adam smith vs karl marx

Adam Smith versus Karl Marx, this could quickly turn into a debate between the ideas of capitalism and the ideas of socialism. Without these two great economists the industrial revolution would not have been what it is nor would it have the impact that it had on the society. It was the ideologies of Adam Smith that influenced and brought change into the one dimensional feudal society, to a dynamic capitalist society. In the book “The Wealth Of Nations” Adam Smith emphasizes on the importance of division of labour and capital accumulation, in order to increase efficiency and productivity within a society. Through these two concepts, a society can fully utilize its resources and excel as a nation. “THE GREATEST IMPROVEMENTS in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment, with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labour”(Smith,10).Smith rapidly makes this concrete by giving the example of a pin factory where of course pins are being produced. He stresses just how much this work is divided up into different branches and operations and that no one person can come close of doing all that work themselves. It’s not just a matter of the one person not having enough time to do all those task but there are more fundamental factors operating. As professor Goshulak mentioned in lecture five, Adam Smith gives three main reasons why the division of Labour leads to greater productivity. The first is simply the increase in dexterity or learning in performing a particular operation (Goshulak). The second is the saving of time in passing one task to another, a worker who is specializing can concentrate on one task without having to deal with those switching cost. Finally the most dynamic effect perhaps even the most important is that the focused worker is more likely to invent and innovate and come up with new and better ways of performing the task. At the