Adam smith vrs karl marx

Karl Marx versus Adam Smith
by Lauren M. Twigg
Karl Marx is one of the most controversial figures of the twentieth century, though he lived in the 19th, his legacy has lived on as one of controversy.. As one of the original minds behind communism and a fundamental revolutionary, he is renowned as a radical and somewhat dangerous political philosopher. Adam Smith is the father of economics as ascience. As a member of the school of classical economic thought, Smith fused economics with moral theory regarding the way man ought to live. Smith’s explanations of market forces and the role of the state in economics have shaped our capitalist economic system today. These men have together been placed in the school of classical economics, signaling that there are similarities in their ideology.Politically, however, these men differ greatly. This essay intends to study some of their most poignant theories to discover when and why these men diverged in their political philosophy.

Throughout the years, philosopher-economists have argued various theories, attempting to find the one that will perpetuate the most efficient and lucrative economy. One famous and contested school of thoughtis Classical Economics. The school of Classical Economics has been called the “first modern school of economic thought.” One of the most famous economists of this genre is Adam Smith; some also place political-economist Karl Marx in the company of classical economists. Adam Smith and Karl Marx are polar opposites in the political-economic spectrum, proponents of capitalism and socialismrespectively. Despite their political differences, they share some similarities; though much of their philosophy has been debated and replaced by the Austrian School of Economics, there are points of value to both Adam Smith’s and Karl Marx’s theories.

Classical Economics is a school of thought that emerged during the transition from feudal to capitalist society. Throughout this transition, economistswere met with the task of deciding how the new system would meet the needs of producers and consumers alike. This task was daunting in that the economists had to discover a way in which most consumers, familiar with feudal society-- in which barons, bishops, peasants, and other classes of citizens made a living in exchange for working on a fife owned by a member of the noble class-- would now be theowners of their own property and finally possess the freedom of making and acquiring their own living. Classical economists held various theories regarding natural prices, value theory, and monetary theory that hinged on the new economic dynamic produced by capitalism. Each individual, classical economist shared similar thoughts on these topics, with an occasional theoretical variation. Smith andMarx’s similarities and differences are clear upon the analysis of those topics—which will be addressed in the proceeding sections.

Karl Marx was born in 1818 in Trier, Germany. He studied law, history, and philosophy at the universities of Bon, Berlin, and Jena. He became famous for his revolutionary ideas and as one of the originators of communist theories. He is renowned for his book oneconomic theory, Das Kapital. As members of the Communist League, Marx, with friend Frederick Engels, authored the Communist Manifesto which discussed the class struggle and the need for a revolution of the proletariat.

Common Sense dictates that without production, consumption would not be possible. Cars do not pop out of thin air—there is a process by which steel, rubber, durable plastics,glass, and other materials are put together by both machines and people to create a car. In its crudest form, capitalism works in this way: after the car is created, people who need a car would then go to the “car factory” and purchase the car for the amount that they are willing and able to pay. In our capitalist society, there are a few other intermediate steps, people just do not walk into one of...