Estranged Labor

Estranged labor by Marx focuses on competition, division of labor and why people are classified in the divisions they are. Society is broken into two classes, property owners and property less workers and the only way to achieve what is believed to be greatness in one’s society is to compete within the external world and especially the work place. Together, the numerous individuals that are striving for greatness will combine to become a capitalistic society. This will eventually turn full circle, and the surplus of workers that has created ore capital will have an adverse effect, and the cycle will begin again.

I never realized the cycle that lead to primitive accumulation. Poverty in itself along with the thought of it, makes people nervous. From this idea, people work as hard as possible to avoid crossing the poverty line. This is even seen in America today. When you look back, college was prestigious, and those that attended college got the best jobs, and were almost guaranteed to succeed. In today’s world, college is something that is expected, and even after attending college, the job market does not guarantee a job in your field, or even a job at all. This means that the once privileged are now at the bottom of the food chain. The idea of returning to primitive times introduced by Marx can be related to something we all understand, our own economy.

While reading, I came across the quote “but an increase in the variable component of the capital employed necessitates an increase in its constant component, too, in the workshops”. If creating jobs is as easy as people working hard, then why is the economy in the situation it is today? The capitalistic character reflects that of a extremely hard worker, which is what an American is supposed to be, working hard to achieve greatness. If this is the case, our unemployment rate should be at a low percentage, and therefore our economy should be thriving.