Karl Marx's Thoughts and Theories on Capitalism
Karl Marx, undoubtedly one of the best thinkers of his time, had the capacity to lay down his thoughts and theories in a comprehensive way and set down the logic in such a way that it will require talent and tremendous in-depth understanding of what was written to understand. Although Marx wrote on a wide range of topics, capitalism was one of the issues on which he strove to comprehend its inherent tendencies and frame his thoughts around the notions of what he felt was becoming reality. Marx was able to give his predictions and perspectives regarding this subject at a time when the laws that put it into motion were still yet at their developmental stages (Giddens 1971, p.58). One may argue that it serves no purpose looking at history and considering things that were written without prior knowledge into the future. Well, this is actually not true, theories about the future, and in particular Marx's theories and perspective on capitalism serve as the keys that would help people understand the future that is fast approaching. At that time when he penned most of his writings and in this case compiled his thoughts on capitalism into a volume, there was need to have an idea of the path that the capitalism route would follow and thereby form necessary measures to ensure that things follow a favorable course by individuals and even nations (Giddens 1971, p.48).
Theses of Capitalism Drawn by Karl Marx and Supported By Empirical Examples
Karl Marx was able to clearly define the important aspects in regards to capitalism with great clarity and focus and this same knowledge has proved valuable up to know in helping scholars understand everything regarding capitalism. Using empirical examples, it would be important to see some of the aspects or ideas formulate by Marx and his thesis regarding capitalism. His ideas could be classified into various theses and under each there were empirical examples to act as supportive arguments.
Long Term Sustainability of Capitalism
One particular thesis that Marx propagated and used some empirical examples to justify about capitalism was on the long term sustainability of the new concept of capitalism. According to Marx, capitalism was critically considered in regard to the long term repercussions, an economic system that was unsustainable (Somerville 1934, p.193). Marx went further ahead to say that the internal dynamics of capitalism, or what may be referred to as its laws of motion were systematically undermining its own ability to reproduce itself. By and by, this would be the same factors that would weaken the capitalism concept making it even further fragile which in the long run would result into its unsustainability. These theses by Marx was arrived at after a careful look at the economic trends of the then 19th century and this was factored together with a deep understanding of all the underlying aspects that contribute to these trends, what can hereby be referred to as empirical trends.
Increasing Productivity and Expansion of Capitalism
The first empirical trend to support this thesis on unsustainability of capitalism was that increasing productivity. Marx stated that the increasing capitalism trend and its development would also bring about together with it some enormous increases in productivity. The reason behind this trend would be because of productivity gains; particularly he meant that it would be because of the increasing capital intensity during or for production. A second empirical trend given by Marx was that the expansion of capitalism and its reach into other parts of the world was exponential. Capitalist firms were found to be organizing more and more domains for their production activities and there was increasing commodification and extension of capitalist markets. Thirdly serving as an empirical example was the matter regarding crises and hitches that come up in a normal economy. Marx predicted that these crises when they took place in a capitalist economy were gradually and increasingly becoming worse. Their effect over time was becoming greater and greater in the capitalist economy. The fourth empirical basis that Marx used to arrive at this thesis regarding the capitalist economy was that the development of capitalism increases the centralization of capital and also its concentration. The net effect of this phenomenon is that over time the capitalist firms that are controlling certain aspects of the economy overtime would become larger and more powerful. Consequently, even the percentage of the market that these firms control would become larger. Ultimately, the world over there would be a situation whereby the market would become more and more organized and not only that, the situation would entail economies being controlled by giant capitalistic firms (Schumpeter 2013, p. 14).
Empirical Examples of Capitalism's Unsustainability
Pausing at this moment and taking a consideration at this thesis of Marx regarding the unsustainability of capitalism and trying to find an empirical example, one realizes that there are numerous. A look at the decades between the present and the 19th century when Marx made these predictions is dotted with perfect examples and realities that ring true with what he had said. So far there have been hundreds of business crises and the world has witnessed giant firms coming in and taking a huge chunk of world economies. This is a perfect example of what sounded shocking and impossible being predicted by Marx in 1867 having come to pass (Marx 1964, p.4).
Labor in the Capitalist Economy
Another theory or thesis that Karl Marx put forward was the matter regarding labor. According to him, he predicted that due to the nature of the capitalist economy, there will come a time in history that labor will no longer be connected to the person and their unique traits but that it will rather be dissociated from that and sold as a commodity. This was a fairly very radical stance to take at the time. In other words, what Karl Marx was suggesting was that there will be a point in time due to the progressive nature and direction of capitalism where aspects such as gender, whether one is male or female will not matter among other personal attributes. What will be most important would be the ability to work. And as such, Marx gave a clear insight that labor will also become just like any other commodity that is sold in the market such as wheat or coal. People will be seeking for avenues where they can sell their labor or rather ability to work (Marx 1964, p.13).
Commodification of Labor in Modern Times
Again looking at where things have gotten to now, it is fair to conclude that indeed Marx's prediction as far as the capitalism aspect is concerned were spot on. Currently, people go to be trained in colleges and other institutions not on the basis of who they are as people or what uniqueness they have, but all are grouped together and trained on being better workers in whatever line. When employers are looking for people to employ, they do not consider who the people are; first and foremost the focus is on what they can do. Are they qualified, do they have the skills to work, the rest come later. People are paid salaries because of the work they have done. Thus, labor is being sold and purchased as a commodity just as Marx had stated earlier.
The Proletarianization of Independent People
Lastly, in considering some of the thesis Marx put forward regarding capitalism was the aspect of what he referred to as people becoming proletarians. In this regard, Marx predicted that capitalism would bring with it so much pressure on those people that are independent or rather self-employed. The pressure would be forcing them to join the band wagon of mass production and as a result, Marx saw that this will amount to people being force to also as earlier seen, sell their labor power into the market. In seeking to find an empirical example on this aspect, there also many of them that directly show the accuracy of these predictions. Consider the period around which Marx gave these theories for example. The first half of the 19th century, most people in the USA were mostly farmers and owned small grocery shops. However, currently, less than 10 percent of the total USA population are self-employed (Allman 2001). Most people; office workers, bus drivers, bank tellers and many more have been forced and pressure into selling their labor to capitalists as was suggested by Karl Marx during the formative years of capitalism.
References
Allman, P., 2001. Critical education against global capitalism: Karl Marx and revolutionary critical education. Greenwood Publishing Group.
Giddens, A., 1971. Capitalism and modern social theory: An analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber. Cambridge University Press.
Schumpeter, J.A., 2013. Capitalism, socialism and democracy. Routledge.
Somerville, H., 1934. Karl Marx and capitalism. New Blackfriars, 15(168), pp.192-202.
Marx, K., 1964. Selected writings in sociology & social philosophy. McGraw-Hill.
