Cameron Wheeler

Dr. Bortz
4/29/15

Capitalism: The Intersectionality of Control

History serves the purpose of depicting the preferred narrative of the
victor in any dispute as the natural order of things, silencing opposition. As
such the authority on knowledge in human history typically correlates
strongly with military might and economic prosperity. From the Romans to
the European settlers of North America, both victors of history, these
conquerors considered their enemies barbarians, savages, and sub-human.
The development of the city-state in ancient Greece altered human
consciousness to strongly identify with those who lived in close proximity to
them (i.e. their fellow citizens). This divisive notion of national identity has
proven to be rather harmful at times, especially in the modern era of
globalization.
In truth, any nationality is merely an ideological label. It holds no more
meaning than the invisible boundaries between countries or the money we
collectively believe to be wealth. The power of ideas rests in their ability to
take hold within the mind whether or not they are true. Nietzsche is famous
for having said, Sometimes people dont want to hear the truth because
they dont want their illusions destroyed. In the capitalist culture which
glorifies mass consumption, individualism, blind patriotism, and egoism, vast
amounts of money, time, and effort are channeled into cultivating these

characteristics. The most insidious aspect of this culture is that any

conscious effort is not even needed. Institutions and systems are inherently
self-perpetuating in that they reproduce the very same material reality and
related consciousness that initially created the system. This notion helps to
explain how complex the development of capitalism has been.
One of Marxs basic notions regarding the capitalist mode of production
is the alienation of the worker. Through the concepts of private property and
primitive capital accumulation the means of production were controlled and
utilized by the wealthy to employ workers. Without possession of the means
of production workers were forced to sell their labor-power as a commodity,
through which the capitalist extracts surplus-value. Just as in the capitalist
mode of production the labour process appears only as a means towards the
process of valorization, so in the case of reproduction it appears only as a
means of reproducing the value advanced as capital, i.e. as self-valorizing
value.1 Therefore, by its very nature, wage-labor and the alienation that
results from the capitalist mode of production operates to control and exploit
the masses.
Through the decades since Marxs death, capitalism has increasingly
developed into a complex web of global economic interdependence. The
inherent competition in capitalism inevitably leads to monopoly.2 Therefore,
1 Karl Marx, Ernest Mandel, and Ben Fowkes. "Simple Reproduction." In Capital, 711.
Vol. 1. London: Penguin Classics, 1990.
2 David Harvey and Karl Marx. "Capitalist Accumulation." In A Companion to Marx's
Capital, 272. London: Verso, 2010.

the globalization of the capitalistic system has consolidated many of the

largest industries into conglomerates of merged companies, leaving
consumers with the illusion of variety and choice. Present-day reality is thus
due in large part to the fetishism of the commodity that Marx discussed
frequently throughout Capital.(cite) The fetishism of the commodity is the
notion that the dynamics of capitalism and the struggle between capital and
labor is obscured and mystified.
To echo both Ernest Mandel and David Harvey, two Marxist scholars,
Marxs long-term predictions are hauntingly accurate in hindsight. Marx
asserted that technological progress would increase drastically, productivity
and intensity of labor would see an accelerated increase, capital would
become more centralized and concentrated, rate of profit would decline, and
that there would be an inevitable class struggle between capital and labor.
(pg 23. Introduction Capital) In the past fifty years alone the exponential
innovation of technology is absolutely staggering, particularly with the
creation of internet technology.
The rapid acceleration in technological progress in due in part to the
notion of competition inherent in capitalism that pushes innovation. To quote
Marx directly, Technology reveals the active relation of man to nature, the
direct process of the production of his life, and thereby it also lays bare the
process of the production of the social relations of his life, and of the mental

conceptions that flow from those relations.3 However, the process of

technological progress is a double-edged sword for the capitalist:
competition and the pursuit of surplus value forces the capitalists to innovate
for temporary advantages over competitors but this innovation of technology
also displaces workers. Therefore, capitalists seek technological advantage
for brief returns of increased surplus-value, and in doing so reduce the value
of labor-power and displace workers. Furthermore, Capital creates the
demand for labor when it reinvests, but it can also manage the supply of
labor through reinvestments in labor-saving technologies that produce
unemployment. This ability to operate on both sides of the demand and
supply equation totally contradicts the way in which markets are supposed to
work.4 This phenomena allows capital to exert the utmost control on the
global economy in ways that benefit the capitalist class. Capitalists use this
ability to their advantage, using labor-saving technology to drive down
wages and the aspirations of workers. While much of the public rhetoric
blames unemployment on outsourcing, studies should that two-thirds of job
loss is the direct result of technological flux.5

3Karl Marx, Ernest Mandel, and Ben Fowkes. "Machinery and Large-Scale Industry."
In Capital, 493. Vol. 1. London: Penguin Classics, 1990.
4 David Harvey and Karl Marx. "Capitalist Accumulation." In A Companion to Marx's
Capital, 277. London: Verso, 2010.
5 David Harvey and Karl Marx. "Machinery and Large-Scale Industry." In A
Companion to Marx's Capital, 220. London: Verso, 2010.

The first volume of Marxs Capital has been largely discounted because
it tackles the capitalist system on the grounds of classic economics. In short,
Marx critiques capitalism in Volume I under the notion of free-market
capitalism. However, since the 1970s the United States moved to pursue an
agenda of neoliberalism, which had the effect of making Marxs analysis in
Volume I much more relevant to contemporary political economy. Regarding
Marxs prediction of increasing disparities in wages (the wealth gap), Harvey
notes, The ratio of income between CEOs and their median salaried
workers, which stood at 30:1 back in 1970, has soared to more than 350:1 on
average these past few years.6 For the first time in the history of the United
States, recent increases in productivity have not benefited workers. Rather,
the wealth gap between the rich and the poor has grown tremendously due
to the immense concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands.7 To quote
Harvey directly, Sad to report, Marxs analysis is all too relevant to our
contemporary condition.8
From a Marxian perspective the function of the state is to facilitate
class relations between the bourgeois and the proletariat. This is necessary
because of capitalisms inherent unequal distribution of wealth and the
6 David Harvey and Karl Marx. "Primitive Accumulation." In A Companion to Marx's
Capital, 290. London: Verso, 2010.
7 David Harvey and Karl Marx. "Capitalist Accumulation." In A Companion to Marx's
Capital, 281-284. London: Verso, 2010.
8 David Harvey and Karl Marx. "The Working Day." In A Companion to Marx's
Capital, 160. London: Verso, 2010.

exploitative nature of wage labor. The system of capitalism and its internal
dynamics create a hierarchy of concentrated wealth. As such, the state and
its various institutions function in order to keep the peace of any given
society, as well as reproduce the status quo. To quote Marx directly, A
society can no more cease to produce than it can cease to consume. When
viewed, therefore, as a connected whole, and in the constant flux of its
incessant renewal, every social process of production is at the same time a
process of reproduction.9 Education is used to reproduce the circumstances
already present in society. Hence, the push for privatization of schools and
the plague that is standardized testing. In short, this metric of achievement
does little to accurately gauge the success or intelligence of students.
Standardized testing and the push for private education merely reflect the
continued pursuit to extract surplus-value from every facet of society while
perpetuating the ideals and values of the capitalist class.
The history of urbanization and its links to education exemplifies the
development of capitalism as the development of a complex system of
control. As the Northern United States began to industrialize and slavery fell
out of practice, newly freed blacks were forced to move to urban centers to
find work and provide for themselves. While some families had the luxury of
inherited land and wealth, most of the people in minority communities were
forced into wage-labor. With the housing sector relegating who could live

9 Karl Marx, Ernest Mandel, and Ben Fowkes. "Simple Reproduction." In Capital, 711.
Vol. 1. London: Penguin Classics, 1990.

where and the education system providing unequal funding, American

society was further stratified via socio-economic means.
The consolidation of media over the past two decades alone has been
particularly disturbing. By the year 2000 only 6 companies controlled over
ninety percent of the major media outlets. This consolidation of mass media
has narrowed the flow of information to the American public. By restricting
and distorting information the mass media is culpable in the various
inequalities perpetuated every single day by the system in place. From crime
to politics, every topic is sensationalized and exaggerated in order to portray
a mere sliver of the truth (or in some cases simply an illusion of truth). As
such, public education, the media, and the economic mode of production
itself reinforces and perpetuates the capitalist system; and in doing so
secures control over the majority of human life on this planet.

Bibliography

Harvey, David, and Karl Marx. A Companion to Marx's Capital. London: Verso,
2010.

Marx, Karl, Ernest Mandel, and Ben Fowkes. Capital. Vol. 1. London: Penguin
Classics, 1990.