Topic > Implications of Capitalism in the 18th, 18th and 19th...

Marx described the same type 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 as benign as Smith claimed, but described a form of “resentment at every level.” (SSK, p. 54-55) Not only did Marx not believe that capitalism was a system based on conflict between individuals and businesses, but he also believed that there was no possibility of giving up, that all individuals in a society were drawn into a capital accumulation cycle. Using the example of Ford from above, the creativity of the worker in a Ford factory is gutted. Instead of building a car from start to finish, it's now reduced to one machine, building just a handle or a switch over and over again. Work, through the capitalist system, has become "external to the worker... he does not feel satisfied, he does not freely develop his physical and mental energies but mortifies his body and ruins his mind. He is at home when he is not working and when he is working he is not at home. His work is therefore not voluntary, but forced;” according to Marx. (SSK, p. 65) Thanks to Marx's deep historical knowledge, he realized that coercion had not been relieved by