Early Theories on Communism, Capitalism, and the Economy

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Sociologist Karl Marx (who worked mostly with macro theories) was always credited with the creation of communism, but the fact is that it was being practiced in many countries such as the Soviet Union with little influence from him. He did have promoting theories about the concept, but none of which were used the way in which he predicted they would be. All the while, many seem to ignore the work and studies he did on capitalism as well. A very important theory he devised on capitalism is one that has been built on by many while others have built theories in opposition. This theory is defining capitalism as a system of economy that is supported by capitalist owning the necessities for the proletariats, or workers, to work with in order to earn the money they need to survive and support their families. In this scenario, proletariats work extremely hard and do practically everything the business needs yet they receive little pay while their capitalist counter part do very little and reap most of the rewards and, otherwise known as exploitation. Marx also felt that workers were subject to alienation which is when a job forces machine-like, thoughtless activities onto a person, like repetitively doing that same task while completely taking out the human elements such as thinking freely and working alongside others, alienating them and making them feel like robots. Marx predicted that the gap between the two classes would expand greatly and proletarians would have no more hope for improving their lives and revolt against the capitalists once they understood capitalism. This revolution would then create a communist society. Marx’s thoughts on capitalism were nearly spot on, but even though American’s understand capitalism or, at ... ... middle of paper ... ...lth and being successful. They devoted their lives to being wealthy and being stingy. This was considered “good works”, but they also believed in hard work and earning their wealth fairly. Weber called this life style the Protestant ethic. These ideas later blossomed into capitalism because Calvinists strived to be rich and did what they had to do to become that way and keep it. Later down the road, capitalism pulled away from its roots where working hard and being honest was a must. Today, it’s just a big strive for money and power. Though there are little signs of change for the better and not just change towards greed, people will always find a way to survive and better themselves. With the current state of the economy there is bound to be change coming. Towards communism? Maybe, but America seems to be stuck in their ways, but something is coming.

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