Marx on Historical Change & Capitalism
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The focal problem for Marx and his followers has been the analysis of capitalism. Marx wanted to penetrate the surface of the system and to discover its concealed essence. Marx determined that the concealed essence of capitalism could be found in its history, and that this essence and history were then preserved in disguise within its existing institutions and beliefs. History thus was the entry point for the study of capitalism. This is the materialist interpretation of history, based on the view that what gives history its meaning is material life, meaning economic forces. From this standpoint, Marx was studying classical political economy, but the method he selected is what married this study to Hegelian philosophy. The dialectical element, derived from Hegel, emerged from the realization that there is extreme tension caused by the unequal relations between the superior and inferior classes within society. The main driving force of historical change is thus seen to be the class struggle, and this is associated with a dialectical view because it reveals a contradiction located within all modes of production, a contradiction between the forces of production and the relations of production. In The Grundrisse, Marx sets forth his views on the method of political economy as a study of material production, and he refers here to individuals producing in society and not to the isolated hunter or fisherman. The further back we go in history, the more the individual appea
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ion in a different sense in the individual's loss of control, of personal wholeness, an alienation that is basically economic. It is not timeless but is the result of economic forces in capitalism and is a consequence of private property. The work is external to the worker and is not part of his nature, so rather than fulfilling himself in the work he denies himself. Such work is imposed rather than voluntary. It is not the satisfaction of a specific need but is rather the means for satisfying other needs. Human nature is being thwarted in this system, reshaped into an objectified thing, and only the abolition of private property will create a situation where true human nature, fulfilling itself in itself, can come to the fore.
This was a concept that derived from Marx's analysis of capital and his conception of the subject matter of classical political economy. He developed his conceptions of alienation fully in Capital and in other works and demonstrated how the political economy always involved a class struggle that would only be ended when one class had achieved ascendancy over all others.
Work Cited
Tucker, Richard C. The Marx-Engels Reader. New York: W.W. Norton, 1978.
Marx writes about the Paris Commune a
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2413
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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