Why Do Marx And Engels Believe That Capitalism Exploits Workers

Marx and Engels believe that capitalism exploits workers. This is evident throughout our texts for Social Theory. To begin with, Marx developed a labor theory of value. This states, “A commodity’s value is based on the quantity of labor required to produce it” (Kivisto, 9). This in itself makes labor into a commodity, thus adding more value to the product. After this value is added, capitalists compensate the laborer enough for his labor power to produce the commodity, but the laborer’s power produced additional value. This creates a surplus value for the owner, or capitalist. This is one way workers are exploited. Instead of being compensated accordingly for the commodity being produced, the workers are only rewarded for the labor

Readings, 6). This means that the technology used to produce commodities, the relations of commodities, and in result society must be constantly revolutionized. By revolutionizing the production of commodities, it takes less skilled workers to complete the job. This again leads to more competition for jobs, with less jobs being available. This exploits the worker as they are forced to work for less pay due to the competition or are exploited out of a job due to job cuts. As capitalism keeps revolutionizing, it grows bigger and bigger, thus spreading from country to country. As this occurs, new products and commodities are found that can be used to exploit the worker. This results in workers being exploited through their wants and needs. As the production of commodities is constantly being revolutionized, new products are being produced everyday. As stated in Four Sociological Traditions, “In place of the old wants, satisfied by the production of the country, we find new wants, requiring for their satisfaction the products of distant lands and climes” (Sel. Readings, 6). In place of the old local and national seclusion we have an interdependent world. This creates more and more competition allowing