Comparison Of The Industrial Revolution And Karl Marx

The Industrial Revolution took place in the 17th to 18th centuries, causing European and American societies to modernize. Prior to this revolution, manufacturing was inefficient, expensive and untimely, often being done in people’s homes using hand tools and basic machinery. However, industrialization presents many benefits like an increased quantity and variety of manufactured goods, an efficient system of production and improved standards of living for some. For others, this revolution results in harsh employment and living conditions for both poor and working classes of society. This prompted the reactions of philosophical thinkers like Adam Smith, who saw the Industrial Revolution in its beginning and middle stages, and Karl Marx, who
Similarly, Marx and Smith both recognize that at the very core of the Industrial Revolution, was this idea of increased efficiency and productivity in the workplace and manufacturing. However, their perspective regarding the achievement of these ideas throughout the revolution differs. In his illustration of how a pin factory operates, it becomes clear that Smith believes the division of labour increased efficiency. He theorized that as workers specialize in a certain task, the more products they can produce and the more advanced they will become. On the other hand, Karl Marx concludes that the invention of machines is revolutionary in its efficiency, because it expands what had existed before. Earlier in the revolution, machinery used for mass production was expensive and only gave rise to capitalist owned factories. This further promoted the upper class and wealthier members of society, leaving the lower class members of society to remain poor. However, as an increased popularity in machines grew, machine purchase costs lowered, making production more efficient and inexpensive. Thus, where Smith believed efficiency arose from factory employees working on machine production lines, Marx thought efficiency resulted from the expansion of technology and their advances in machinery. The core value of
Smith worries that machines will not keep capitalism in tact, unlike Karl Marx, who wants to abolish capitalism. Marx believes that a capitalist approach to industrialization was effectively a form of exploitation, with factory owners taking advantage of the working class for their own gains. Effectively, society’s increase in consumerism leads to a higher demand of goods, ultimately causing an increase in slave labour. Marx theorized that this ever-increasing demand of products would enable holders of capital to attain greater wealth, due to a more productive economic system, at the expense of the poor. In contrast to Smith, who thought that a division of labour would provide equality and efficiency in the workplace, Marx believed the capitalist system was a barrier to this idea. Marx wrote that the obligation of capital holders to meet product demand would cause them to disregard proper working conditions. He thought the terrible working conditions of the poor, would bring division and inequality into the workplace, causing the poor to eventually overthrow the capitalist society. Whereas, Smith thought that the division of labour under capitalist influence would bring order and equality to the workplace, having a basic social structure. In addition, Marx predicted that wealth would be held in factories and manufacturers, giving the poor who