Adam Smith lived through a mercantile system, which he highly opposed therefore the idea of a free market system seemed to be the best solution in a time period before the industrial revolution. Unlike Smith, Marx had personal accounts of the industrial revolution, therefore he would have “anticipated the high- technology, global interests of modern institutions, dangers of consuming non- renewable natural resources and the issue of post industrial unemployment.” Both tried to create a system where everyone could be happy but their views on capitalism as the better political system conflicted. Karl Marx’s and Adam Smith’s views on capitalism differed in terms of the division of labour, competition and the class structure in society. “The trade of the pin- maker: a workman not educated to this business (which the division of labour has rendered a distinct trade), nor acquainted with the use of the machinery employed in it (to the
Compare and Contrast Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim on human nature Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim, founding fathers of the Sociology world, both have contributed in many ways it relates to affording a society the opportunity to resolve some of the many ills/ crisis that societies throughout the world faced during their and even nowdays. Despite their indifferent views, both men were interested with the beginning of modern capitalism. Karl Marx was born in Germany whereas Emile Durkheim was born in France; however, they both studied philosophy. Marx aim was to explain capitalism- private properties, separation of labor, capital and landed property, exchange and competition. He argued that capital society and social order are all link to a capital system to human beings.
It wasn’t until shortly after his death that Karl Marx’s ideology began to significantly influence socialist movements. Although relatively unknown during his lifetime he has become one of the fundamental economic and sociological figures of the modern era. Many of his theories and insights into the way society functions are still relevant in the expanding capitalist society that exists today. Marx was very critical of capitalism and the division in society between the bourgeoisie and proletariat classes, attempting to highlight the injustice and exploitation of the working class by the wealthy upper and middle class. Marx predicted that capitalism within a socioeconomic system would inevitably create internal tensions between social classes leading to its demise and replacement by a new system, communism.
When Keynes rejected the scale of reparations placed on Germany and resigned from his post at the Treasury, he lead the way for what many leading politicians were to understand later on. Keynes supported the approach of Lloyd George that for economic and political reasons, Europe needed a successful Germany, which would be seriously difficult to achieve whilst the excessive reparations were placed on them. Furthermore, his book The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919), was successful in influencing the view of Britain that a weak Germany would only make the recovery of Europe after the war, a lot more difficult. On the other hand, from taking this view, politicians were criticised for being 'too lenient' towards Germany. Even Lloyd George, who took a much tougher political approach towards the reparations, received criticism.
Assess the usefulness of Marxist approaches to an understanding of crime and deviance in contemporary society Marxist criminologists argue that the state passes laws which support ruling-class interests, and maintain its control and power over the subject class. They put forward the view that laws do not reflect value consensus, but instead reflect the values of ruling class ideology. Therefore, laws work towards false class consciousness, as laws only benefit the ruling minority. Many Marxists also argue that there are a vast number of laws protecting property, and Snider (1993) argued the state is often reluctant to pass laws which might threaten profitability. She also argued capitalist states often pour large amounts of money into attracting business; for example offering new investors tax concessions and grants.
Indeed it is impossible to completely separate the analysis of one event from the other as their instigation and consequences are self-perpetuating and intertwined. As such the discussion of their individual importance in history is irrelevant, whether viewed economically, socially or through hindsight, it is only as a whole that true rise of global inequality can be ascertained. Industrialisation and Imperialism play a particularly circular role in the creation of global inequality, as the success or failure of one event is reliant upon the success or failure of the other. However, what can be clearly determined by historical accounts today is that Industrial Revolution was the most significant contributor to the rise of global economic inequality. Prior to 1757, India held the monopoly on global textile trade, but as Britain became capable of mass-producing and selling textiles cheaper than their Asian counterparts, India faced severe economic and developmental decline.
Capitalism brought about the industrialisation of modern society, this idea is favoured by Marxists but postmodernists argue that society is not as simple as this. Postmodernism has emerged since the 1970s, in a postmodern society we are defined by what we consume society is not simply one thing but an unstable, fragmented, media saturated global village where image and reality are indistinguishable. Foucault argues that there are no objective criteria that we can use to prove whether a theory is true or false and if we cannot guarantee if knowledge is correct we cannot use it to improve society this view is known as anti foundationalism. Anti foundationalism is based on two key concepts, the enlightenment of achieving progress through true scientific knowledge and any all embracing theory that claims to have the absolute truth about how to create a better society such as Marxism however it is a meta- narrative and is just someone’s version of reality and it is not necessarily the truth so there is no need to accept the claims that the theory makes Postmodernists a reject meta narratives such as Marxism because they have helped create oppressive totalitarian states that have impose their version of the truth on people for example the former soviet union in Russia. Because they believe that all accounts of reality are equally valid so we should therefore recognise and celebrate diversity rather than imposing one
Like Durkheim (a Functionalist), Marx believed it was possible to understand society scientifically and scientific knowledge would lead to a better society. However (unlike Durkheim), he believed capitalism would increase human misery before giving way to a classless, communist society, in which humans would be free to fulfil their potential. He believed that history would go through a series of base changes – primitive communism, ancient society, feudalism, capitalism and then communism. The organisation of production in a society shapes the nature of society – refers to this as the base/superstructure. According to Marx – in a capitalist society, the economic relationship of exploitation requires ideologies in the superstructure to cover up inequality – they are not innocent/neutral because they justify inequality and serve the interest of powerful groups.
There is only one real response for the statement that by 1890 Germany as a nation was not united, this is that the statement is fairly accurate with Germany at this not being very united. However there are two arguments that can be made from this, these are that Germany wasn’t united as a nation and the other that, whilst it was not yet united, it was on its way there. The most important point arguing for the statement is the deep rooted social divisions within German society at this time leaving the country uneven and split in terms of development, these factors were then furthered by Industrialisation which made the split bigger and created different types of inequality. However there were signs of development and a general movement towards a nation state with xenophobic feelings bringing people together in times of unrest and distress. Economic factors such as the ever improving state of the economy was also improving the cracks in society, improving lives for most and allowing ideas to spread more easily.
Criticisms This perspective failed to clearly show how areas of conflict were addressed, as they emphasized agreement and people all having the same shared values (vale consensus). Realistically this is not always evident in society. No clear account was made as concerning the dealings with deviant behaviour in society. Marxism Is an economic political theory by which law is considered an instrument of oppression and control, and which the ruling class uses against the working class. Marxism holds at its core a critical analysis of capitalism and a theory of social change.