Introduction What is Marxism and capitalism
Introduction
What is Marxism and capitalism?
Is a theory under pinned by Karl Marx in response to transform the perceptions of the entire society and ideas related to man in a society for the shall be equality (spread of wealth) derived from socialism and communism which states that the community must earn and equally control the means of productions, spread the wealth according to one’s ability, capabilities and accountancy or responsibility to acquire basic needs of living and, rather resources must be owned by government to evenly distribute them across societies.
The cradle of the study was based on directly combating fascism practices that hinder revolutionary progression but stigmas of perception which perhaps formulated groups within societies which one of those is superior to the other having to coordinate and conduct superior decisions and dehumanizing the other in the sense of being racial, radical, oppressive towards them economically, politically and owing the services of production.
Consequently, capitalism is one of the four economic systems which is entirely based on the private ownership of all the means of production and their operation for profit. The significant decisions regarding investment and production lies on the shoulders of the wealthy individuals who have the means of the production at their disposal, and the distribution of goods and services are based on the competition of suppliers on the market place.
Define unemployment from the Marxist and capitalist perspective?
Unemployment is the situation whereby a person actively looking for employment but not being currently employed.
Marxism and capitalism distinguishes between four types of unemployment arising from differences in the structure of the economy, level of economic development, social and institutional arrangements.
Four types of unemployment
Structural unemployment: Mainly occurs when people are unable to find employment for a long period of time, due to a mismatch between the skills of the unemployed workers and skills needed for the available jobs.
Frictional unemployment: It is the time period between jobs when a worker is searching for, or transitioning from one job to another.
Seasonal unemployment: Arises from fluctuations in the demand and supply for labour which appears regularly.
Cyclical unemployment: When there is not enough aggregate demand in the economy to provide jobs for everyone who wants to work.
Marxism is focused on the relationship between the owners and workers, it claims the owners compete against one another for jobs and higher wages, in reducing wages for the owners it will be beneficial for the system. The causes and solutions to unemployment require the abandonment of the capitalist system and moving to the socialism and communism systems. Marxist perspective unemployment is due to the unstable capitalist system and periodic crises of mass unemployment are to be expected. Whilst in the capitalism system a number of interlinking features which include private ownership of the means of wealth production, great majority working for wages or salaries, generalized commodity production and profit motive. The challenges in the capitalist view on anti-unemployment measures at the micro economic level is for society to impose restrictions on the freedom of workers when choosing and quitting jobs and freedom of firms to determine the amount of labour input. At the macro level it is believed that reduction in unemployment will be accompanied by an increase in inflation.
The capitalist view to reduce unemployment is by a conventional approach of job creation, stimulating aggregate demand through expansionary monetary policies and an increase in government purchases of goods and services. Unemployment can be reduced by decreasing the size of labour force wishing paid employment.
Critically analyzing and discussing of the six components of Marxist world view
Ultimate reality
The real unity of the world consists in its materiality, and this is proved by a long and protracted development of philosophy and natural science, But if the question is raised, what then are thought and consciousness, and whence they come, it becomes apparent that they are products of the human brain and that man himself is a product of nature, which has been developed in and along with its environment. The philosophy of dialectical materialism is the Marxist-Leninist approach to understanding and changing the world. Many of the attributes we as Christians ascribe to God eternality, infinitude, an uncreated being, indestructibility, the Lawgiver, the Life, and the Mind Marxists-Leninists ascribe to dialectical matter. Marxist philosophy affirms matter as ultimately real, rather than God. Thus it is a godless philosophy.
Norms
Religion and religious institutions play a powerful role in influencing a society and the lives of its members. The sociological traditions of Marx and Durkheim view religion totally differently, yet they both agree that religion is a very important aspect of a society. During his career, Marx spoke little on the subject of religion. However, what is lacking in volume is made up for in vigor and comprehensiveness. Some of Marx’s best known obiter are about religion. It is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the illusory happiness of men. It is the reflex of the real world and best of all it is ‘the opium of the people. If we choose to believe that God created everything, it is easy to believe that God also intended for some people to be rich and powerful while others are to be poor and have no power. Yet another justification for exploitation that comes from religion: The poor should accept their suffering, as God chose them to suffer. God only gives you as much pain and suffering as you can handle. Due to religion, Marx believed people look forward to happiness and salvation they will receive after death. Religion defers happiness and rewards to the afterlife, teaching the acceptance of existing conditions in the life on earth.
Humanity
In a behaviorist approach to Marxist psychology, human beings are seen simply as stimulus receptors, creatures that respond in one predetermined way to any given set of circumstances in our environment. According to Skinner, this is the only truly scientific approach to psychology. He says, a scientific analysis of behavior dispossesses autonomous man and turns the control he has been said to exert over to the environment. The individual is hence forth to be controlled by the world around him, and in large part by other men. He Marxist acceptance of evolution and materialism as the proper means for understanding the world affects its view of the mind/body relationship, seeing the mind as no more than the purely physical activity of the brain. Marxist denial of the supernatural categorizes the human mind, in Lenin’s view, as strictly organized matter. The behaviorism embraced by Marxists, however, differs significantly from traditional behaviorism. Marxist behaviorist theories are based on the work of Ivan P. Pavlov, a Russian physiologist of the early twentieth century. Even though Pavlov rejected Marxist theory for most of his life, he serves as the adopted father of Marxist psychology largely because his attempts to reconcile materialism with psychology seem to fit the dialectic. An understanding of traditional behaviorism through the work of B. F. Skinner, its most popular promoter will help us pinpoint how Marxist behaviorism differs.
Moral filter
Marxist ethics proceeds out of Marxist theology, philosophy, biology, economics, and history. Whereas Secular Humanists have a difficult time reaching a consensus regarding their ethical beliefs, Marxists do not mainly because of their single-minded approach to all five aforementioned disciplines. This approach is rooted in dialectical materialism and the class struggle. While there is no absolute foundation for Marxist ethical ideals, most Marxists believe the dialectical view of the class struggle is foundation enough. Marxists believe that old morality the morality of the reigning capitalist class exploits the working class. According to this view, old religious moral codes must be abandoned. For Karl Marx and Frederick Engels “Thou shalt not steal” establishes a society in which some have property and some do not; such an establishment is the root of the problem.
Society
Marx and Lenin believed that we understand society only in the context of societal development. According to Marx, at a certain stage of social development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution. The changes in the economic foundation lead sooner or later to the transformation of the whole immense superstructure. The stages in the development of society parallel the economic stages in our history. Marx divides the history of society into four stages: In broad outline, the Asiatic, ancient, feudal and modern bourgeois modes of production may be designated as epochs marking progress in the economic development of society.
Nature
The economic system plays a much larger role in the Marxist worldview than in that of either Christianity or Secular Humanism. For Marxists, the economic system determines laws, the type of government, and the role of society in day-to-day life. While most would agree that an economic system affects these areas to some extent, Marxists claim that it dictates their precise character. With this in mind, Marxists conclude that undesirable economic systems create backward, undesirable societies. They point to the evils in a capitalist society and conclude that capitalism, based on private property, is a bad economic system that must be replaced with a more humane system, one that abolishes private property and the free and peaceful exchange of goods and services (a free market).
How the problems related to unemployment can be addressed
According to Marx, the only way to permanently eliminate unemployment would be to abolish capitalism and the system of forced competition for wages and then shift to a socialist or communist economic system. For contemporary Marxists, the existence of persistent unemployment is proof of the inability of capitalism to ensure full employment
