The Study of Capitalism
The Industrial Revolution, Karl Marx & Max Weber.The powers that were in place for over a millenium were violently shifting. The 19th century was a time filled with revolution & revolutionaries. Industrialization and capitalism were plowing the feudal system into oblivion. The Industrial Revolution created new social classes and, new forms of labor. Karl Marx and Max Weber tried to explain and understand this change.The structure of western society changed forever because of the Industrial Revolution. New technological advances in communications, transportation & mass production were changing the way people lived & worked. These changes were so powerful that the ruling aristocracies of the time feared industry, because it would effect their dominance & social power.The Industrial Revolution was a time of invention. The creation of the steam engine or the atmospheric engine as it was originally named, changed transportation and mass production forever. The introduction of steam power replaced human and animal power in the pro
Advances in communications & transportation made the world a smaller place. The proletarian would develop class-consciousness and become educated. Capitalism depended on over production and the creation of new markets. The impacts the Industrial Revolution had on social thought can be seen through the creation of new social classes. The early days of the Industrial Revolution were blemished with horrible conditions for large numbers of workers, especially in England. Marx believed that the capitalists/bourgeoisie exploited their workers the proletarians so they would become low cost appendages to run a machine. Free public education and equal labor. Mechanical power brought a great increase in worker efficiency, which made goods abundant and cheap. Abusive child labor, long working hours, and dangerous and unhealthy workplaces were common. According to the Bendix readings: Specialization made the lower workers or proletarians experts in their fields, but left them with a narrow knowledge which prevented them from rising in status. It survived reoccurring inflation and deflation crises by the destruction of products, and exploitation of old markets. Marx believed that land and capital should be collectively owned and that the products of the system should be distributed fairly and evenly according to need. A state centralization of banking, communications, transportation, factories and instruments of production. Information began to be transferred quickly. These conditions led Karl Marx to produce his massive indictment of the capitalistic system.
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