How did capitalism affect the lives of the middle class and the lower classes ?
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Capital is a social relation, which constitutes the structure of social classes in capitalist societies.
There are two main classes in capitalist societies. The property owning capitalist class and the propertyless working class. Private property, commonly understood through its universal equivalent form (money), is the capitalists’ source of social power. It gives them control over the working lives of the propertyless masses, who survive by selling their labor power to capitalists for a wage. The money earned through wages is taken to the market and used to purchase life’s necessities. Capitalists that produce unsaleable commodities, or salable commodities that are produced inefficiently, get devoured by other capitalists in the market.
Thus capitalism affects social structure through property relations and the market. The ‘logic of capital’ creates its own imperatives that are independent of individual or collective control once set in motion. Capitalism dictates the social terms of existence and continually reproduces itself. If you are a capitalist, you will compete with other capitalist, you will exploit labor, you will accumulate, or you will no longer be capitalist. If you are a worker, you will compete with other workers, you will be dependent on the market for life’s necessities, you will sell your labor power to a capitalist, or you will starve...or revolt.
Capitalism’s ‘logic’ is expansionary, also. From its first iteration in 16/17th cent. England, capitalism has compelled non-capitalist countries to conform to its dictates. As Marx put it, “the cheap prices of commodities are the heavy artillery with which it batters down all Chinese walls.” Capitalism has, in fact, broken China’s wall over the last few decades. After Deng Xiaoping’s neoliberal reforms in 1978, more and more peasants have been compelled to work in factories as the logic of capitalism takes over their country. That is, capitalism is changing the social structure of China. The capitalist-worker social relation is becoming more entrenched as China broadens its influence on the world market.
There are two main classes in capitalist societies. The property owning capitalist class and the propertyless working class. Private property, commonly understood through its universal equivalent form (money), is the capitalists’ source of social power. It gives them control over the working lives of the propertyless masses, who survive by selling their labor power to capitalists for a wage. The money earned through wages is taken to the market and used to purchase life’s necessities. Capitalists that produce unsaleable commodities, or salable commodities that are produced inefficiently, get devoured by other capitalists in the market.
Thus capitalism affects social structure through property relations and the market. The ‘logic of capital’ creates its own imperatives that are independent of individual or collective control once set in motion. Capitalism dictates the social terms of existence and continually reproduces itself. If you are a capitalist, you will compete with other capitalist, you will exploit labor, you will accumulate, or you will no longer be capitalist. If you are a worker, you will compete with other workers, you will be dependent on the market for life’s necessities, you will sell your labor power to a capitalist, or you will starve...or revolt.
Capitalism’s ‘logic’ is expansionary, also. From its first iteration in 16/17th cent. England, capitalism has compelled non-capitalist countries to conform to its dictates. As Marx put it, “the cheap prices of commodities are the heavy artillery with which it batters down all Chinese walls.” Capitalism has, in fact, broken China’s wall over the last few decades. After Deng Xiaoping’s neoliberal reforms in 1978, more and more peasants have been compelled to work in factories as the logic of capitalism takes over their country. That is, capitalism is changing the social structure of China. The capitalist-worker social relation is becoming more entrenched as China broadens its influence on the world market.
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