Social Structures

A detailed Summary of Social Structures

The ideas and concepts presented in the movie Trading Places certainly dealt with the accessibility and inaccessibility of the superstructure of society. The separation of class, of race, and of gender greatly shaped and influenced human society for thousands of years. Only recently through numerous civil rights movements has the barriers of those social structures been broken. Still, traces of those thoughts and notions can still be found in various work places, schools, and even homes. It is important that we make a closer evaluation of those characteristics, and how they relate to the ideas and concepts of Karl Marx and Adam Smith, in the movie Trading Places.

"Every society is built on an economic base." Said Marx, "Society is organized into class structures, aggregates of men who stand in some common relationship - favorable or otherwise - to the existing from of production." But conflicts always arrive between class - between classes whose position is jeopardized and the classes whose position is enhanced. There is no example in history of a ruling class not trying to defend its class rule, or of an exploited class not trying to limit or eliminate the exploitation it suffers. Class struggle is a permanent feature of

Of course, present day economic structure (such as one evident in Trading Places) is very different than those in the days of Karl Marx. It is way more complex with innovative technology and a global market. But still, the contemporary economic society still follows the rules described by 17th century economist Adam Smith. The value of product is still defined the cost of its production, or labor. Smith's theory of self-interest still applies, "the drive of individual self-interest in an environment of similarly motivated individuals will result in competition; and competition will result in the provision of those goods that society wants, in the quantities that society desires, and at the prices society is prepared to pay." Self interest is the factor in which men will incite themselves to do whatever the society needs, for that is the quickest way to profit. That will lead business to invent, to innovate, and to create new things that on one else have thought up. In the mechanism of the market Adam Smith found a self-regulating system which provides for society's orderly provision. And that is the key to the capitalistic survival that contradicted Marx's prediction

The gender issue was not greatly exemplified in Trading Places. But one sharp image lingered at the end of the movie on the trading floor. All the traders were men. There was not a single woman on the floor. It suggested that women do not have the split-second decisions and aggressions that were needed in the trading market. Society today, in many ways, is still biased against a woman's abilities and potentials as opposed to that of a man. There were even gender gaps between women of different classes. Ophelia the prostitute with a heart of gold and Penel

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Approximate Word count = 1177
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History