My essay will be addressing essay question number three which states “Discuss the significance of the ideas of Karl Marx to an understanding of capitalism. Discuss Marx’s core ideas of alienation and exploitation. Are these key ideas in our attempt to grasp modern capitalism?”. To understand the concept of ‘capitalism’ it is important to know the definition of the term ‘capital’. According to the encyclopedia, the term “capital” refers to the very first or initial place where the accumulation of money occurred and there is no trace into the history of such events until the requirements of commodities gave birth to the finance or money-based relations. Karl Heinrich Marx, a well-recognized economist defines ‘capital’ as “value appropriated without an equivalent” (Smith, 2017). In common words according to Marx due to the circulation of money, the distinction arises leading to the concept of capitalism. In 1611, the very first evidence regarding the use of the word “capital” in its existence was reported in England. It originated from “capital grant” which refers to a grant letter written to the king to establish a new state that indicated the shift of power sources or the origin and emergence of a new power which later resulted in the rise of England through revolution.
Marxism is the economic, social, and political philosophy proposed by Karl Marx which works to investigate the impact of capitalism on productivity, labor, development, and economics as a whole. Marx argues in favor of the worker revolution to overturn capitalism by bringing forth communism. The theories of Marx hold specific significance as they introduce the notion of economic relationships by describing the struggle to achieve status between social classes significantly between the proletariat (workers), capitalists (the wealthy), and the bourgeoisie (middle class). In general, the theories of Marx, especially Marxism are important as they mainly criticize the concept of ‘capitalism’ (Economakis, 2005).
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The two best-known critiques based on Marx's theories of all times against capitalism are alienation and exploitation. Marx’s theory of alienation relies on his claims about human nature and economics. Marx describes the nature of humans living in society (social alienation) from the perspective of their initial human nature and discusses the consequences of living in a stratified society with different social classes is called the theory of alienation (Yuill, 2005). Marx used the concept of the capitalist mode of production which explains the system of organized production money-making privately through various forms including banking, renting, etc. and the distribution of money within capitalist societies promotes the development of capitalism. The mode of production is further elaborated by Marx as the combination of two things first the productive forces that include individual labor-power along with the means of production which includes tools, buildings, machinery to produce and extract, infrastructure, materials, technical information knowledge, exploitable land, and animals. The second part of the productive forces is the social and technical relation of production which involves the power, property, and control relation of driving and owning the assets of society that can be utilized to produce a living for the individuals, such governing forces are often defined by the law. The social relations Marx indicates are the ones that exist in the form of association between the people and the object which they are using to work with. Similarly, he also considers the relation between the social classes within society. Therefore, Marx (Sited by Yuil) implies that involvement in social relations and productive ability are vital elements of social reproduction and he then criticized that the concept of capitalism negatively affects the quality of these two essentials leading to conflict with increasing and improving the capacities of human productivity by restricting the developments.
The theory of “exploitation” by Mark suggests the idea of taking unfair advantage of another person’s vulnerability in an immoral way. However, not all forms of seeking advantage from others are morally questionable. Karl Marx has set forth the most influential theory of exploitation. According to his theory, capitalist societies are structured in such a way that they exploit laborers workers by taking unnecessary advantage of their force, and in return, they receive way less wage compared to the commodities produced by their labor force (Wolf, 1999). Marx defined the idea of ‘surplus value’ which is the sustainability difference between the value of consumption and the value of good production by a worker (Marx, 1867). Capitalist exploitation, therefore, compels laborers to sell their labor power to capitalists for less than even close to half of the price of the valued goods with no claim of ownership to anything produced.
Karl Marx's views on capitalism are outlined by his proposed theory of Capitalism in which he described that the mode of production is based on the division and managing output within the capitalistic societies. Marx (cited by Smith, 2017) further elaborates on the concept of capitalism in his work entitled “Conversion of Surplus Value to the Capital” implying that to be entitled as a capitalist it is vital to acquire some money and make an investment in another enterprise yet not equal to capitalism. The only way to become a capitalists is through proper seeking. The capital will be recognized as capital only after the first cycle of investment by the end comparing the original sum of investment before and after the period referred to as the reproduction period. After a certain (reproduction period) if the returned value is in surplus compared to the original investment the investor does not owe any value to the initial investment and can survive in the production or returned value only in this case the title of capital can be upgraded to capitalism. Keeping in mind that Marx (Smith, 2017) refers to the surplus value as profit upon which an organization can survive and remain entitled to capitalism for quite a while. However, most modern economists do not agree with the term “capital” being defined by Marx that I’ve outlined. This conflict of agreement is what distinguishes the followers of Marx as Marxists. As a result, capitalism is considered the 'production of exchanges'. The markets themselves are continued by the needs and requirements of consumers and society as a whole in the context of a capitalist state. These needs and requirements are the ones that will motivate, and be the 'product to be used'. The modern (capitalist) economies, especially those associated with the right, hold that the 'invisible hand', with greater market freedom, can match public production with these needs and aspirations.
What is clear about the 'capitalist production system' is that most of the inputs and outputs of the product are marketed (i.e. goods) and all products in this way. For example, in the aftermath of violence most or all aspects of production, including labor, belong directly to the ruling class and products can also be consumed outside the market of any kind, a product that can be used within the social sector and limited trade (Marx, 1857). This has the important effect that the entire production process is restructured and restructured to suit the economic order as it is bound by capitalism (Marx, 1867) That is, the whole process is structured and redesigned to suit the 'business concept'. One way to say this is that fundraising means the economic order in capitalist production. In the modern era of capitalism, this does not work for different purposes and therefore capitalism acts as a sustaining force (e.g. against violence). In the last stages, capitalism as a means of production attains complete control of the planet and has nothing to gain but itself, finally (hence, capitalism, viewed as a Hegelian system, not by the development of individual history) contradicts the opposition expressed by Marxism.
In this context, Marx refers to the transition from the 'official subsidy' of production under the capital to the 'real subsumption' of production under the capital. In what he called the 'capitalist production system', both its allied technology and the trade union movement were redesigned and reorganized commercially (profit and market) - the 'old production methods.
As mentioned, he did not explicitly summarize his definition of capitalism, in addition to some suggestions on manuscripts that he did not publish himself. This has led to controversy among Marxists over how the “capitalist” nature of society can be viewed in certain countries. Proponents of state capitalist ideologies such as International Socialists reject the definition of capitalism as given above. In their view, they are said to be a radical change (in that true freedom from capitalism must be the liberation of the working class— 'socialism from below'), which best describes the process of capitalism as Production methods that control specific producers as a national power, general asset production Existence of a weak or powerful working class, and the existence of a high or ruling class, which exploits working people in the Marxist technical sense.
This idea is based on passages from Marx, in which Marx stressed that money cannot exist without power relations between the social spheres that control the issuance of additional jobs.
Alienation
There is much to Marxism; however, there is the workers' view of value and Marxism's criticism of profit. Marx combined economics and philosophy to form a comprehensive vision of human history and social change. His concept of segregation, for example, first expressed in his economic and philosophical writings of 1844, played a major role in his critique of capitalism (Prychitko, 2002).
Marx believed that humans were, in effect, free to pursue a wayward course. But be aware that today's world, with its technological advances, is clearly beyond our reach. Marx criticized the free market, for example, as “chaotic,” or uncontrolled. He argued that the way the market economy is connected - through the automatic purchase and sale of private goods provided by the rules of supply and demand - restricts our ability to control our individual and collective goals (Prychitko,2002).
Marx criticized capitalism as a system dividing the masses. His thinking was as follows: although workers produce market goods, market forces, not workers, control things. People need to work for the capitalists who are fully in control of production methods and maintain power in the workplace. He said work was degrading, tedious, and mechanical rather than free and professional (Prychitko, 2002). Eventually, humans themselves become objects - ways like robots that have lost touch with human personality, making decisions based on profit and cold losses, without regard for human importance and need. Marx concludes that capitalism limits our ability to build our human society.
Marx's view of segregation is based on an important but fragile concept. It assumes that people can successfully eliminate a high-quality, market-oriented society and take for granted, a fully organized society. Marx said that we are not divided simply because most of us work hard, perhaps undermining our reputation, and our jobs, or because in competitive markets we often put profits above people's needs (Prychitko, 2002). The controversy is not to be compared to happiness. He concluded because we have not yet created a fully organized and fully managed society, a society without competition, profit and loss, money, private property, and so on - a society, predicted by Marx, must emerge as the world progresses. Here is the big problem with Marx's view of segregation: even with the latest advances in computer technology, it cannot create a fully structured system that eliminates hunger and insecurity. But for the Marxists to talk about segregation under capitalism, they must think that a successful planned world is possible. That is to say, Marx believed that under capitalism we were “divided” or “divided” with our ability to plan and control our future collectively. But if a complete socialist plan fails to work by making it - if, indeed, it is impossible, as we have learned in Hayek - then we will not be 'separated' from the use of the term by Marx. We cannot be separated from our “power” to plan for the economy if full planning does not take place.
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