Does Marx consider capitalism to be unjust Essay

Does Marx consider capitalism to be unjust - Essay Example This essay will first analyse Marx’s views on capitalist exploitation followed by analysis of literature on those who consider his arguments as pointing to capitalism as unjust and then those who are of the opinion that it not before arriving at a conclusion. Prior to the analysis of Marx’s arguments concerning capitalism, it is imperative to make a brief analysis of his general views of the ideology. To summarize Marx’s views on capitalism exploitation, such efforts must rely on the two facets distinguishable in the wage relation. Firstly, capitalism exploitation according to Marx can be analysed in the context of circulation. Based on circulation framework of capitalism exploitation, Marx claims there is a trade of equivalent values where the worker is given wages for labour-power (Appelrouth, 2008). Workers sell their capacity to work as their commodity whereas from the capitalist, the workers receive in the exchange process, the wages that represents the valu e of the commodity they sell. These wages are seen as being the value of what goes into producing such the labour as commodities for this exchange. Therefore, according to Marx, what workers receive from the capitalist, represents the full equivalent in value of what workers sell consequently, he does not see any reason to believe there is any cheating involved in such a process (Sitton, 2010). Secondly, Marx highlighted capitalism exploitation on the facet of production. Marx claims that workers, whose labour is the main source of the value pegged on commodities produced by the capitalist, will have to work longer hours than the time required reproducing the value equivalent to their own labour-power. This further translates to working for a longer time than is necessary for the value of the wage they have received (Bellofiore, Starosta and Thomas, 2013). Based on this approach of capitalist exploitation, the workers perform surplus labour therefore generating surplus-value to be a ppropriated by the capitalist inform of profits. Marx saw operation of labour-power as creating value that is greater than what the value labour-power itself represents and is purchased for (Struna, 2009). The two facets therefore represents two contrasting features of capitalism, seen in the balancing aspects of the wage relations evident in circulation process and in the in the facet of production, where workers produce surplus value to be appropriated by the capitalist. It is from the two facets of capitalist exploitation that the question whether Marx think it unjust or not stems. If according to Marx there is no injustice or fraud in the wage the capitalist pays for the purchased labour, it is because he saw the capitalist and the labourer exchanging on an equivalent basis. However, this is only true of the preliminary and narrow viewpoint of the circulation process where the wage relation is treated as an exchange of equivalents where there is an exchange of labour for power. Where Marx concentrates his efforts is in the surplus labour, which the worker must render for the capitalist to get his profit. On basis of surplus labour, Marx sees the capitalist