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The Contradictions Of Capitalism In The United States

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The Contradictions of Capitalism In the modern society which we live in today, there continues to be a growing gap of inequality between the working class and the elite. Within recent years prominent social movements have began to emerge, both in the Global South and the Global North. These movements represent the large majority of the worlds working class and poor. They formed as a direct response to the the deep disparities in society and the dominant capitalist system that has had the worlds working class at the mercy of the economy, decade after decade. One of the most notable movements that emerged was the Occupy movement which originated in New York City as Occupy Wall Street, and quickly spread across many more cities across the globe. …show more content…

The anarchy of production can be explained as the competitive nature of capitalism, which in an effort to increase output levels drives the capitalist to increase productivity within their individual factories. In an attempt to come out on top they will flood markets with their products without careful consideration of the actual needs of society. Ironically, Engles states that “the anarchy of production is accentuated by the very opposite of anarchy: the organization of production in the individual factory” (Engles 298). The anarchy of production leads to a concentration in the organization of production within the factory, capitalist will constantly find ways to improve their machinery and increase the productivity of labour (Engles 299). But, those who have the advantages for the natural or artificial conditions of production will prevail, and the rest will succumb to the capitalist system and fall into the working class themselves (Engles 299). At the same time the improved technology of machinery within factories leads to labour power becoming less and less useful (Engles 300). As a result more wage workers are laid off creating what Engles calls the “Industrial reserve army” (299). The anarchy of production pushes the organization of production past its limits, …show more content…

The anarchy of production causes the expansion of production to grow at rates which the market can not withstand (Engles 301). The issue of overproduction arises when several capitalist are flooding markets with the same commodities, while there is no actual demand for it (Engles 297). This also causes an issue of supply, since the goods that are needed are unavailable . Meanwhile more and more wage workers are being replaced by improved machinery, putting more people out of work and out of capital (Engles 300). In turn machinery and the industrial reserve army becomes leverage which allows the capitalist to keep the wages of the working class to the bare minimum (Engles 300). Organizations continue to produce for a market that does not have the need nor the purchasing power to buy the products. As a result disparities in supply and demand continue to grow and the economy comes to a complete standstill. Engles describes this as the curse of over abundance, the abundance of labour, machinery and supplies, “it is precisely abundance that prevents the conversion of the means of production and subsistence into capital” (Engles 302). Engles states that this is what leads to an economic crash (301). At this point the modes of production have been outgrown by

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