequalities and maltreatment of the deprived individuals by the capitalists nations, individuals and entrepreneurship, which have turned the world into a virtual hell, as a very large majority of the world does not have the resources to drink clean water even at such a situation when the rich and prosperous nations have stepped into the surface of moon. REFERENCES: Dahrendorf, Ralf. Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society University Press 1957 95-177 Maximoff, G. P. The Political Philosophy of Bakunin The Free Press NY 1953 181-196 Porter, Jene M Classics in Political Philosophy Second Edition Prentice Hall Canada Inc. 1997 356-- 429 Ritzer, George & Goodman, Douglas Classical Sociological Theory Fourth Edition McGraw Hill Publishing Company 2003 20-51 Skocpol, Theda 1980 States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China Cambridge University Press New York 1980 13-79 http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/bakunin/capstate.html Read More