In what ways are Marxian analysis still relevant in the twenty-first century?

Karl Marx has imprinted his philosophy through the economic world from his studies. His ideas and
concepts are maintained and taught within the 21st century through various forms to give a better
understanding of the economy. Through the perspective he gives on the problems within the economy
and most resolutions from his findings are quite applicable to the market today. The focus of the Labour
Theory of Value, Capital Accumulation and the Understanding of Money Circulation, have given the
impression how Marx was able to create a better interpretation of the economy to be applies to the real
world, not just theoretically.
The Labour Theory of Value creates its presence in the economy as a fundamental concept which
underlies the basis of a capitalist society. Marx states the definitive idea behind the theory argues that
the economic value of a commodity is determined by the total amount of socially necessary labour
required to produce it, rather than by the use the owner will receive from the commodity. If
hypothetically a commodity was to be traded for another, there has to be similarities between the two
for there to be trading. Through this given basic idea, corporations formed in the 21st century are able to
price a commodity based on the idea of how much it would cost for the product to be produced. From
this, we can see basic idea from the Labour Theory of Value to be undertaken as a basis for the creation
of a commodity.
When analysing the 21st century society and economy, there is an identification of a capitalist society
within many countries such as the USA. From this, the key elements identified by Marx and the analysis
of Marxs works, which enables analysis to transform and learn from the economy. These include
understanding the role of commodities, labour power, money, undifferentiated labour, exploitation and
alienation. Each of these aspect do still contribute to the study of our economy and society today.
Money, commodities and labour power play a major role in identifying the production of input and
output to continually grow the economy. Through the forms of exchange of work and commodity, there
is a distinct economic relationship which is relevant through all societies with a capitalistic system. The
undifferentiated labour eventuates to the exploitation of workers. Through hiring unskilled workers over
highly skilled workers does become less costly to the capitalists and thus they can trained to only to one
aspect of the production. Through this, it creates a more efficient production process when considering
the opportunity cost of hiring a skilled worker to do the whole production versus multiple trained
workers to do parts of production to create a whole. Within the 21st century society, wages have not
increased as much as the exploitation has. Although this is considered to be immoral, the exploitation is
not exactly considered when capitalists aim to increase profit. The work of each worker produces more
than what is being paid through their wage, however, through the expenses of living, it can easily be
seen why this exploitation would be ignored by many. This creates alienation of the worker from his
fellow men, his work, his own products and his species.
Another aspect which has great relations to the 21st century is the idea of Capital Accumulation. Through
the production process in a capitalist society, it a general idea to produce in surplus. Surplus is set in the
sense that there is more produced than paid in wages and more than necessary. Further, this capital
accumulation is necessary for profit. The way that Marx and the analyst for his work demonstrate that if
the amount of capital is constant with relations to the amount of output and technology, there will be

no growth or increase in value. The commodities which are then traded with the production, will most
likely not be traded for the amount it cost for production. If this were to be done, then there would no
profit for the capitalist. The cost incurred from producing a product includes wages and technology,
which tends to stay relatively constant. This idea relates to the idea of exploitation. With this in
consideration to the 21st century, there is mass production of multiple goods come from big
manufacturing companies such as China and India. In this sense, corporations use these countries mass
production to techniques to decrease their cost on capital and increasing the price of the goods to
accumulate profit. There are more production costs of course, however, the technology and workers are
then exploited in those countries to mass produce goods at an increasing pace.
Marx is one of the biggest influences on the modern day economy and society. His legacy have become
memorable and his theories are still studied today. His theories relevance prevail within the society with
modern takes on his ideas to fit the context. His Labour Theory of Value is infamous although it was
creates long before today, the aspects of the theories hold with modern day capitalist society. His ideas
and concerns about a capitalist society have been researched to find new ways of resolution. However,
there are multiple outcomes to how the economy reacts to modern day works, thus as Marx stated
Philosophers have only interpreted the world, the point is to change it.

NOTES

Junankar, P. N. Marx's Economics. Oxford: P. Allan, 1982. Print.

"Marxism: The Concise Encyclopedia Of Economics | Library Of Economics And Liberty".
Econlib.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 4 Aug. 2016.
"Labor Theory Of Value". Wikipedia. N.p., 2016. Web. 3 Aug. 2016.
"Capital Accumulation". Wikipedia. N.p., 2016. Web. 5 Aug. 2016.
Marx, Karl. "Economic Manuscripts: Capital Vol. I - Chapter Three". Marxists.org. N.p., 2016.
Web. 5 Aug. 2016.