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  • Essay / Implications of capitalism in the 18th, 18th and 19th...

    Marx described the same kind of competition that Smith did between social classes, but limited the classes to the working proletariat and the capitalist bourgeoisie. He believed that competition between classes was not only not benevolent as Smith claimed, but depicted a form of "resentment at all levels." (SSK, p. 54-55) Not only did Marx not believe that capitalism was a system based on conflict between individuals and corporations, but he believed that there was no possibility of opting out of it , that all individuals in a society were drawn into a cycle of capital accumulation. Using the example of Ford seen from above, the creativity of workers in a Ford factory is drained. Instead of building a car from start to finish, he is now reduced to a machine, building only a handle or a switch, over and over again. Work, through the capitalist system, has become “external to the worker…he does not feel content, does not freely develop his physical and mental energy but mortifies his body and ruins his spirit. He's at home when he's not working, and when he's working, he's not at home. His work is therefore not voluntary, but forced; » according to Marx. (SSK, p. 65) Through his extensive historical knowledge, Marx realized that coercion had not been freed from power.