Essay On Marxism

Laura Greene

SOC 421 Section 1002

Fall 2013

Dr. Mann

Marxist Theories in Todays Society

Karl Marx was a German philosopher whose work are thought to still have an influence even on todays society. Marx believed that material goods were the root of the social world and that social life is fundamentally about conflict over food, land, money, and other material goods. The ideal government for Marx would be a communist state where resources are equally shared. However, here in America it seems we will always have a democratic government where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. For my final paper I will use the marxist theoretical ideas to investigate how Wal-Mart uses their economic and financial power to exploit their workers and suppliers. I will use Marx’s theory to understand how Wal-Mart not only manipulates and exploits its employees and suppliers but, also how they are able to alienate their employees. Marx’s theories remain as powerful framework for explaining the actions of a billion dollar multinational company because of its focus Wage-Labor, Surplus Value and Alienation. By sharing with the reader the reasons why Wal-Mart should be considered a threat to our society by using Marx theories, I hope to bring attention the true cost of getting things for a bargain. For the purpose of this paper I will be focusing on his theories about Wage-Labor, Surplus Value and Alienation and using them to explain Wal-Marts actions.

Throughout the course of his life, Marx came up with many theories. However, Marx was very interested in the topic of capitalism.nCapitalism can be defined as being an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by th...

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...ncome. However, today’s materialistic society is so obsessed with the idea of commodity fetishism that we are blinded by the effects of it. We only think of where we can buy great products at low prices? Wal-Mart is always the answer, but if only we knew at what price of exploiting and alienating their employees, would we change out minds. Consumers never see the work that goes into making the product or how the labor has turned the worker into nothing but another commodity. All the consumer sees is the status or wealth depicted by the product. In all capitalism is what keeps our society in order. Even though Wal-Mart has become the bourgeoisie that Marx was against and feared, he would be happy to say that his prediction came true. In all, through these examples, I hope to open the publics eyes and show them at what cost their bargains are costing the workers.