Marx's on capitalism
Does Capitalism, in theory, exploit workers? Why/why not? Give evidence both from Marx’s text AND from your own independent research.
Capitalism is a system based on exploitation. “Exploitation is the use of someone or something in an unjust or cruel manner.” Mostly it is used to refer economic exploitation that is, using another person’s labor without offering them adequate compensation. According to Karl Marx, a German economist and social theorist, Marxist theory states capitalist class as an exploitative entity and focuses on exploitation done by large sections of society.
According to Marxian economics, exploitation refers to the “subjection of producers (the proletariat) to work for passive owners (bourgeoisie) for less compensation than is equivalent to the actual amount of work done.” The workers or the proletarian is forced to sell his labor power, not a set quantity of labor, and gets back a wage in order to survive and the capitalist gather the surplus value of their labor.
The kinds of exploitation described by other theories are usually called "super-exploitation"—exploitation that goes beyond the normal standards of exploitation prevalent in capitalist society. While other theories emphasize the exploitation of one individual by an organization (or vice versa), the Marxist theory is primarily concerned with the exploitation of an entire segment or class of society by another. In Das Kapital, Karl Marx argued that greater the freedom of market, there will be greater the power of capital and hence will result in greater scale of exploitation. The main problem is related to structural context in which the free markets operate. And the solution proposed is to abolish capitalism, and replacing it with socialism initially and after a certain period of time converting it into communism.
“In the Marxist view, "normal" exploitation is based in three structural characteristics of capitalist society: The ownership of the means of production by a
Capitalism is a system based on exploitation. “Exploitation is the use of someone or something in an unjust or cruel manner.” Mostly it is used to refer economic exploitation that is, using another person’s labor without offering them adequate compensation. According to Karl Marx, a German economist and social theorist, Marxist theory states capitalist class as an exploitative entity and focuses on exploitation done by large sections of society.
According to Marxian economics, exploitation refers to the “subjection of producers (the proletariat) to work for passive owners (bourgeoisie) for less compensation than is equivalent to the actual amount of work done.” The workers or the proletarian is forced to sell his labor power, not a set quantity of labor, and gets back a wage in order to survive and the capitalist gather the surplus value of their labor.
The kinds of exploitation described by other theories are usually called "super-exploitation"—exploitation that goes beyond the normal standards of exploitation prevalent in capitalist society. While other theories emphasize the exploitation of one individual by an organization (or vice versa), the Marxist theory is primarily concerned with the exploitation of an entire segment or class of society by another. In Das Kapital, Karl Marx argued that greater the freedom of market, there will be greater the power of capital and hence will result in greater scale of exploitation. The main problem is related to structural context in which the free markets operate. And the solution proposed is to abolish capitalism, and replacing it with socialism initially and after a certain period of time converting it into communism.
“In the Marxist view, "normal" exploitation is based in three structural characteristics of capitalist society: The ownership of the means of production by a
Cited: 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critique_of_capitalism 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism 3. http://economics.about.com/od/howtheuseconomyworks/a/us_capitalism.htm 4. http://www.diffen.com/difference/Capitalism_vs_Socialism 5. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/93927/capitalism