For Marx, Capitalism Is ‘A Progressive Historical Stage

For Marx, capitalism is ‘a progressive historical stage that would eventually stagnate due to internal contradictions.’ (Blunden, 2002) This means that the frequently developing means of production will strengthen the contradictions that are at the base of capitalism. Capitalism consists of two main features. The first is the free market, which means that everything is owned and looked at in terms of what profit is made. Competition drives the market so supply and demand creates things people want. However, the free market holds two problems, which contradict the ideology of capitalism. The free market causes pollution and due to the unrestricted power of the top 1%, there are unjust inequalities. Therefore, due to these inequalities,†¦show more content†¦Marx believes in class-consciousness as opposed to self-consciousness. This means that people work together for the good of the group, as opposed to working for the good of themselves. Consequently, individuali sation is wrong because it eliminates group production. Alienation therefore corrupts human beings development due to a self-centred outlook, and private property encourages this due to the way it excludes everyone uninvolved. It promotes individualisation and creates the illusion that group efforts and sharing are wrong. Subsequently, ‘the abolition of private property constitutes the emancipation of humanity as the relation of person to person is immediate rather than mediated through things.’ (Blunden, 2002) Therefore, without private property agents are liberated through the ability to communicate and work with other human beings, creating class-consciousness, rather than being negotiated though material objects for personal gain. Again, this shows the relationship between ideology, power and capitalism because the power one believes they possess in the form of their own labour, corrupts their ideology into believing they need to work alone for the benefit of their own good by increasing their own capital as opposed to helping others and having a class-conscience. CapitalismShow MoreRelated Karl Marx Essay1742 Words   |  7 Pagesnamed Karl Marx (1818-1883). In this essay I aim to explore and critically assess his ideas, theories, and studies in his contribution to sociology, and if his ideas, theories and studies are useful to this contribution to sociology. Sociology began in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Western Europe. Around this time, the political and economic systems in Europe were changing. 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