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
The strength of the economy encouraged Americans to take out more loans and buy more stocks, making them susceptible to future changes in the economy. The freedom caused financial markets to crash globally which helped power the Great Depression. Another example of lack of government intervention was the robber barons, a term referring to the wealthy and powerful businessmen in the 18th century. They were also known as “pure capitalists”, because they believed in an economic system that involved minimal interference from the government. Those working for robber barons were beaten and threatened, and the working conditions were terrible.
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. Marx argued that the organisation of production in a society shapes the nature of society – refers to this as base/superstructure. The base of the infrastructure is the economy – determines the ideas of society and superstructure – social, cultural, political and ideological parts of society. All history can be divided into five epochs/period; primitive consumerism – everything is shared, in class
The dominant form of industrial organization by the end of the nineteenth century was A. The putting-out system B. Cottage industry C. The factory system D. The guild system E. A socialist-directed economy 3. The Luddites A. Were the first Utopian Socialist thinkers B. Were the industrial workers that Marx felt would be the eventual victors in the revolution C. Led the movement away from traditional crafts manufacture and toward the factory system D. Were crafts workers who destroyed textile machines E. Promoted industrial advancement through their work in Parliament 4.
By 1933, almost half of those banks had failed. Two economists of the 1920s, Waddell Catchings and William Trufant Foster, popularized a theory that influenced many policy makers, including Herbert Hoover, Henry A. Wallace. It held the economy produced more than it consumed, because the consumers did not have enough income. Thus the unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920s caused the Great Depression. According to this view, the root cause of the Great Depression was a global over-investment in heavy industry capacity compared to wages and earnings from independent businesses, such as farms.
Undermine the self-initiative that defines the American spirit. Lack solid stances and clear direction since liberalists believe society is in a constant state of growth and flunctuation. According to Marx, workers produce more than what they get as their wages from their employers. The capitalist employers get the services of labour cheap but they sell the goods, produced by labour, at a rate higher than the amount spent on wages and upkeep of the factory. They appropriate this excess or surplus value by exploiting the labour as profit.
Using material from Item A and elsewhere assess different Marxist views of the relationship between crime and social class. Traditional Marxism sees capitalist society as divided into two classes: the ruling capitalist class (or bourgeoisie) who own the means of production, and the working class (or proletariat), who’s alienated labour the bourgeoisie exploit to produce profit. Marxism is a structural theory. It sees society as a structure in which the economic base (the capitalist economy) determines the shape of the superstructure, which is made up of all the other social institutions, including the state, the law and the criminal justice system. Their function is to serve ruling-class interests and maintain the capitalist economy.
Outline and evaluate marxist explanations of crime (45) The Marxist theory in general splits society in half, the rich and the poor. With the poor being exploited by the rich. This theory appears to be the basis for all Marxist perspective including the Marxist explanations of crime and deviance. Karl Marx stated that crime was the product of poverty and the traditional Marxist view regarding the cause of crime amongst the working classes is competition and the desire to become wealthy and live a middle class life. The working class want the ‘things’ that they see the middle classes with but they can't afford them so they resort to crimes such as stealing as a means of getting what they want.
This perspective states that inequalities are caused due to capitalism in society. At the end of World War 2, William Beveridge highlighted “the 5 giant evils” which were the immediate cause of the various range of welfare
the bourgeoisie is based on the foundation of the family, capital and private profit, that is, the family relation is reduced to the money relation. Because of the great industry, all the family ties of the proletarians are already fragmented. When the capital is destroyed, both families will disappear. Subsequently, the private home business will be transformed into a social industry, where child care and education will become social and institutionalized. In fact, since Marx adopted the theory of conflict, the capitalist exploiter in society is experiencing at the extreme, the proletarian consciousness of the triggers and the fall of the capitalist society and the coming of communism.