Marx and Weber essays

Marx and Weber essays I thought Marxs Wage Labour and Capital was much more interesting and easier to understand than the previous reading. In this section, Marx attacks the idea of competition, division of labor, capital growth, and the injustice that workers must face as a result of them. Marx says that even with capital growth that would ideally benefit the working class, the antagonism between his [the workers] interests and the interests of the bourgeoisie still exist and that profit and wages remain as before in inverse proportion (211). Underlying all this, Marx explains how competition serves only to rob capital of the golden fruits of this [production] power by bringing the price of the commodities back to the cost of production (214) and among workers, causes a decrease in wages (215). However, competition also results in the seeking of alternatives, which in terms of companies, allow them to be more creative and come up with better technology so as to beat their competitors, and in terms of laborers, allows them to focus and advertise their best skills in order to excel and beat out other members when looking for a job. Marx on the other hand talks of a game of a competition-production-price cylce (213) that feeds each other and in the end reduces prices to its production cost. He however fails to mention that in this cycle and in the markets, there will always be those who fail (and drop out of the cycle), and that mans natural innovation and creativity would lead to better and new products; and hence there wouldnt be just one big augmenting chain. Marx also criticizes division of labor, calling its effects evil (215) and claiming the idea of wanting to do whatever he wanted to such as hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening (160), but he ignores the fact that not everyone is capable at doing all those things and ...

Facts About the Bastille Day Holiday in France

Facts About the Bastille Day Holiday in France Bastille Day, the French national holiday, commemorates the storming of the Bastille, which took place on July 14, 1789 and marked the beginning of the French Revolution. The Bastille was a prison and a symbol of the absolute and arbitrary power of Louis the 16ths Ancient Regime. By capturing this symbol, the people signaled that the kings power was no longer absolute: power should be based on the Nation and be limited by a separation of powers. Etymology Bastille is an alternate spelling of bastide (fortification), from the Provenà §al word bastida (built). Theres also a verb: embastiller (to establish troops in a prison). Although the Bastille only held seven prisoners at the time of its capture, the storming of the prison was a symbol of liberty and the fight against oppression for all French citizens; like the Tricolore flag, it symbolized the Republics three ideals: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity for all French citizens. It marked the end of absolute monarchy, the birth of the sovereign Nation, and, eventually, the creation of the (First) Republic, in 1792. Bastille Day was declared the French national holiday on July 6, 1880, on Benjamin Raspails recommendation, when the new Republic was firmly entrenched. Bastille Day has such a strong signification for the French because the holiday symbolizes the birth of the Republic. La Marseillaise La Marseillaise was written in 1792 and declared the French national anthem in 1795. Read and listen to the words. As in the US, where the signing of the Declaration of Independence signaled the start of the American Revolution, in France the storming of the Bastille began the Great Revolution. In both countries, the national holiday thus symbolizes the beginning of a new form of government. On the one-year anniversary of the fall of the Bastille, delegates from every region of France proclaimed their allegiance to a single national community during the Fà ªte de la Fà ©dà ©ration in Paris- the first time in history that a people had claimed their right to self-determination. The French Revolution The French Revolution had numerous causes which are greatly simplified and summarized here: Parliament wanted the king to share his absolute powers with an oligarchic parliament.Priests and other low-level religious figures wanted more money.Nobles also wanted to share some of the kings power.The middle class wanted the right to own land and to vote.The lower class were quite hostile in general and farmers were angry about tithes and feudal rights.Some historians claim that the revolutionaries were opposed to Catholicism more than to the king or the upper classes.