We explain what the capitalist mode of production is according to Marxism, its origin, advantages, disadvantages and other characteristics.
What is the capitalist mode of production?
According to Marxist terminology, the capitalist mode of production is that of the capitalist societies that emerged after the Bourgeois Revolutions that ended the feudal model of the Middle Ages. According to Marx's postulates, its own internal dynamics lead to extinction and the final emergence of communism.
The capitalist mode of production is considered by non-Marxist scholars as an economic system, in which the value of goods and services is expressed in monetary terms, the same ones in which people are rewarded for their work.
On the other hand, for Marxist orthodoxy, capitalism It is the economic model in which the bourgeoisie has control of the means of production. But it is also a model of social, political and economic organization.
Let us remember that The bourgeoisie is the intermediate social class between the peasant serfs and the aristocracy landowner. It emerged at the end of the medieval period, together with mercantilism, the dynamics of international exchange of goods, but also revolutionary advances in technology, science and culture.
All of these developments forever changed the way human needs were satisfied, shifting the focus from rural work to urban commerce. So, he capitalist mode of production is the system typical of an industrial era in which capital has displaced land ownership in importance.
Characteristics of capitalism
According to the traditional Marxist interpretation, capitalism functions on the basis of two pillars. On the one hand, the bourgeoisie's control of the means of production (factories, for example). On the other hand, the alienation of workers from their productive work that is, the latter feel alien to the work they do.
In that way, the bourgeois can exploit them paying them a salary in exchange for their work, but taking advantage of the surplus value: the added value that the worker's labors incorporate into the final product. Since this added value far exceeds the worker's salary, The employment relationship benefits only the bourgeoisie who also makes the effort.
In simpler terms, capitalism consists of the exchange of time and the work capacity of workers, for a salary calculated per hour and by the complexity of the tasks to be performed. The salary will never exceed the profits of the factory owner, who invests capital and sometimes management in it, but not labor.
From this arrangement the worker obtains money to consume goods and services, while the bourgeois obtains profits that he can reinvest in the business (or make it grow) and money for his own subsistence. The group of workers are called, as a class, the proletariat.
Such a socioeconomic arrangement It would not be possible without the existence of private property given that the bourgeoisie owns the means of production, and therefore decides who works and who does not. However, the terms in which the work will be given are negotiated with its workers (unions, guilds, etc.) and with the State (ideally).
Origin of the capitalist mode of production
Capitalism as a system arose after the fall of feudalism in the 15th century. The imperial expansion of the main European powers circulated large quantities of merchandise from other regions of the world. So The bourgeoisie was born as a new social class who had defeated the medieval landowning aristocracy.
This class of merchants was of plebeian origin, but they had capital. Thus they became the owners of the first companies that forever changed the way goods and services are produced in the world.
promoted scientific, spiritual and political changes which led to the so-called Bourgeois Revolutions, whose climatic point was the fall of monarchical absolutism (with Revolutions such as the French Revolution in 1789, or with gradual transitions) and the beginning of the capitalist democratic republics that we know today.
Advantages of the capitalist mode of production
The advantages of capitalism as a system are well-known, as well as its disadvantages. The positive aspect of the system can be summarized in:
- Effectiveness and flexibility Throughout its few centuries of life, the capitalist system has been able to generate wealth and dizzying advances in scientific, technical and economic aspects, and at the same time adapt to them, changing with the times and remaining undefeated until today.
- Liberality Capitalism requires significant amounts of economic and individual freedom to make entrepreneurship, business risk and the emergence of new initiatives possible. In that sense, it has tended to be more or less liberal, that is, to tolerate more or less the interference of the State in the dynamics that, ideally, the “peace of the market” or the “invisible hand” of the market would have to regulate. The real existence of the latter is a matter of debate.
- Allows class movement The possession of money, in principle, is not subject to any other type of human conditions, as was blood in the case of caste societies, and for practical purposes it matters little to the economic market what type of values a capitalist professes. This allows the lower classes to, in theory, ascend as they accumulate capital, and the upper classes to descend as they lose their ability to do so.
Disadvantages of the capitalist mode of production
On the other hand, the disadvantages of capitalism are also worth mentioning:
- It allows monopolies and unfair competition Precisely the liberal spirit of capitalism tends to allow the concentration of capital and, therefore, power in the hands of a few, who control the market and can compete unfairly with others, thus forming monopolies in which few become rich.
- The unequal distribution of wealth Since social class is not determined by blood or other factors, but by the amount of money the family has, future generations come into the world with clear inequality of opportunities, the result of the concentration of wealth in those with the most capital. they have, since money, when circulating, generates more money, enriching a few to the detriment of many.
- consumerism. The society generated by capitalism is focused on consumption and obtaining capital, often forgetting what that really means and becoming trapped in a spiral of unnecessary consumption, buying for the sake of buying or to correct other spiritual aspects not considered in the equation. .
- The ecological damage Industrial activity is the heart of the capitalist system, which for almost a century was devoted to the exploitation of natural resources without taking into consideration other fundamental aspects, such as the ecological impact that the dumping of industrial waste substances had. Thus, at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, climate change and ecological catastrophes loom on the near future horizon, demanding radical and immediate changes in the capitalist production model.
Marxism and surplus value
The concept of surplus value is central to the doctrine of Marxism, which considers it essentially as a theft that the ruling class carries out on the worker's effort keeping a more significant portion of value in monetary terms than that rewarded through salary.
Thanks to worker and union struggles, many of which generated many social, political and cultural conflicts Throughout the 20th century, the distribution of said surplus value could be renegotiated between workers and employers, as well as the conditions of employment.
Thus, employment hours were rationed, exploitation was controlled and, in short, a more humane capitalism was achieved for the working class. However, according to the doctrine of Karl Marx, this struggle to free oneself from exploitation would not end until the historical forces that lead to socialism are unleashed.
Other modes of production
Just as the capitalist mode of production exists, we can talk about:
- Asian mode of production Also called hydraulic despotism, since it consists of controlling the organization of society through a single resource needed by everyone: water, in the case of Egypt and Babylon in Antiquity, or irrigation canals in the USSR and China. . Thus, the loyal receive water to plant their fields, while the fields of the disloyal dry up.
- Socialist mode of production Proposed as an alternative to capitalism by Marx, it grants control of the means of production to the working class, to prevent them from being exploited by the bourgeoisie. Thus, the State assumes the abolition of private property and capital to put collective interests before individual interests, as a step towards a classless society but with such abundant production that goods are distributed according to need and not according to merit. .
- Slave mode of production Typical of the classical societies of antiquity, such as the Greek or Roman, their production of agricultural goods was based on a slave class, subject to a particular legal and social status, sometimes inhuman, that reduced them to being the property of a master. individual or the State. These slaves had no political participation, no property, nor did they receive any reward for their work.
Continue with: Modes of production
References
- “Capitalist mode of production” on Wikipedia.
- “Capitalist mode of production” in Webdianoia Philosophical Glossary.
- “The foundations of the capitalist mode of production” in Communist Unification of Spain (UCE).
- “Capitalist Mode of Production” at Encyclopedia.com.
- “Capitalist mode of production (Marxist theory)” (video) on WikiAudio.
