Inequality In Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, And Karl Marx

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Throughout our history as a western civilization, we have made technologic advances and innovations that have furthered ourselves as a society and benefited us greatly by improving the quality of life. However, with these advantages there are also the disadvantages; these advances have also integrated injustice and inequality into our society. Through the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, and Karl Marx, it can be shown how our western society has spiraled into a system of inequality amongst its communities. In Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations”, he describes the advancement of division of labor and its benefits. Division of labor means more productivity, time conservation, as well as improves the quality of work amongst the laborers. …show more content…

Rousseau states how it has created members of society to be dependent on each other as well as makes them compare themselves to others creating a need to be better than the rest, “But from the moment one man began to stand in need of the help of another; from the moment it appeared advantageous to any one man to have enough provisions for two, equality disappeared,” (Rousseau, 255). In which Smith saw division of labor as more advantageous, Rousseau sees it as more disadvantageous, introducing inequality into society. Now, Rousseau’s solution to the injustice wrought on society is to get rid of laws altogether. Laws have driven us further away from our original state of nature and gave powers to the rich and wealthy, “Such was, or may well have been, the origin of society and law, which bound new fetters on the poor, and gave new powers to the rich; which irretrievably destroyed natural liberty, eternally fixed the law of property and inequality, converted clever usurpation into unalterable right, and, for the advantage of a few ambitious individuals, subjected all mankind to perpetual labour, slavery and wretchedness,” (Rousseau, 261). These laws enforcing a need for property and distribution of labor only brings inequality and enslavement, therefore they should be forgotten

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