Shacquerra Hamilton November 5, 2013 HIST 102 T02 Jonathan Gantt Criticisms of Imperialism: John A. Hobson European imperialism in the 19th century was a process in which more powerful and wealthy European countries took over and dominated smaller and underdeveloped countries—either formally or informally—for economic interests, such as resources and labor. The most compelling criticism of imperialism would have to be John A. Hobson’s, an English economist and critic of industrialization and capitalism, “Criticisms of Imperialism” (1902), where he addressed imperialism as a chauvinistic business initiative where powerful nations exploited weaker nations, driven by economic greed which would eventually end in war. Hobson’s criticisms of imperialism are most compelling because they were indeed true. Imperialism didn’t begin in the late 19th century, but the brutality of it did. There was always a “backward” race dependence upon a “civilized” power as a colony or sphere of influence, Hobson stated.
Marx: Surplus Value and Class Conflict Karl Marx focused a great deal of his study on capital and capitalism. He argues that surplus value has been created in capitalism. He also argues that this has created a conflict between different classes. In order to understand Karl Marx and his ideas stated above, we must first define surplus value. Then, we will explain the conflict that has been created historically in relation to surplus value.
A result of tariffs on imported goods was that the exporting country would retaliate by imposing tariffs on imports. This would lead to a game of “one-upmanship”, with tariffs inching ever-higher, eventually leading to either a drastic reduction, or even cessation of trade. This choking of international trade eventually depressed world demand, and led to the Great Depression of the 1930s (Hill, 2009, p. 11). After World War II, the leading industrial nations decided to reduce or eliminate restrictions to free trade. One outcome of this effort was the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trades (GATT).
This paper will examine the influence of Karl Marx’s surplus value on the ideas of Paul Sweezy and Paul Baran’s “Monopoly Capital”. Karl Marx’s Theory of Surplus Value In the theory of surplus value, the value of the entire product is produced in the course of the production process with labor contributing most of the value (Mandel). The surplus product and its money form is the residual after producing classes receive their compensation (Mandel; Marx 1867, 5/21/2011; Marx 1894, 5/21/2011). The income of the ruling class, the capitalist, was hence derived from the appropriation of unpaid labor; an act that Marx saw as the exploitation of labor (Mandel; Marx 1867, 5/21/2011). In the “Communist Manifesto”, Engels and Marx wrote: “The bourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together.
“Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today” is the powerful opening line of Tony Judt’s book “Ill Fares the Land”, foreshadowing the writer’s critical attitude. His elaborate description of the current political and social situation does not present Western society benevolently. Selfishness and materialism have become the prevailing socio-economic attitudes and our former sense of political and moral value has given way to preoccupation with the monetary value of objects and actions. While a small number of people in society has accumulated a ridiculous amount of wealth, poverty is increasing among the general public, leading to great inequality and loss of social mobility. Social and economic standards have dropped below the poverty line for a large percentage of the population, causing Judt to refer to the prevailing social problems as the re-opening of the social question.
Other major causes and symptoms of such a severe economic crisis were the quantities of gold stockpiled by particular countries, large number of banks failing during the 1930s, the reduction in money spent by people and huge international trade barriers placed by governments. During this period it is estimated that international trade reduced by as much as 33% because of various factors. Even though the mentioning of the Great Depression indicates and is connected mostly with the USA it was a global event and a global economic depression. Every nation was in some way affected by the Great Depression, some more, some less, but it is considered that China’s silver standard contributed to making this country almost completely avoid the Great Depression. Countries in Europe experienced the depression differently and tried to fight it off differently.
What? I must apply somewhere.” (P. 288) “Advertising is one of the most fascinating phenomena in capitalist markets. It is pervasive, perplexing, multidimensional, and unfathomably rich.” (1) “The rise of Capitalism opened new waves of communication, technology and transformation - advertising consequently increased.”(2) I will analyze my topic from the perspective of Capitalism, the necessity of capitalism for the uplift of the standard of life, and the lack of the principles of humanity and morality in capitalism, which affects the life of the lower class of society to the extreme. When people reaches to such an extreme then the
According to Paul Alexander Gusmorino, the main cause of the drastic downfall was the combination of unequal distribution of wealth and the extensive stock market speculation that took place in the later years of that decade. Speculation is a key term in this area of history. To put it simply, speculation is an involvement in risky business transactions in an attempt to quickly gain large amounts of wealth. The imbalance of wealth led to an unstable economy, while the stock excessive speculation kept the stock marker falsely high, eventually leading to a large crash. Authoritative figures tried to help out the economy in any way they could, but not all ended up helping.
3 Globalization maintains a level of inequality between and among rich and poor countries. Globalization has increased international inequality in many ways; for example, being that poor countries may have been exploited in the past or present due to imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism or exploitation. In this situation, the Marxian point of view on imperialism and even the anti-globalization movement may be appropriate. These countries have had little time to recover their sovereignty, and are now expected to play in an international global market. Internal national inequality may also be an important factor in an underdeveloped country.
Economic reasons were a major factor which helped and affected Hitlers rise to power. In 1923 hyper-inflation conflicted with Germany. People in Germany were affected economically. Production fell and prices rose. Middle classes were hit harder than the upper classes because wealthy people were protected since their wealth was inflation proof, for instance jewelery, art and real estate.