MARX’S CAPITALIST EXPLOITATION AND GLOBAL ECONOMY (Essay Sample)

MARX’S CAPITALIST EXPLOITATION AND GLOBAL ECONOMY Name: Course: Tutor: University: Date: Marx’s Capitalist Exploitation and Global Economy Marx’s theory of capitalism and the realities of the global economy raise fundamental issues of sustainability. Global economy is characterized by forces that determine how the market and factors of production relate, the shrinkage or expansion of the market, and the sustainability of production as a means of empowerment for the society (Marx, Mandel and Fowkes 2004, p. 211). Hence, in attempting to analyze the concepts and explanations that would distinguish Marxist approach from the global economy, it is necessary to view the contributions and facets of International Political economy and its approaches. Contrary to Marxist’s theory approach in conceiving economic problem, political economy analyzes and critically considers with a different lens the capacities or productive conditions of social needs and the society, and the coordination that exists between them (Marx, Mandel and Fowkes 2004, p. 215). This is in recognition that separate from the applications of traditional forms of coordination that are either based on culture, kinship ties, or custom, and market mechanism, there is a place for social planning that could offer a more rational outlook of coordination of production elements. Generally, a political economy considers each society’s class structure and exploitation, thus putting into context the role that social conflicts can play in determining the economic undertones that then lead to a productive activity in the market economy (Marx, Mandel and Fowkes 2004, p. 235). Other areas that political economy investigates are the roles power relations and institutions play, with the view that the state is central in any political institution, in the dynamism generated to develop economic relations in answering the social question. Viewed against formalistic marginal analysis that is fronted by Marxist approach, political economy understands that there are specific laws historically that characterize every social organization, and considers this as equally important to understanding forces within an economy (Marx, Mandel and Fowkes 2004, p. 236). From this methodological context that is distinct from the Marxist approach, does the political economy posit that the society decides how and what is to be produced, through which means that includes technology and the productive resources available for production process, and for whom. Marxist approach towards understanding the economy is undoubtedly an influential mechanism in providing a more adequate theoretical and historically astute view in contemplating relationship between nature and people. It also provides a foundation from which this relationship can be understood as it transforms to what it is at the moment (Subasat 2016, p. 34). Production entails the purposeful effect that humans exert on nature to extract raw materials that they then transform into values that are suitable in satisfying human needs. This process requires human labor and the interaction between human beings and nature in this process of production has led to a transformation change in how the two relate, transforming how human beings approach production and exploration of the available resources, and how nature itself transforms as resources are extracted from it for a production agenda by humans (Subasat 2016, p. 54). Marxist approach asserts that the relationship between nature and humans is assisted by technological artifacts and the means of production that is employed, and as the former improves, as it always does even in the present times and continues to transform, there is a potential of producing products in surplus. The effect is that there will be a rise to establish private property institution that eventually leads to a class structure in the society (Subasat 2016, p. 58). The establishment of class structured society will in itself demand existence of different forms of state institutions to protect the interests of certain classes of the society, mainly the ruling class, and continuously, there is a reshaping of class relations. In explaining political economy, Marxist‘s approach bases the principles around the economy on mode of production (Subasat 2016, p. 61). This approach has also found credence in other analysis such as historical and socioeconomic change. In addition, this approach is believed by Marx as resulting to social forces and relations of production as is reflected on specific class structures that generate it, based on dialectical interaction that emanates from an established historical epoch. It is through this theory that capitalist mode of production insinuates that generalized commodity production and wage labor exploitation is a result of primitive accumulation (Subasat 2016, p. 63). It refers in essence, to a class differentiation process that results from direct producers of means of subsistence and production getting dispossessed of their influence, and the same is converted to develop private property for a capitalist class that is emerging in the society (Subasat 2016, p. 118). This feature of capitalist explanation is not only limited to its historical context, but is also relevant in the present international political economy. It is clear from the above deposition that Marx believes that private property and continuous dispossession of most direct producers in an economy creates an estrangement and alienation of nature, while on the other hand, wage labor provides the basis for alienation of working people. It is thus clear that Marxist approach can provide an explanation of capitalist production trends and distribution relations based on prevailing production relations (Subasat 2016, p. 222). It can also go further and analyze the manipulation or determination of social needs within the framework of capitalism. From this basis, it is possible that Marxist approach to capitalism can provide a pathway within its principles for an analysis of ecological impact and nature relations of production. This is the focus of International Political Economy. Marx also alludes to this possibility when he seems to differ from Adam Smith’s assertion that consumption is the only reason for production taking place, and reveal that capitalist production in its overall view is surplus value accumulation (Subasat 2016, p. 227). The impact of this assertion is a realization during capitalism consumption that it is not only consumption under pre-capitalist production modes that is the direct reason for production, but that there are other factors such as profit maximization. International Political Economy sees production and its subsequent profits as factoring in the ecological and social implications of production (Subasat 2016, p. 228). This is because there are political interests on nature preservation that would yield loss creation to the production process if those forces come to bear and fault a production regime. This brings a clear theoretical difference between Marxist theory of capitalist exploitation and the International Political Economy. The arguments on implications of production processes to the environment have also drawn a debate between mainstream economics and factual presentation of the effects of technology, where mainstream economics view technology as a socially neutral factor that is external in its contribution to the production process, while social and contemporary political-economic research reveal that it is not neutral, but socially shaped (Marx, Mandel and Fowkes 2004, p. 304). It is clear then to place technology, which is a key component of International Political Economy, as one of the contributors of ecological degradation as a factor of production in the global economy (Marx, Mandel and Fowkes 2004, p. 316). Viewing Marxist political economy in consideration of capital as a social relation, as technology must be viewed in the present global economy, a deduction can be made on the transnational configuration of how the society and nature relate, and how expansion of capital through its elements denotes the shifting ecological focus that was not a preserve of Marxist theory of capitalist production, but is present in the understanding of international political economy. Marxist theory of imperialism in relation to capitalism England was the classic ground for the understanding of political and global economy during Marx’s development of capitalist mode of production, because of the hegemonic power in the global context that England possessed (Fuchs and Mosco 2016, p. 13). According to Marx, it also exhibited traits of a completely develop production structure that embraced a capitalist approach. Using English capitalism, Marx determined laws that resulted to development of antagonistic features that were a feature of capitalist mode of production (Fuchs and Mosco 2016, p. 14). Criticisms of Marx’s approach that are directed to his singular view of a particular state and interpreting it as relevant to other economies and boundaries is answered conclusively by Marx extrapolating the undertakings of the English in their trade with China, India, and how the American society and other colonies contribute to English capitalism in production (Fuchs and Mosco 2016, p. 17). It therefore offers an elaborate survey of the global economy at the time, and how other colonies of England as Marx referred to them individually responded to the establishment of capitalism production system in England. Proletarian revolution that is Marxism bears its dialectical materialism from political economy and has thus become a victim of vicissitudes that has befallen Marxist movement in recent times, since the perversions and revisions carried out on Stalinism (Fuchs and Mosco 2016, p. 21). This has been the characteristic of the division and variance in established theory of Impe...