FREE ESSAY ON THE STUDY OF CAPITALISM

THE STUDY OF CAPITALISM

The Industrial Revolution, Karl Marx & Max Weber.
The powers that were in place for over a millenium were violently shifting. The 19th
century was a time filled with revolution & revolutionaries. Industrialization and
capitalism were plowing the feudal system into oblivion. The Industrial Revolution
created new social classes and, new forms of labor. Karl Marx and Max Weber tried to
explain and understand this change.
The structure of western society changed forever because of the Industrial Revolution.
New technological advances in communications, transportation & mass production were
changing the way people lived & worked. These changes were so powerful that the ruling
aristocracies of the time feared industry, because it would effect their dominance &
social power.
The Industrial Revolution was a time of invention. The creation of the steam engine or
the atmospheric engine as it was originally named, changed transportation and mass
production forever. The introduction of steam power replaced human and animal power in
the production of goods & services. Steam power was utilized in transportation through
locomotives and steamships, which later evolved into warships. Advances in communications
& transportation made the world a smaller place. Information began to be transferred
quickly. The media began to be more up to date because people were now linked globally
through the telegraph.
The impacts the Industrial Revolution had on social thought can be seen through the
creation of new social classes. The modern working class, or proletariat began to emerge.
Workers no longer owned their tools, they had little property, and generally had to
exchange their labor for a money wage. Mechanical power brought a great increase in
worker efficiency, which made goods abundant and cheap. Through this the standard of
living improved in much of the world.
In the new technological times there was a need for the specialization of the workers in
the industry. According to the Bendix readings: Specialization made the lower workers or
proletarians experts in their fields, but left them with a narrow knowledge which
prevented them from rising in status.
The development of industrial capitalism had serious human costs. The early days of the
Industrial Revolution were blemished with horrible conditions for large numbers of
workers, especially in England. Abusive child labor, long working hours, and dangerous
and unhealthy workplaces were common. These conditions led Karl Marx to produce his
massive indictment of the capitalistic system. 
The impact of industrialization and capitalism made it possible for many necessary items
to be available for everyone, but few actually benefited. The new entrepreneurial class
or the bourgeoisie were welded into a new social class because of the excitement and
promise of new technologies. This class owned the means of production in the industrial
capitalistic society. Marx believed that the capitalists/bourgeoisie exploited their
workers the proletarians so they would become low cost appendages to run a machine. 
Marx felt that capitalism would fail for two reasons. The first reason being that
capitalism was based on the industrial cycles of the market. Capitalism depended on over
production and the creation of new markets. It survived reoccurring inflation and
deflation crises by the destruction of products, and exploitation of old markets. Marx
felt that this was an absurdity and it was doomed. The second reason Marx felt capitalism
would fail was because the exploited proletarian would revolt against the bourgeoisie,
and destroy the capitalistic system. The proletarian would become increasingly
impoverished and it would be alienated from the fruits of its labor. The proletarian
would develop class-consciousness and become educated. 
Marx struck at the fundamental principle of capitalism, private ownership of the means of
production. Marx believed that land and capital should be collectively owned and that the
products of the system should be distributed fairly and evenly according to need. Marx
sought to overthrow the capitalistic order and create a system of collective control of
the society, which would ensure a fair system for all of the citizens. There would be
abolition of private property & inheritance. A state centralization of banking,
communications, transportation, factories and instruments of production. Free public
education and equal labor.