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Comparing The Views Of Karl Marx And Andrew Carnegie

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In this paper, I discuss how Karl Marx, Adam Smith, and Andrew Carnegie agreed and disagreed about the concepts of capitalism with different standpoints. For example, Karl Marx mainly focused on the function of communism; Adam Smith emphasized the free trade in market, and Andrew Carnegie adopted the form of capitalism. I further explain the different perspectives of capitalism that impacted on society, and social and economic situation. The word, capitalism, is defined as an economic and political system in which a country’s trading business and industrial activities are made by private ownerships or corporations through the means of production, distribution, and social wealth. In 19th century, as the development of Industrial Revolution …show more content…

Capitalism led to inequality. For example, in capitalist society, bourgeoisie owned the majority of power by controlling schools, government, land, property, and factories. Under the power of capitalism, many factory owners held the right in the nation, and they only paid workers (the proletariat) with a low wage; this not only caused the workers to continually suffer in poverty, but it also resulted in the problem of unequal …show more content…

In Smith’s theory, he focused on the individual, but Marx preferred to pay much more attention on a specific social class. Marx says, “The distinguishing feature of Communism is no the abolition of property generally, but the abolition of bourgeois property (Marx, 1848).” For example, proletariat needed to build a new social class through revolution, and abolition of private property needed to be established in society. Marx had also offered other policies that helped to get rid of the different class distinctions between bourgeois and proletariat and distribute the wealth equally such as “abolition of all right of inheritance, exclusion of monopoly, equal liability of all to labor, and a more equable distribution of the population over the country (Marx, 1848).” These policies not only prohibited one to hold certain power and rights to rule others, but they also promoted the equal distribution of wealth in

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Andrew Carnegie amassed his fortune by utilizing vertical integration and employing cheap labor, at the expense of the common man. This tactic proved effective when competing with other companies. However, as a result, workers were manipulated and used as pawns in a game with a predetermined winner. Working as blue collar laborers, the employees had no chance to improve their socioeconomic status and their way of life, completely contradicting Carnegie’s own theory that wealth would be rewarded to those who worked hard and proved themselves capable and competent of handling it.

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Andrew Carnegie: Road to Wealth and Success Seen as a robber baron, Andrew Carnegie may have toll advantage of his loyal employees and his relentless competition, his personal intentions and innovations within the steel industry and his philanthropic distribution undeniably changed America’s society and views of education. In the early nineteenth century, American industrialist were gathering good ideas through Carnegie’s innovations and initiative. When Carnegie started out onto the road to success and wealth, from rags to riches and earned his big reputation that he brought among himself. For the successful people who misused their employees and competition were inevitably labeled as “robber barons,” i.e. John D. Rockefeller.

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751 Words | 4 Pages

In the article, “Created Equal” by Milton and Rose Friedman, the authors argue that equality of outcome puts the people’s liberty in jeopardy. In this article the Friedmans discuss equality of outcome and how it forces people who have certain benefits in their society but are forced to end up in the same place as everyone else, regardless of hard work or ability. To the Friedmans this is a clear contradiction of liberty and should not be allowed to become a reality. The Friedmans believe that equality and liberty are the two concepts that every individual should try to achieve in a society.

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1024 Words | 5 Pages

Adam Smith, commonly referred to as the Father of Capitalism, would have focused specifically on the mention of the “pursuit of Happiness”, while Karl Marx would have based his structure on the mention on “Liberty”. Modern capitalism, as practiced in America, is centralized around the possibility to better oneself and one’s situation, which would ultimately bring what is perceived to be happiness. Meanwhile, Communism aligns itself with liberty, because under such a system, no man would ever be oppressed by inequality, and as such every man would be, in a sense,

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1093 Words | 5 Pages

The economic views of Adam Smith and Karl Marx Microeconomics Eduardo De Oliveira Superti   Table of Contents: Abstract 3 Introduction 4 The economic views of Adam Smith 5 The economic views of Karl Marx 6 Adam Smith vs. Karl Marx 7 Examples in the world of today 9 Conclusion 10 Recommendations 11 Bibliography 12 Introduction Adam Smith and Karl Marx were completely contrasting economists throughout their time and had an enormous effect on the world and the way we view economics. They represent the ideas of capitalism and socialism.

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Depending on who you ask, you may get different responses to capitalism. A socialist or communist will more than likely condemn it, whereas a capitalist will praise its values. However, ask all three the question is capitalism exploitive and they will say yes. It is a well-known fact that exploitation is one of the main features of capitalism. This is evident throughout history, where the people at the top exploited the labourers to make a better profit.

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He believes that the wealth of the nation is increased by the increase of production, the increase of trade, improvement of technology, and expansion of the nation’s market. He believes that all of these things can be the result of division of labor between different classes. I think that Adam Smith would agree more with Ure because these ideas align with the support of industrial capitalism, which is what Ure believed in as well. Even though Smith and Ure may not agree with industrial capitalism for the same reasons, they were both still supporters of it, whereas Marx was not as much of a

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In the beginning of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution caused a massive economic spike from small-scale production to large factories and mass production. Capitalism became the prevalent mode of the economy, which put all means of production in the hands of the bourgeoisie, or the upper class. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels argue that capitalism centralizes all the wealth and power in the bourgeoisie, despite the proletariat, or the working class, being the overwhelming majority of the population. The manufacturers would exploit the common proletariat and force them to would work in abysmal conditions and receive low wages, furthering the working class poverty. “The Communist Manifesto” predicts that as a result of the mistreatment

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Capitalists argue that a capitalist society is fair because you gain the rewards of your hard work. But, often people are rich, simply because they inherit wealth or are born into a privileged class. Therefore, capitalist society not only fails to create equality of outcome, but also fails to provide equality of opportunity. Another problem would include social and economic class, inequality creates social division. Generally speaking, we have an upper-class, middle-class, lower-class, and a poverty level.

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Adam Smith (philosopher), the father of modern capitalism, regarded capitalism to be, “the obvious and simple system of natural liberty” as indicated within his book, ‘An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations’ (Hessen, 2008), a novel which held the foundations regarding political economy within the nineteenth century. Adam Smith (Bassiry & Jones, 1993), through his work, developed the ‘Capitalist Economic System’, where Smith had, “envisioned a production system organized according to the consumer’s interests”, thus allowing for the birth of supply and demand, being the capitalist market itself. Adam Smith believed in the free market economy, where government intervention is disregarded and unnecessary and should rather be left alone (Cameron, 2015). Adam

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First of all, given that both Marx and Smith are renowned for their unique thoughts regarding the principals of economics, it seems prudent to begin with an analyzation of the economic consequences that would transpire in the Marxian and Smithian empires. During the mid-twentieth century, Marx became dismayed over the class conflicts that occurred between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie as a result of the current economic structure. He argued that “…the ruthless, exploitative capitalist system accounted for class oppression” (Drogin 87). With this in mind, it is clear that his empire would be constructed on the basis of prevention for further class oppression with the hope that all would be considered equal. In an empire run according to

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Throughout history people have debated what economic system will most benefit humanity. However, this debate is still raging on and civilization cannot survive waiting for the results before it begins trade. Therefore, countries choose which system they think will best suite its population for the time being. The United States has chosen to base its economy on capitalism. Capitalism has worked well for the United States, allowing people to pursue what has become known as the American Dream.

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846 Words | 4 Pages

Capitalism is understood to be the “economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.” In modern society, capitalism has become the dominant economic system and has become so integrated that it has resulted in a change in the relationships individuals have with other members of society and the materials within society. As a society, we have become alienated from other members of society and the materials that have become necessary to regulate ourselves within it, often materials that we ourselves, play a role in producing. Capitalism has resulted in a re-organization of societies, a more specialized and highly segmented division of labour one which maintains the status quo in society by alienating the individual. Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim theorize on how power is embodied within society and how it affects the individuals of society.

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732 Words | 3 Pages

Definition of Capitalism What is capitalism? According to Adam Smith, both parties in a capitalist system, the buyer and the seller, act in a voluntary transaction to achieve the outcome that serves their self-interest. However, both parties cannot obtain what they want without delivering the needs of the other. In definition, capitalism is an economic system where properties can be controlled and owned by private sectors to suit their interest, which is to gain profits, while the demand and supply of goods and services set the market prices to serve the interest of the society.

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Capitalism and socialism have been two of the most argued and debated topics. Many view socialism as the better choice because it evens out the wealth so that not one group of people has more control over the economy, and because socialists tend to pay more heed and take more caution in the careless using up of natural resources. Capitalism can be seen as the better economic choice because capitalist countries are usually much more technologically advanced, and because individuals can make their own business decisions and choose their profession without trouble or disapproval from the government. While both economies have potential for success, capitalism is by far the better option for many reasons. Capitalism allows individuals to make their

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