Believers and people who practice both socialism and capitalism have heavy criticism of each other. Socialists for example believe that Capitalists produce a system where there is a clear distinction among the rich and the poor. The system is believed to encourage exploitation of workers, so that the business owners become wealthy. These business owners are the ones in many cases who influence policies, by using their wealth to getting what they want, by funding political campaigns, for example. Capitalists, on the other hand, believe that Socialists deny people their basic rights of freedom of decisions and opportunities.
Compare and contrast capitalism and socialism and discuss a shortcoming of each system that is criticized by the opponents of the system. Then describe the overlap in capitalism and socialism and the economic theory associated with it. The theories of Capitalism and socialism adherently are opposing schools of thought. The principal arguments in the socialism verses capitalism debate are about economic equality and the role of government. Exponents of the capitalism are of the opinion that the government interference will lead to inefficiencies in the utilization of economic resources.
As discussed in lecture this is an important distinction. For a social condition to be considered a social problem it must be considered harmful to society and enough people must believe that the condition can and should be changed. Libertarians take a functionalist approach to income inequality in capitalist economies, believing that in order for the economy to function there will always be people at the bottom of the totem pole. The great thing about America is the belief that with honest hard work, anyone can better
In everyday language, it can be an insult to charge someone with being “ideological,” since this label suggests rigidity in the face of overwhelming evidence contradicting one’s beliefs. When Marxists speak of “ideology,” they often mean belief systems that help justify the actions of those in power by distorting and misrepresenting reality. When we talk about ideology, then, we need to be careful to specify what we mean by the term. When scholars examine media products to uncover their “ideology,” they are interested in the underlying images of society they provide. In this context, an ideology is basically a system of meaning that helps define and explain the world and that makes value judgments about that
using the police and courts. Secondly Ideological state apparatus- this is where they rule by controlling people’s ideas, values and beliefs by manipulating functions of section of society, e.g. the religion and mass media. These two apparatuses reproduce class inequality from generation to generation by failing each successive generation of working class pupils in turn. It also legitimates class inequality by producing ideologies that disguise its true motive.
It was Marx who coined this term ‘classical economics’ to refer to the economics of Smith, Ricardo and Mill. These three classical economists argued that free markets regulate themselves confining their labour theory of value. On the contrary, Marx considered capitalism to be a historically specific mode of production that would eventually be replaced by communism. In his writing on the communist Manifesto, Marx criticises capitalism and believes that labour exploitation will be the driving force behind a revolution for a socialist economic system. Adam Smith’s writing is structured around his economic metaphor of the ‘invisible hand’ which perceives the marketplace to be self-regulated.
With the formation of labor unions, though, workers were able to use the very commodity of their own productive labor as a bargaining tool to secure fairer wages and working conditions from the capitalists. To date, however, the unionization of labor remains controversial, as proponents of the “free market” view union interference as detrimental to the economy, and union activists regard unionization as a necessary check to the potential exploitative excesses of unrestrained capitalism. (Housen, 2012) Why Unions? According to Merriam Webster dictionary, labor union is defined as an organization of workers formed for the purpose of advancing its members' interests in respect to wages, benefits, and working conditions. The majority of the population works for someone else.
Karl Marx believed that the means, relations, and mode of production all relate to the inequality in a capitalist society. What he is talking about when he says means of production in society are physical non-human inputs used to produce goods. A means of production could be a natural resource or it could also be technology. Whoever controls the means of production is going to have the most power. The capitalist owned the means of production in capitalism and therefore basically were able to control the economy.
In recent times, there is a growing concern of wealth inequality in America. This has really drawn criticism and challenge to capitalism as the model of socio-economic structure. Debates surrounding this issue are often traditionally addressed through two models: communism and capitalism. Karl Marx, in his work, “The Communist Manifesto,” criticizes capitalism for it’s preaching of individualism and competition, which leads to the exploitation of the working class thus resulting in further antagonization between socio-economic classes. Marx ends his criticism by offering up the complete abandonment of capitalist system in favor of a communistic system in which socio-economic autonomy is in the hands of the state.
Marxists believe that the main role of the family is to serve the interests of Capitalism and Bourgeoisie. They believe the Capitalist society is based on the unequal conflict between the working class who are exploited by Capitalists for profit from their labour, and the Capitalist class who own the means of production. Marxists have found many ways in which they believe show that the family serves Capitalism. Firstly, Marx argues that due to the developmaent of the forces of production resulting in society's wealth rising, the development of private property increased. Eventually, this then brought the patriarchal monogamous nuclear family.