Free Essays on Socialism to Get Inspired & Learn by Example

Socialist critiques of capitalism

Prior to embarking upon a detailed analysis of the socialist critique of capitalism it is imperative to understand and appreciate the conflicting ideologies of these schools of thought and how they have evolved throughout history. Capitalism and socialism are vastly different systems, both politically and economically, that emerged as responses to an altering world order after the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Prior to the tremendous changes wrought by the rapid technological advances, the world’s economies were not complex and social order was determined by the ruling aristocracy or the Church. The Industrial Revolution and its circumstances paved Continue reading...

Introduction

American politics have been divided on a number of major issues for generations, and social welfare is no exception. Generally, there are two schools of thought. Liberals, most commonly associated with the Democratic Party, are in favor of a collective responsibility for the welfare of the poor. Generally, they believe that all American’s have a responsibility to provide for the welfare of the less fortunate, and to ensure that even strangers are provided with the basics for their well-being. Conversely, conservatives, most often associated with the Republican Party, are dedicated to the idea of Individual Responsibility, which demands Continue reading...

Karl Marx writes extensively about idea of capitalism and what it has meant for the plethora of people who have not benefited from the system. During Marx’s time, the western world was, by and large, capitalistic; the systems were unrestrained and had no checks and balances in place to ensure that the actors in the system were acting morally (Tucker). Essentially, the capitalistic system was a free for all, and actors in the system were free to oppress people as they saw fit to make a profit (Tucker). It was this inequality that Marx tried to address in Continue reading...

The post 1989 era saw the emergence of capitalism in Eastern Europe. Most socialist governments in Europe reformed their economic and political policy. The need to develop a global economy in these states saw the countries align to the western concepts of economic policy. There were reactions about the emergency of capitalist economies Eastern Europe. There were several readjustments which had to be adopted by many States such as Poland, Germany and Hungary. In these states the governments had taken up factors of production from private persons. The governments owned property which it redistributed to the people. The rapid Continue reading...

Socialism emerged as the burgeoning working class’s response to the socio-economic dislocation and bifurcation they experienced amidst drastic changes that took place in western societies as industrialization and modernization were transpiring. Reframing the public dialogue about capitalism, Freidrich Engels and Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto, a seminal and path-breaking treatise that continues to resonate in modern times, rendered the new, urban, working- class a politically potent yet cogent force that fortified and edified the terms for any and all discussions regarding the relationship between the working class (proletariats) and the middle class. However, F. Engels wrote that Marx was Continue reading...

There are a number of important ways that political theories have shaped the world. Different people have different understandings of the ways governments should work, and these varied understandings have, of course, led to a number of conflicts, wars, and even genocides over the years. In today’s world, most countries have abandoned their socialist and communist political traditions in favor of republicanism; however, different countries all have different elements of nationalism, absolutism, socialism, communism, totalitarianism, Islamism, and republicanism in their political systems.
Nationalism is not necessarily a political system in the same way as many of these other Continue reading...

What for Marx is a commodity?

Marx analyzed the product and its properties in the first volume of "Capital". The richness of modern society consists of goods. This product is a product of labor, not produced for own consumption of the manufacturer or persons related to him, and to exchange it for other products. Consequently, not natural, and social features of the product make it a commodity.

Marx identifies two factors of product:

1) Consumption value. This product is an external object (thing) which satisfies any human needs because of its properties. Commodity body is use-value or benefit. The use-value is realized only in the use or consumption. The exchange value Continue reading...

Classical economics is broadly regarded as the origin of the modern economic school of thought. Virtually, traditional economics describes the work of a group of economists in the 18th century and 19th century. The core developers of the classical school of thought include David Ricardo, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill and Thomas Malthus. Classical economic theory is a principal contribution to the philosophical shift; classical liberalism. Technically, classical liberalism came as a philosophical movement in the mid-1700s. The concept emerged as the anti-feudalist ideology and advocated that freedom and rights are embedded in the individualistic state. Centering on individual Continue reading...

The art of Fetishism of Commodities and Machinery affects the social lives and behavior given that they directly affect the capitalism. There have been appearances and disappearances of these commodities. In addition, the fetish of the commodities appears at particular times based on the social needs and disappears after a period of application. Some of the products for the study include paintings as described by Robinson and the recruiters’ machinery from Rosado (Robinson, 2007). These paintings also included the Kings painting by Velazquez and the Napoleon paintings that lead the army over the Elps as described by Kehinde Wiley. Continue reading...

Why does Marx say – what is his argument for the claim that – none of the so-called rights of man, therefore go beyond egoistic man, beyond man as a member of civil society? (Address each of the rights Marx discusses: liberty, property, equality, security, for Marx, civil society means the economy, the sphere of economic interaction).
The phrase that was quoted in the question was from one of Karl Marx’s most popular work, On the Jewish Question. This particular work was not intended to be one that portrays the different circumstances how and why an individual’s rights, at Continue reading...