Paper Summary:

Karl Marx saw all of world history and economics as a being driven by various forms of class exploitation, in sometimes better and sometimes worse contexts. This paper shows that if one were to compare Marx's "Alienated Labor" and "Capital", for example, one would see a definite change in his perspective on the way in which capitalism works upon the laboring class. However, one central idea remains relatively consistent through his writings -- a firm belief in the capitalist's exploitation of the working class stemming from the inherent inequality between the worker's wage and the selling price of his product, which became the profit of the capitalist.

From the Paper:

"To some degree the compatibility between Marx's earlier assertions and his later claims is evident if one examines the modern global situation. In developed countries, where the standard of living has progressed, workers are being sustained as a class from the profits of capitalists, and granted their basic needs in most (though certainly not all) cases, though at least in America the minimum wage required by law is still below the living wage in many sectors of the country. These working class individuals are both workers and consumers, and their need to consume is such that it is able to sustain and fuel capitalism's need to produce. At the same time, much of the profit accrued by major capitalists is not being gained in America where workers are sufficiently paid to purchase many products, but is rather being produced overseas where wages are significantly lower."

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