Karl Marx

Ideologies

Karl Marx: 

- Despised capitalism 
- Moved from Germany to London
- Loved communism 

His critiques of capitalism: 

  •  Modern work is alienated:
 Jobs in today's society lack individualism. 

They don't allow individuals to contribute a lot to existence

  • Modern work is insecure:
Capitalism makes individuals expendable (little significance) especially in mass production 

  • Workers get little while capitalists get rich 
Marx believed capitalists decrease the wages of the labourers 

Capitalists see profit as a reward, Marx saw profit as theft of talent and hard work of labourers 

  • Capitalism is very unstable
Crises that occur are 'covered up' by capitalists as they state the tragic event will be the last one and is freakish

Crises are ENDEMIC to capitalists 

Capital crises are of abundance 

  • Capitalism is bad for capitalists
Marx believes that the capitalist system forces everyone to put economic interests at the heart of their lives. This affects many relationships as couples remain together, despite hating each other, for financial benefit. He called this COMMODITY FETISHISM because it makes us value things that have no effective value 

He wanted people to be freed from financial constraint so they could make sensible decisions in relationships 

Marx states that capitalism shapes our views. These views are not facts, although capitalism would claim them to be, but instead valued judgments that relate to the economic system. E.g those who don't work are immoral, those who take a very long holiday are not hard working etc. 

Capitalist ideas teach us all to be competitive, conformist and complacent 

Marx discussed his version of a utopian society. This included:

Free public education 
Steeply graduated income tax 
Centralised control of the banking, communication and transport industries 
No private property or inherited wealth
 






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