The Theoretical And Methodological Perspectives Of...

In the comparison of the theoretical and methodological perspectives of radicals Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, with the more liberal teachings of Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, there must be an understanding that essentially they were all intellects of the period of the Enlightenment. The philosophical basis of the Enlightenment was that human beings are substantially perfectible. This meant that human beings could be taught things and that there was never an end to the capacity of what could be achieved by a human being. Furthermore, what caused such delays in their intellectual progress were the inequalities of society, which were a consequence that was leftover from the feudal emphasis of faith and tradition. The principles†¦show more content†¦According to Karl Marx, capital is goods that are allotted for investments to increase overall profit. The ability to acquire capital comes from the accrual of resources through barter and trade. In a cycle labeled by Marx as â₠¬Å"M-C-M†, capital starts off simply as money. After acquiring money, a capitalist then finds a way to transform the money into a commodity to increase their profits. After such instance the commodities in turn will be used to purchase more goods such as machinery and labor. By turning the profits into commodities, the capitalist is able to produce more goods and in turn that in to more cash flow and increasingly more money. Consistent with Marx’s teachings, wealth is not really about how much money you have, but how many commodities that you have accumulated. Marx states that the effort of the labor that is produced by individuals is not a determinant in the value of the product produced. All of the workers are considered to be of equal value in the beginning and are only differentiated when they function on different levels. Therefore, the value of said product is not determined by the labor hours of the individual, but by how many hours are necessary for the product ion of a commodity. The average worker usually works the necessary value to support their family. The typical worker works the equivalent value that is needed in order to support his family and return to work. While, in exchange the capitalist receives the surplus