Source: Stevepb

It’s the ultimate question when addressing Marxists theory. Was Karl Marx, right? Is capitalism on a trajectory nearing closer to its own demise day by day? Before you go and buy every single book by Marx. Consider these answers.

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Marx was right about a lot of things, and he was wrong about a lot of things. Capitalism does increasingly produce inequality, inequality does lead to instability, however, he was oddly optimistic that there was an easily determined outcome. Where he saw an inevitable improvement through people becoming self aware, he underestimated the control and strength corporate interests would grow to have over state power.

Personally, I think we see a closer evolution towards corporate feudalism in which companies will appropriate income to themselves and provide basic necessities in exchange for raw manpower, whether that is in the form of underpaid labour, or simply consumer data.

turambarrr

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Totally. That’s why I think it’s important to follow up Marx’s thoughts with Weber’s additions on rationalization and disenchantment. obviously this is a huge oversimplification but basically, Marx showed that capitalism is inherently unstable and Weber shows us how we continue to deal with that inherent instability and have avoided a breaking point so far.

I do think that 2018 capitalism in America is pretty much indistinguishable from all of Marx’s most pessimistic critiques of capitalism.

jon_naz

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Certain aspects of Marx’s critique are useful and insightful but it doesn’t all 100% translate into real life. However, while I agree capitalism isn’t certainly doomed to specifically a proletariat uprising, it is definitely unsustainable as is.

V_Niloticus

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The biggest mistake with Marxism as a sociological theory is that it assumes society has the same qualities of a boiling tea kettle and the big changes the theory “predicts” are always, in Marxists’ heads, bound to happen rather than never happened. Truth is this is a very simplistic way of looking at changes in society, and a confusion of ‘map’ and ‘territory’.

Society isn’t following a prescribed path. If there will ever be a “downfall” of capitalism worldwide in favor of a “worker’s revolution” it will be the result of very careful planning and mass action, as evidenced by the nations that went, communist.

gibsanchez

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I disagree. I believe he was talking about the inevitable downfall of capitalism without outside interference. Like the monkey and the typewriter, eventually, we will revolve the wheel to inherently change society as a whole and find a perfect will to work together. Kind of a social evolution towards an inevitable utopia.

I don’t necessarily agree with Marx, but it’s a smart, incredibly thought-provoking idea. In contrast, Lenin’s interpretation struck me as someone looking at a long-term ideal and going “yea! Let’s do that! Just right now and with overpowering force”. He totally missed the point. And then that missed point was hijacked by Stalin to be even more debilitating to his people.

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I find it problematic to say that anything is “inevitable”.

No, it’s not “inevitable”, the idea that you can safely make predictions based on sociological and historical trends is flawed, simply because there are too many factors that can influence a society.

I would recommend The Poverty of Historicism by Karl Popper.

HellenicLady

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