Comparison of Adam Smith and Karl Marx on the Ideas of Individual Work and Production.

             The task of political economy, Karl Marx argued, was to understand all the presumptions within productive and social relations, which made social life in a given form possible at a particular time. The aim of political economy is to understand the processes that produce these differences. The two historical figures that analyzed capitalism were Adam Smith and Karl Marx. Their philosophy differs in the way each viewed the human conditions and the role of the individual. It could be argued that history has shown Smith to be right and Marx to be wrong but the fact is that each of these men understood capitalism on different terms although both had similar material ideas. .

             The main difference between Marx's and Smith's thoughts is found in the values that each were concerned with. Smith suggested that the economic process could be forever unchangeable in its natural stage as individuals seek their own advantages. If people are left free they will try to improve the quality of their lives. This can be achieved in two ways: by individual effort, or at someone else's expense. Most individuals will search for or make something that others will pay for rather than live at someone else's expense. On the other hand, Marx noticed a growing consciousness among the working class of society which he believed was formed by economic development and that would create a transformation of the whole social system. He asserts that it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but rather the opposite. Marx is talking about consciousness and the development of the society. He believes that the wealth produced by the industrial system develops the personal thought in all people, more importantly among working class. The individual comes to a self-realization through creative labor and develops a self-identity through relations with other members of the society.