The Extensity of Capitalism - Essay Example

Social Alienation Karl Marx, who is attributed with the development of Marxism, researched extensively on the issue of workers and employers. Marxism borrowed heavily from the relationship that existed between the laborers and owners, also referred to as capitalists. Over the years, since the advent of Marxism, the ideas Marx had put across in reference to laborers and capitalists have continued on to magnify. In today’s world, the advancement in business models, scientific methods and technology has further advanced capitalism. The laborers, through seeking employment in industries and organizations, which are oriented in terms of business, science and technology, are pushed to cooperate with the capitalists. The extensity of capitalism is ensured through the dependence laborers have on the capitalist system. This paper provides a discussion of social alienation in the light of Marx own understanding of modern capitalism. According to Marx, modern capitalism is being propelled by the ever increasing forces of science, technology and industry. He further asserts that, through the advancement in the fields of science and technology, better machines are developed and in the process human labor is lead to starvation, since its need is always decreasing. Through that act, wealth and resources are trapped by the capitalists, while the laborers or workers left with nothing. Social alienation according to Marxism depicts human’s role in the process of propelling the principles of modern capitalism. Social alienation also proves that certain features of the society are not just independent or natural, but rather are developments of past capitalist principles. Marx uses social alienation to describe how past practices have contributed to modern capitalism and how the current practices will further develop capitalism in the coming future (Marx 25). Marx’s materialistic theory is applied to help in understanding the extent to which the society has shaped human beings. Furthermore, the theory can be applied to show how human beings themselves are capable of changing their society. The material world waters the roots of social alienation. Marx exemplifies social alienation from the perspective of human nature. Human nature is not independent of the society’s influence. The idea of humans satisfying their needs through seeking labor is only embedded in the mind and should not be finality in ensuring human existence. The extent to which humans can create labor should not be limited to the mind or consciousness. Nature reshapes human nature from the context of a laborer striving to innovate and recreate with the objective of fitting into nature. The above events bring laborers on the verge of developing relationships, which will see to it that they acquire what they need is exchange with labor. Modern capitalism feeds on an individual’s desire to satisfy their need through providing labor (Marx et al 120). The cooperation established between the laborers and capitalist can be viewed as a mutual benefit, but that is not the case. Marx asserts that laborers are exploited through the false mutual benefit, since they become absorbed by the capitalist system and at the same time contribute in strengthening capitalism. Modern capitalism takes advantage of the needy, poor, and powerless laborer, who desperately seeks to live in a survival mode. The little independence enjoyed by laborers is immediately swallowed by the capitalist system the moment laborers subject themselves on the labor process. Marx helps understand that modern capitalism as a system thrives on laborers (Gerth 56). Even in the feudal society, human beings had not developed means of liberating themselves from natural calamities, such as famine and diseases. All the social status and classes were determined by the development of productive powers of labor and limited relations between nature and man (Marx et al 124). Land was the most outstanding and valuable natural resource and it significantly conditioned the feudal-manorial systems, where people perceived themselves not as individuals but in accordance to the portion of land they owned. According to Max, this situation is referred to as Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts (Gerth 42). In feudal landownership, the existence of land is believed to be the work of a supernatural power, since no man is capable of making his own land. Land can only be acquired through inheritance, where the first-born son is given the legal ownership of the land. The rule of private property ownership, which has extended its roots into the modern societies, begins with the property in the land which is its basis (Gerth 43). Landownership was based on bloodlines and inheritance. An individual’s family background determined his or her destiny. Marx in his early works provided an analysis of how the aristocracy’s pride in people’s blood and their descant has its suitable science in hereditary (Marx 18). The secret of this autocracy is zoology. This means that a person’s zoology determines his or her life, social class and relationships with others. For instance, in the feudal society, in adequate supply of productive forces called for constant labor from the peasants, while the church officials and feudal lords acquired everything they needed from the peasants by force (Marx 20). Social alienation originated from in adequate supply of productive labor to the land by the peasants, and domination of the ruling class (Marx et al 121). The peasants had their own small units of land where they worked and obtained most things that they needed. When a person was committed to the land, then the land was also tied to the person. Most of the middle class and peasants retained 50 to 70 percent of their produce. All the differences in social classes in a feudal society are a result of subordination and dominance. However, these were purely based on social relationships between individuals (Marx et al 122). Marx in Capital described how “the social relations between individuals in the performance of their labor appear at all events as their own mutual personal relations, and are not disguised under the shape of social relations between the products of labor” (Marx 27). Feudalism landownership system was, however, different from the perspective of capitalism dynamics. Capitalism opted for a society where everything, including land, could be sold or bought for money (Gerth 51). In this respect, selling is considered as a practice of alienation. The creation of capitalist society was based on the brutal enclosures of the common land. This, therefore, meant that the majority of society members, consisting of peasants and middle class, were denied the opportunity to access means of subsistence and production, which created a group of landless laborers who had to submit to new wage labor and exploitation, in order to survive. Capitalism entailed “a fundamental change in the relations between men, instruments of production and materials of production” (Gerth 53). The fundamental changes were expected to transform every aspect of life. For instance, the concept of time that was taken for granted in the 17th century became an important factor for measuring labor, or quantifying idleness. With time, it was easy to track industrial disciplines such as punctuality (Marx 25). In the 18th century, there was a belief that everything produced by the landless laborers belonged to the capitalists who were factory owners. This is the reason why most laborers in the 18th century were not paid exclusively in money, and this was evident in American slave labor, the metropolitan labor in London trades, Russian serf labor, and Irish agricultural labor (Marx et al 131). At the beginning of the 19th century, forced and unpaid labor was replaced by wage labor, and this made labor a commodity that was sold in the market. Workers and capitalists were officially independent of each other (Marx et al 132). In conclusion, capitalism created a detailed division of labor in each branch of production. This required laborers to specialize in particular activities. With this kind of system, laborers became increasingly dependent on the capitalists who owned the industries. These laborers became depressed both physically and intellectually to the level of the machines, and due to lack of options, their lives become more influenced by the investment of capital, market price and the ideas of the wealthy. This made it impossible for the laborers to live independently of capitalism: for those who wished to work, they had to be reduced to working machines. Most people believe that work is better than survival. This, therefore, made labor a forced labor. With forced labor, the workers were unable to choose on what to do, what they have produced, and how they produced it. Capitalists made themselves wealthy through legitimization of forced labor or mental labor, just like they do through material labor. Works Cited Gerth H. From Max Weber: essays in sociology. New York: Routledge, 2003. Print Marx K. "Co-operation." Capital Volume One (1867): 1-50. Print Marx K, Engels F, Tucker R. The Marx-Engels reader. New York: Norton, 1972. Print Read More