sosc1140 essay 2
Xiaoxi Chen Chen 1
Professor Cameron Johnston
AP/SOSC1140
24 November 2014
The Contradiction in Capitalism Capitalism is the most productive economic system that ever exists. Its emergence and development have brought an amazingly rapid increase in productivity. However, the fact that cyclical capitalist economic crisis arises proves that capitalism does not make sense because it has contradictions in it. In this article, I am going to provide explanations about what Engels means by historical materialism, the fundamental contradiction in capitalism and two other contradictions that arise from this contradiction. And I will conclude by explaining Engels’ s anticipation of the eventual outcome of the historical development of capitalism. My main argument is that the fundamental contradiction in capitalism is the contradiction between social production and individual appropriation which leads to the contradiction between the systematic organization of production inside factories and the disorganization of production in society as a whole and the contradiction between the mode of production and the mode of exchange, and the contradiction between market and production (Frederick 295; Frederick 299; Frederick 302). First of all, using historical materialism approach to understand to capitalist society helps people find that there is a contradiction in capitalism. historical materialism is a historical approach to understand society that looks at the way people produce things and exchange things (Frederick 292). The ways they produce things Chen 2 and exchange things determine all their social relations (Frederick 292). Historical materialism believes that social changes happen because of the changes in how people produce and exchange things (Frederick 292). In other words, historical materialism believes that the mode of
Professor Cameron Johnston
AP/SOSC1140
24 November 2014
The Contradiction in Capitalism Capitalism is the most productive economic system that ever exists. Its emergence and development have brought an amazingly rapid increase in productivity. However, the fact that cyclical capitalist economic crisis arises proves that capitalism does not make sense because it has contradictions in it. In this article, I am going to provide explanations about what Engels means by historical materialism, the fundamental contradiction in capitalism and two other contradictions that arise from this contradiction. And I will conclude by explaining Engels’ s anticipation of the eventual outcome of the historical development of capitalism. My main argument is that the fundamental contradiction in capitalism is the contradiction between social production and individual appropriation which leads to the contradiction between the systematic organization of production inside factories and the disorganization of production in society as a whole and the contradiction between the mode of production and the mode of exchange, and the contradiction between market and production (Frederick 295; Frederick 299; Frederick 302). First of all, using historical materialism approach to understand to capitalist society helps people find that there is a contradiction in capitalism. historical materialism is a historical approach to understand society that looks at the way people produce things and exchange things (Frederick 292). The ways they produce things Chen 2 and exchange things determine all their social relations (Frederick 292). Historical materialism believes that social changes happen because of the changes in how people produce and exchange things (Frederick 292). In other words, historical materialism believes that the mode of
Cited: Engels, Frederick. “Theoretical.” Anti-Duhring. Herr Eugen Duhring ‘s Revolution in Science. International Publishers, 1939. pp. 292-310.