Compare And Contrast Karl Marmith And Adam Smith

Business and Society

Ryan Malloy

Adam Smith vs. Karl Marx

Professor Kushner

9/17/15

Both Karl Marx and Adam Smith were greatly respected economists during the 18th and 19th centuries. They both viewed society, the economy and politics in different ways. Smith viewed capitalism and the free market as a necessity to society while Marx believed that the bourgeoisie and the proletariat were the two classes that would constantly be fighting between each other. Marx believes that the government needs to intervene to help the working class and that the class system needs to be taken down completely. Some people still argue about which view is correct, but both Smith’s and Marx’s theories can be seen and compared with business and many other aspects of society today. One of Smith’s main points in his theory is that the government should have a “laissez-faire” approach to the economy. He says this because Smith believes that competition will lead to thriving business and producers and consumers will put their money back into the economy. He supports his claim by citing the “invisible hand” as a sort of

He believed that capitalism and rigorous production would lead to an oppressed middle-lower class. Contrary to Smith, Marx believed this would eventually lead to uprisings of the proletariat which would then bring about the change. However, history has shown that capitalism does not do this to economies like Marx thought. Instead of oppressing the “proletariat”, it is shown to boos the economy and expand the middle class. Overall, there is not much evidence to support Marx’s view on capitalism destroying economies and societies. However, Marx believed that the effort of the workers and the time that they put in to the work was not equal to what they got paid. This has some truth today, as many in the United States believe that the minimum wage is too low and needs to be