Economic Inequality Research Paper

934 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Equality essay us history

Kenya Guidry SOC 545 10/9/14 Research Paper US Economic Inequality: A Marxian Perspective The United State arose from an idea that all people are created equal, and that all people have the same life chances as those in their cohort. The primary goal of the Founding Fathers was to create a place in which all people would have the same access to their inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of land. While many would argue that this is still the primary goal of Americans today, others would posit that the goals and ideals held by the Founding Fathers is a lot different now. It seems that economic inequality in the US is one of the most debated topics in politics today. Throughout the years, the numbers of those who suffer from …show more content…

Technology, tools, and other sources of labor are the forces of production that make up one part of the mode of production. The other part of capitalism, and the part that contributes the most to the economic inequality in capitalism, is the relations of production. These are the relationships between classes that become institutionalized through the capitalist mode of production. Through these relations, the bourgeoisie are able to decide which jobs are given to the proletariat, how much they are paid, and how the proceeds from the commodities are …show more content…

Because the bourgeoisie garnish all of the profit while the proletariat creates the goods that are being sold for that profit, the bourgeoisie have the power to distribute money to the proletariat in whatever fashion they deem appropriate. The proletariat has minimal power, and the lack of it leads to poor working standards, long workdays, and minimal profit to justify these conditions. While the face of capitalism that Marx and Engels came to know has changed over the century since their evaluation and criticism, what has not changed is the distribution of power, and the inequality that is a direct effect of this mode of production. Marx and Engels predicted that conflict between the forces of productions and the relations of productions are destined to ensue, and a new mode of production will arise from this contradiction. All class conflict that has happened throughout history has followed this timeline, and Marx and Engels posit that the same fortune is destined to happen to the capitalist societies of the West. While this never happened in their lifetime, nor has it happened since, it would not be difficult to imagine it happening in present time or soon after. [Finish

Show More
Related

  • The Communist Manifesto and The Jungle

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    Modern industry has replaced the privately owned workshop with the corporate factory. Laborers file into factories like soldiers. Throughout the day they are under the strict supervision of a hierarchy of seemingly militant command. Not only are their actions controlled by the government, they are controlled by the machines they are operating or working with, the bourgeois supervisors, and the bourgeois manufacturer. The more open the bourgeois are in professing gain as their ultimate goal, the more it condemns the proletariat.

    Read More

  • Kuyper Against Marx

    1801 Words  | 4 Pages

    Marx states that the bourgeoisie not only took advantage of the proletariat through a horrible ratio of wages to labor, but also through other atrocities; he claims that it was common pract...

    Read More

  • Economic Inequality - Taking Sides Article

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    Taking Sides Summary-Analysis Form. Title and Author of Article: Christopher Jencks. Briefly state the main idea of this article: The main idea of this article is that economic inequality has steadily risen in the United States between the richest people and the poorest people. And this inequality affects the people in more ways than buying power; it also affects education, life expectancy, living conditions and possibly happiness.

    Read More

  • The Marx-Engels Reader By Robert Tucker

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    Division of labor created alienation for the proletarians, this is why Marx suggest abolishing the private property. The lower class stop living for themselves and live to make their owners rich. This is a problem because everyone that does not belong to the upper class suffer economically and mentally. If this pattern does not change then it will continue to be passed generation after generation. “... by the overthrow of the existing state of society by the communist revolution and the abolition of private property which is identical with it, this power, which so baffles the German theoreticians, will be accomplished in the measure in which history becomes transformed into world history” (p.163). Abolishing private property will set the lower class free and bring desire to live once again and thrive. To break this barrier economic power needs to be removed from the hands of privileged

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Karl Marx's Writing Of The Communist Manifesto

    2472 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Capitalists have their own idea of justice which suits their own needs and desires, evidently overlooking the waged class. This leading to the waged class forming their own concept of justice as Cohen points out “The exploited class… the proletariat, develops a conception of justice different from the prevailing one and arrives at a negative evaluation of the existing distribution of productive wealth and income.” (Cohen, M. 2014) on top of this Husami states: “it is valid… for the proletariat and its spokesmen to criticize capitalist distribution using proletarian standards of justice. Marx… offers such a critique.” (Husami, 1978). Through this argument, it shows that Marx condemned capitalism as unjust through the use of justice from the waged workers point of view. Marx was adamant that the capitalist state was only beneficial for the individuals who are able to exploit it in order to reach the top of the social

    Read More

  • Capitalism: A Love Story By Michael Marx

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    To begin, the focus of profit and self-interest, leads to the industrial revolution and technological advances that inevitably lead to the universal war of devastation due to the mass over production of consumed goods. The proletariat,

    Read More

  • Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx

    899 Words  | 2 Pages

    Much of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto discusses the relationship between how a capitalist society produces its’ goods and how this affects the social structure of the society. Throughout the manifesto, Marx used the term mode of production to refer to how a given society structures its’ economic production, it also refers to how a society produces and with what capital the society produces. Human capital plays a large part in Marx’s communist manifesto, concerning himself with the relations of production, which refers to the relationship between those who own the means of production (bourgeoisie) and those who do not own the fruit of their labor (proletariat). This is where Marx believes that one can find the causes of conflict, asserting history evolves through the mode of production. The constant evolution of the mode of production toward a realization of its’ full potential productivity capacity, creates dissensions between the classes of people, which in capitalism, are defined by the modes of production (owners and workers). Marx believes that one such dissension is that since Capitalism is a mode of production based on private ownership of the means of production, and entities within a capitalistic economy produce property to be exchanged to stay competitive, these entities are forced to drive the wage level for its’ labor as low as possible so as to stay competitive. In turn, the proletariat must create means with which they can keep the interests of the bourgeoisie in check, trying to avoid being exploited to the point of extirpation. Marx holds that this example shows the inherent conflicting nature of the social infrastructure of production, which will in turn give rise to a class struggle culminating in the overthrow ...

    Read More

  • The Hunger Games Analysis

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to our text, Conflict Theory explains that in a capitalist system society is fundamentally divided between two classes: the working class, whose only resource is labor, and the powerful bourgeoisie, who own of the means of production and have seemingly unlimited access to resources such as housing, food, money, services, and political representation. (Schaefer 14). Viewing Western society in this way, Marx explained that struggle between these two social classes was inevitable due to the oppression and exploitation of the working class, otherwise known as the proletariat, by the bourgeoisie. Furthermore, Marx maintained that the capitalist system of economic relationships (demonstrated by unequal distribution of resources), social relationships (demonstrated by class stratification among other things), and political relationships (demonstrated by political representation as well as widespread propaganda) maintained the power and dominance of the few elite owners over the many workers and that the solution to this...

    Read More

  • The Communist Manifesto Analysis

    1053 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Communist Manifesto we see early versions of essential Marxist concepts that Marx would elaborate with more scientific rigor in mature writings such as Das Kapital. Perhaps most important of these concepts is the theory of historical materialism, which states that historical change is driven by collective actors attempting to realize their economic aims, resulting in class struggles in which one economic and political order is replaced by another. One of the central tenets of this theory is that social relationships and political alliances form around relations of production. Relations of production depend on a given society’s mode of production, or the specific economic organization of ownership and division of labor. A person’s actions, attitudes, and outlook on society and his politics, loyalties, and sense of collective belonging all derive from his location in the relations of production. History engages people as political actors whose identities are constituted as exploiter or exploited, who form alliances with others likewise identified, and who act based on these

    Read More

  • two ways of looking at history

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Marx and Engels, inequality in European society worsened the relationship and widen the gap between the ruling class, which was the owning class of all factors of production and the working class people who were prov...

    Read More

  • Income Inequality

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The income gap in America has been increasing steadily since the late 1970’s, and has now reached historic highs not seen since the 1920’s (Desilver). UC Berkeley economics professor, Emmanuel Saez conducted extensive research on past and present income inequality statistics and published them in his report “Striking it Richer.” Saez claims that changes in technology, tax policies, labor unions, corporate benefits, and social norms have caused income inequality. He stands to advocate a change in American economic policies that will help close this inequality gap and considers institutional and tax reforms that should be developed to counter it. Although Saez’s provides legitimate causes of income inequality, I highly disagree with the thought of making changes to end income inequality. In any diverse economic environment, income inequality will exist due to the rise of some economically successful people and the further development of factors that push people into poverty. I believe income inequality e...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Movie 'Bicycle Thieves' 6

    720 Words  | 2 Pages

    But most prominently, it portrays the evident social disparity between the upper-class and the lower-class. The aforementioned 'upper-class' refers to the bourgeoisie. "When modern industry was formed in the world market, the fast spreading industry helped the bourgeoisie to develop. According to Marx, the bourgeoisie is the result of a long way development, it was the product of the revolutions in the aspect of product and exchange"7 The entire relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat is based on oppression. One cannot exist without the other, and the role of the bourgeoisie reaches it's crux when it is pushing the 'lower class' further down the hierarchy. the oppression is a given, in order to increase the profits incurred by the producer. In relation to class conflict George and Wilding8 comment, "Protests and demonstrations, both peaceful and violent, wage negotiations and strikes, voting at parliamentary and local elections, political debates and so on are all part and parcel of the ongoing class conflict that is inherent in a capitalist

    Read More

  • Social Superstructure Essay

    1140 Words  | 3 Pages

    The inequalities between the bourgeois ruling class, who own the means of production and all excess capital, and the proletariat class, who provide the labor in an unfair trade, has resulted in a history of class warfare. Marx predicted that continuing class warfare would get so bad as to culminate in a revolution with the end goal being a Communistic economy with class distinctions, and private ownership of the means of production, being abolished and equal for all. Obviously, this hypothesized revolution never came to pass, but that does not make his theories and observations any less

    Read More

  • Essay On Income Inequality

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    Income inequality continues to increase in today’s world, especially in the United States. Income inequality means the unequal distribution between individuals’ assets, wealth, or income. In the Twilight of the Elites, Christopher Hayes, a liberal journalist, states the inequality gap between the rich and the poor are increasing widening, and there need to have things done - tax the rich, provide better education - in order to shortening the inequality gap. America is a meritocratic country, which means that everybody has equal opportunity to be successful regardless of their class privileges or wealth. However, equality of opportunity does not equal equality of outcomes. People are having more opportunities to find a better job, but their incomes are a lot less compared to the top ten percent rich people. In this way, the poor people will never climb up the ladder to high status and become millionaires. Therefore, the government needs to increase all the tax rates on rich people in order to reduce income inequality.

    Read More

  • Marx Class Analysis On Class And Weber's Working Class

    1422 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Marx the capitalist and the working class depend on each other – capitalist need labour, workers need wages this is why Marx meant class

    Read More

More about Economic Inequality Research Paper

Open Document