Protestant Work Ethic Essay

Marx’s wants factories and shops to exists, but not to be owned by the bourgeoisie. Marx’s explains that the average price of wage-labour only “produces the bare existence.” The proletariats, the working class, heavily rely on capitalism and exploitation in order to survive. Private property revolves around the antagonist the reduction of wages is implemented, and the products created by the proletariats turn into capital. Marx states, “does wage-labour create any property for the labourer? Not a bit. It creates capital, i.e., that kind of property which exploits wage-labour.” This implies that if wage labor continues to exists the bourgeois with only receive the benefits while the proletariat cannot attain any property. The more the proletariats worked for the bourgeoisie under wage labor the more their individuality diminishes. Marx wants to target the ruling class and abolish their rights and privileges to make equality for

The work environment has helped me learn responsibility such as paying bills, having money for my own interests or wants, and showing me adulthood. It has showed me support through other fellow employees to strive to understand and be a better employee for the business. They also give me insight on what I do they enjoy, like, or dislike about my work ethic. Although, work can be important and show you adulthood, it also can be stressful. The stress of wanting to do the best you can for the business and handling all the other responsibilities I have.

Marx's theory on Capitalist exploitation is an incredibly deep theory, but to explain it in a nutshell, it is that the working-class people are improperly compensated for their work. The rich, the higher-ups, they continue to expand their wealth by exploiting the working class, the Capitalist system not only allows but effectively demands that Capitalists increase their wealth, long-term or short-term, whether at the cost of the working-class or not. There are three “values” to take into consideration, the use-value, the exchange-value and the

Karl Marx witnessed first hand the rise of the industrial revolution and the beginning of capitalism. He also became one of capitalisms biggest critics. Marx believed that society needed a better way of distrusting wealth but also a better way a finding people’s full human potential or what he called “species-essence”. Marx believed that what we do connects to who we are, for example, work is what makes us human. It fulfills our species essence, as he puts it. Work allows us to be creative and flourish. However, in the 19th century Europe work did the quit opposite, it destroyed workers, particularly those who had nothing to sell but their labor. To the mill and factory owners a worker was simply an abstract idea with a stomach that needed to be filled. The workers had no choice but to work for long hours for a pathetic wage. Even worse, their labor alienated them. Alienation is a disorienting sense of exclusion and separation. Factory labor, under capitalism, alienated the workers from the product of their labor. They made stuff they couldn’t afford to buy themselves. The products they made were shipped out to other places far way to make money

The certain morality of the lawful pursuit of wealth gives businessmen both a clear conscience and the ability to employ motivated workers who themselves constantly labor for the glory of God. The businessmen’s conscience is further cleared by the thought that the unequal distribution of goods is part of God’s plan – it is God’s secret choice to bestow grace as he wishes. The workers “calling”, in contrast, is to labor regardless of the wage, striving to glorify God and secure status as the elect. The ascetic lifestyle of a poor worker is also glorified, as the worker lives as the apostles once did. The attitudes of both the businessmen and the worker in the modern economic relationship naturally flow from ascetic Protestantism.

Capitalism is seen as the American Dream with so many possibilities to become a success. Marx does not see capitalism this way. In fact, he sees it as the exact opposite. Rather than living a meaningful life, Marx thinks that because of capitalism that people live an alienated life. He thinks that we are dominated by impersonal powers and that people do not have control over their own life when capitalism is in the way. Marx says, “the positing of social activity, the consolidation of our product as a real power over us, growing out of our control.” Marx imagines society pre and post capitalism and sees it as a better place. He thinks that if we drastically reorganized our economic system, alienation could be abolished. One of Marx’s biggest claims is that because of work, people stress themselves

The Protestant work ethic is that of God fearing people must work regardless of their wage or type of employment. God commanded work, America provided opportunity and economic success became a sign for divine favor. The Protestant Work Ethic fueled the creation of a work oriented society and provided a religious foundation for the condemnation of the poor. Because the PWE believed that prosperity was a sign of God’s favor and that poverty was a sign of God’s displeasures: they had negative attitudes towards disadvantaged groups, such as low income or homeless individuals. The PWE believed that the less advantaged groups were not working hard enough and therefore at fault for their poorer life outcomes.

Salutations my friends, I am John D. Rockefeller president and co-founder of Standard Oil. I understand you may have pre-acquired grudges against me. Some of you think of me as a ruthless businessman with no regard for the public. Others may think that I have never experienced the pains of being part of the lower class. Those comments are all wrong, and my humble beginning couples with a work ethic that all working class members should follow brought me to where I am today.

Work hard, save money, and enjoy the fruits of your labor. We have all been told that if we do the right thing, we will be rewarded in the end. The argument for the Protestant work ethic has been conveyed biblically to mean that God has given us all a divine vocation, a set of skills in which to “work in His glory” (“Work: a noble”, 1992). Martin has followed the teachings of Christ by working his entire life, saving strenuously, and wisely investing his dividends. Finally, it has come time for Martin to enjoy the yields of living the right way and his enjoyment has been stolen by various aspects of property law. Kubasek, Brennan, and Browne (2006) explain the two types of property that apply in Martin’s cases, “real property, that is,

Marx points out that “the laborers life is to merely increase capital, and is allowed to live only in so far as the interest of the ruling class.” The more bourgeoisie exploited the proletariats for work, the wealthier the bourgeoisie became, thus reaping the benefits of the proletariats.

At its very core, Marx’s capitalist theory is an economic system based on three things: wage labour, which comes from land owners employing individuals to work for a wage, control of the means of production (factories, farms, offices and machinery), and production for exchange and profit. Considering the majority of society do not own the means of production, and are not private owners, they are forced to offer their ability to work in exchange for a regular wage,

Weber theorized that, in accordance with the new Protestant religions (such as Calvinism), individuals were religiously compelled to follow a non-religious vocation as passionately as possible, and that a person following that worldview would be more likely to accumulate wealth. In addition, they also did not allow wasteful use of money, classifying luxuries as a sin, as well as limiting donation to the church, the poor, and charity. Being poor, or needing charity, was perceived as being lazy, burdening others, and an insult to god, as not working meant failing to glorify him. Thus, Protestantism is directly tied to the spirit of

Karl Marx advocated that we should omit capitalism from society because it is crisis prone and produces internal tensions. With capitalism dominating the western world, modern work becomes alienated. In order to be fulfilled at work, Marx believed workers should see themselves in the work they have created. Modern work is incredibly concentrated, making the economy efficient by achieving maximum productivity with no room for wasted expense. This makes it impossible for any worker to attain a sense of genuine effort they are contributing to humanity. Workers feel disconnected from the completion of their everyday tasks and what they could potentially be producing to society. Another flaw Marx brings up about the capitalist system is that capitalism makes individuals easily replaceable “The middle class begins to sink into the proletariat… their specialized skill is rendered worthless by new methods of production,” (Marx 299). In the force of production, the second costs begin to rise, the necessity rate for laborers is lowered due to the fact that savings can be made through technology. Marx biggest concern is that capitalists reduce the wages of laborers as much as possible in order to achieve a high profit margin “The growing competition among the bourgeois, and the resulting commercial crises, make the wages of workers ever more fluctuating,” (Marx 300). Capitalism manipulate and pays workers lower wages for producing work that can be sold for a much higher price. A capitalist’s theory of profit comes as a reward for innovation and technological achievements. Marx sees this idea of profit as theft because capitalists are stripping their work force of creativity and hard labor.

For Weber, the idea of rationalism rational thought based on societal efficiency and productivity, runs through his works particularly The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. In this seminal work, Weber argues that the idea of Protestantism contributes to history and economics in that piety and the chance for a better life after death cause humans to strive for economic gain in certain ways, whereas that is not always using work as an expression of self - it is work, as Marx might say, for the ends justifying the means, rather than the means justifying what work is being done. Authority, then, rather than being solely economic, does have at its

The system of capitalism is partially based around the unpaid surplus labour of workers that allows for the generation of profit for the workers ' respective superiors. Marx argues that such a system rewards those who have some sort of domination over the workers, the actual producers of commodities. This results in terrible living