The Role Of Capitalism In Max Weber's Fight Club

The irony is that Fight Club and later Project Mayhem, reproduces the same effects of capitalism by creating the illusion of freedom through the demands of self-regulation and self-punishment. It is upon this contradiction that Fincher’s dark comedy hinges, for the film’s satirical edge relies on the realization that these individuals seek relief from an oppressive capitalistic order through means that are equally conforming and repressive (265).

One of the strongest arguments against capitalism is the quote “It was a monster devouring with a thousand mouths, trampling with a thousand hoofs; it was the Great Butcher – it was the spirit of Capitalism made flesh.”(334), the description of monster depicts capitalism as barbaric instead of those under the influence of capitalism being barbaric. This quote lends itself to the idea that people must fight for what they

Within each example wither it’s in your face like Palahniuk’s movie, gently given like Capra’s or if it challenges you to think like Berman’s book conflict between “The Big Guys VS. The Little Guys” truly exists in our world. In each movie we are given our everyday, run of the mill guy. In Berman’s book conflict lies between our need for consumer goods so it is us versus corporate America. In It’s a Wonderful Life capitalist are portrayed in the character Mr. Potter who is full of greed willing to walk on the backs of the working people in his community. But Bailey was willing to fight him and with it he was fighting everything he dreamed of being one day. In Fight Club the character after making an alter ego named Tyler Durden begins his fight against capitalist leaving his life of materialistic consumption behind. In the movie he says “We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.” This shows us why he is choosing to fight against

However, some may come to the deeper meaning of this text that the author was trying to get across. Some being the flaws of Capitalism and the “American Dream”; Social Darwinism, only the financially “fit” survive; and how Socialism could be the answer to those who need support financially. These issues have trailed the United States for many years, one example of a result of these issues is the creation of the Black Panther Party in the 1960’s; due to African American’s limited rights, inability to find a good paying job, and cold hatred towards the government. However, because of the ignorance by the majority of upper-class citizens, they would interpret the book as an attempt to persuade others to look down on Capitalism due to the struggles portrayed in the book in result of corrupt rich folk.

In Weber’s article he claims that there are specific types of domination, which stress the importance of establishing “legitimacy” as a leader, within a group of people. He supports this opening claim in his introduction paragraph, in which he defines the authority of domination “classified” by the “kind of claim” demanded (2). He ultimately supports his by breaking down the types of legitimacy in domination in three distinct categories: Legal authority, traditional authority, and charismatic authority (3). He supports his argument through theoretical examples in which he assumes the reader has a background in. The assumptions include: knowledge of basic authoritative environments such as work setting or school that are applied to his

Norman Chomsky once wrote “I think it only makes sense to seek out and identify structures of authority, hierarchy, and domination in every aspect of life, and to challenge them; unless a justification for them can be given, they are illegitimate, and should be dismantled, to increase the scope of human freedom.” There is a true feeling of what authority can do if placed in situations that require someone to follow instructions. What happens to someone when they follow the orders of another

Capitalism is an unnatural perversion of society in Marx and Engel’s The Communist Manifesto. It is constantly consumptive, unable to exist without further expansion. It warps society through its exploitation of labor and the class that provides it. The Communist Manifesto goes beyond just a sociopolitical critique of capitalism, and adds otherworldly, almost Gothic elements. Repeated supernatural, fantastical language reinforces the idea that capitalism is an illegitimate twist of the natural state of human affairs.

According to Nietzsche, humans are ingrained with the sense of domination as a result of being a conscious being. This desire to dominate resonates from our ‘will to power’; our underlying struggle and ‘violence that is beyond good and evil, true and false, because it is this very dynamic that makes notions of the latter possible in the first place [the latter being domination] (Petersen).’ Through this domination dynamic, the world exists in a form of constant battle and war: the master and the slave, the king and his subjects, the boss and the employee, etc. Rebellions, murder, sabotage, and other forms of vandalism all move toward one aspect that is Nietzsche’s ‘Will to Power’. This will is human’s driving ambition, our reason to strive for bigger and better things. (Shaw)

The idea of capitalism and how it functions is based on one sole principle that without it would crumble, this is the idea of commodification. This commodification is the idea that everything can be bought and sold. The theory behind commodification is sound in practice but it controls and traps everyone into an unending cycle of buying and selling. This theory presents problems that are displayed by Bruce Springsteen in his song “The River”. This song is based in the late 1970’s during an economic recession where the capitalist ideal failed but kept everyone tied down to the system only to burn with the economy.

Although capitalism requires the use of force to maintain a power relation between bourgeoisie and proletariat and to accumulate capital through the relation, a class division and alienation play more important roles that allow capitalism to survive (Marx, 1887). Capitalism is a system that relies on the pursuit of profit, and division of labour and alienation make it possible to produce the greater profits by re-invest the profit.

For weber power is determined as something that when imposed, then a person has to follow it. For Weber domination is the probability that persons will obey commands. Weber mentioned power as being ‘ sociologically amorphous’. (Roth and Wittich, 1968) The probability of a command being accepted mainly relates to the surroundings of domination. An example of this is that, a supervisor could expect his colleague to obey his sayings but when they meet outside the business then the supervisor is unlikely to have such an expectation (Watson, 2003).

Fight Club is a unique film that has many different interpretations consisting of consumerist culture, social norms, and gender roles. However, this film goes deeper and expresses a Marxist ideology throughout; challenging the ruling upper-class and a materialist society. The unnamed narrator, played by Ed Norton, represents the materialist society; whereas Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt, represents the person challenging the controlling upper-class. Karl Marx believed that the capitalist system took advantage of workers, arguing that the interests of the upper-class class conflicted with that of the common worker. Marx and Durden share the same views about the upper-class oppressing the materialist, common worker. By interpreting Fight Club through a Marist lens, the viewer is able to realize the negative effects a capitalist society has on the common worker by seeing the unnamed narrator’s unfulfilled and material driven life in contrast to the fulfilling life of Durden who challenges the upper-class. The unnamed narrator initially fuels the upper-class dominated society through his materialistic and consumeristic tendencies; however, through the formation of his alter ego—Durden—the unnamed narrator realizes the detriment he is causing to himself and society. He then follows the guide of Durden’s and Marx’s views and rectifies his lifestyle by no longer being reliant on materials. Also by forming fight club, which provides an outlet, for himself and the common worker,

Question #1) How does authority influence human behavior? What kinds of authority are the most influential?

Weberianism was introduced by Max Weber, a German sociologist who created theories around religion and capitalism (A.Mitzman,2017). He researched areas of Calvinism, hardworking labour and ethics, that all contribute to a Modern Capitalist society. Weberianism shows Modernised Capitalism through structures, showing the aspects of de-humanising society based on structural drive efficiency. Within todays society we see Modern Capitalisation as an economic system involving ideologies around ownership for the higher-class society; decision making, investments and materialised product forces (WIKIPEDIA, 2017). The real question is, where do capitalist structures exist within Weberianism and why?

In order to successfully define capitalism there must first be a discussion on how it plays into Rand’s philosophy regarding human survival. In both Atlas Shrugged and What is Capitalism, Rand defines human ingenuity, intelligence, and rationality as directly proportional to the success or suffering of a person in society. These attributes, when filtered through each person’s individual judgements, convictions, and interests define their “individual rights” as a necessary component to their survival (Rand 3). Rand clarifies that these rights are entirely egoistic and must be exercised as such for the survival of the individual along with the continuous functioning of society. She also identifies those unwilling or incapable of exercising these rights along with the attributes which contribute to them as “looters”, with the ability to survive only temporarily through dependance on others’ rationality