Karl Marx's Theory Of Labor

Karl Marx saw himself as the, “Newton of social science” (Seidman, 34) and described his book, Capital, as being ”to the social sciences what Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was to the natural sciences” (Seidman, 34). Marx was correct about his work because even today, he is seen as one of the most influential social science writers. The readings discussed Germany during the life of Marx as well as his theories created through the observation of capitalism and class structure. Born in 1818 Germany, Marx found himself fascinated with the economic growth of his country compared to other countries such as France, England and America. Marx wrote a book titled The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 in which he described the creation …show more content…
One of these contradictions is that capitalism will always survive as it has ways to avoid the revolution. Investment within new or damaged markets has been seen as a method for this survival. After a war, the destroyed infrastructure acts as stimulation for a renewed economic cycle. Investment will come in and rebuild the economy for the area. This investment can be seen in post WWII Europe. Investment came into countries like Germany and they are now economically powerful and quite stable. Investing was also used to create capital with ideas such as hedge funds, future trading and speculative financing. This hope for future wealth will help prevent the working class from trying to change their economic system. Another contradiction to Marx’s theory of a revolution would be that the working class will have the idea of a revolution by there will be no agency for them to act on the idea. Seidman (2013) says, “what makes the propertied class a key social force is that it is able to translate its immense economic power into control over political, cultural, and social institutions” (28). In other words, capitalist leaders have the resources and funding to be able to manipulate politics, cultures like social and mass Medias as well as social institutions like our education system. This control eliminates the ability of the working class to spread their information and ideas of the exploitation effectively. Capitalist leaders are able to constantly filter out what the working class is able to see and place their values into the masses. Capitalism has many safeguards to a revolution so Marx’s revolution could just remain a