Priestley uses a range of language and theatrical devices to criticise the selfishness of people such as the Birling family. To begin with, Birling shows his lack of understanding and disrespect for the working class. This is show. When he says, "If you don't come down sharply on some of these people, they'd soon be asking for the Earth." This shows a lack of compassion by Birling, as he only cares about his wealth and status, and the profits he can gain from his factories.
The proletariat is deemed as inferior and the bourgeois superior. This creates a class struggle. Marx attempted to find a solution of capitalist exploitation. Marx argued that exploitation emerged in capitalism because firstly, the laborers are completely deprived of human social relations, secondly they are forced to work for a meager wage , and thirdly the capitalists use their power arbitrarily. Exploitation is a matter of surplus value (profit).
Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat” (Marx and Engels 1848). Social class, therefore, is based upon economic criteria and conflict occurs between those who own the means of production (bourgeoisie) and the wage-labourers (proletariat). As well as having economic control over the proletariat, the bourgeoisie also have the power to determine the superstructure; the ruling class can distort perceptions of the world and hide the true nature of social relationships and the exploitation of the proletariat and, above all, promote bourgeoisie interests. Marx defines production as workers selling their labour for wages in order to exchange money for commodities that will meet their most basic needs. As Marx
I believe this can be strongly tied into the Marxist ideas of commodity fetishism and false consciousness as the culture industry creates repressive and alienating effects through products and commodities. The theory of commodity fetishism basically states that people experience social relationships as value relations between things. False consciousness is a theory that states that material and institutional processes in capitalistic societies basically mislead the lower and working classes through the power of capitalism. It seems as if people within capitalistic societies allow their lives to be organized or controlled through the medium of commodities. We trade our own commodities (such as labour) for a special commodity: money.
I shall asses points for and against this argument and conclude. Karl Marx (a Marxist sociologist) believes that the education system preforms two main functions in a capitalist society. Firstly, Marx believes the education system reproduces the inequalities and social relations of production of capitalist society. In contrast, the government claim that the education system provides equality and education to all which surely would not serve to maintain a capitalist society. Marx’s first point suggests that education surely does not provide equality, this is for reasons being that education is a meritocratic institution that only benefits the student which conform with the desired qualities, such as doing as they are told and being high academic achievers.
The life the worker has given to the object confronts him or her as hostile and foreign. This refers to objectification, that is the product of the workers own labour, and the alienation and the loss of the object the worker has produced (Morrison 2009). Within capitalism individuals who work harder strengthen the power of a hostile structure which stands over them. Their inner
As a result, it is possible to interpret the industrialization like another form of slavery because it is a nuisance to the worker’s freedom. Indeed, it is a fact; factories owner have a total control on the workers. They take decision without any consent, and they only seek their profits. In fact, Sam tells us about the factories owners’ behavior by denouncing the changes in the lunch hours. (Patch, 67) It is true that the workers are proud of their skills especially the spinners like in Sam Patch, but sometimes fighting back is an obligation.
Through the course of this essay, these concepts will be explored in more detail together with the metaphor of the ‘iron cage’ put in context with theories of rationalization and bureaucratization in modern society. In Weber’s ‘iron cage’ model, the bureaucratization of modern society puts civil servants at the forefront with the ability to monopolize power: “a fettering of every individual to his job, his class, and maybe to his occupation” takes place. Making money becomes an objective for the individual and capitalism makes it appear as if they have no other choice. Material goods therefore hold power over man as spiritual and moral values fade. Weber describes this as ‘disenchantment’, where sublime values are replaced by constructed ones.
As a result labour is objectified, that is labour becomes the object of mans existence. As labour is objectified man becomes disillusioned and enslaved. Marx argues that man becomes to be viewed as a commodity worth only the labour he creates and man is further reduced to a subsisting animal void of any capacity of freedom except the will to labour. For Marx this all leads to the emergence of private property, the enemy of the proletariat. In fact Marx's writing on estranged labour is a repudiation of private property- a warning of how private property enslaves the worker.
Durkheim sees anomie as responsible for the world’s disorder of economics- the lack of morality and regulation resulted in overpowering the weak; thus, he feels that only norms can prevent the abuse of power and calls for regulation and equal opportunity from birth- the greater the equal opportunity the less need for restraint. Marx looked at how capitalism separated humanity by making work a simple means of individual existence. In addition he describes society in terms of class and economic conflicts. Marx saw proletariat or people of a working class as being underneath the bourgeoisie or the capitalist of a modern society. Marx looked at how alienation of production of commodities by workers also leads to alienation of social life.