Smith and Marx's Theories of Social Development

Paper Summary:

This paper compares and contrasts Smith and Marx's theories of social development, siding with Smith's structures rather than those of Marx.

From the Paper:

"While Smith and Marx's theories of social development comprised many of the same stages, their differences are ultimately greater than their similarities. Smith's model is the more realistic of the two. It is more realistic than Marx's firstly because it is based on a more accurate consideration of human nature; it rightly acknowledges human greed, that people always desire more, and that people want to work to catch up to those directly above them and not to those very much wealthier. Smith's theory of social development is secondly a better model in that it recognizes the multi-causal nature of shifts in society. Finally, Marx's model has at least two fundamental flaws aside from those related to his misjudgment of human nature. For one, Marx's theory of social development could not be applied to Asia, which, as we shall see, is a flaw that cannot be overlooked and that undermines the entire theory. Secondly, if his first stage, that of primitive communalism, was one of equality, it should not have ever ended; if classes came about once, there is reason to suspect they might come about again, and so again his theory seems problematic."

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