IC51002A - Analysis of Human Capital through the Lens of Karl Marx

This essay delves into Karl Marx's perspective on human capital, examining his theories on capitalism, labor power, and the relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. It explores how Marx viewed human capital as a key component of the capitalist system, where workers sell their labor power to capitalists in exchange for wages. The essay discusses Marx's concepts of exploitation, wage labor, and the inherent contradictions within capitalism, highlighting the dependence of the ruling class on the labor of the working class. It also touches upon the historical context of feudalism and the evolution of capitalism, concluding that the exploitation of the working class persists in modern society. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wide range of academic resources for students.

Running head: HUMAN CAPITAL BY MARX
Human Capital by Marx
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

HUMAN CAPITAL BY MARX
Table of Contents
Table of Contents...........................................................................................................1
Introduction:...................................................................................................................2
Human Capital:..............................................................................................................2
History:...........................................................................................................................4
Modern:..........................................................................................................................5
Wage Labour:.................................................................................................................6
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................7
References......................................................................................................................8

HUMAN CAPITAL BY MARX
Introduction:
Capital refers to the financial assests or resources an individual or an economy
owns.The concept of capital is wide.In the first place the concept of capital have risen in
history from the practice of circulation and exchange of commodities.German philosopher
and sociologist,Karl Marx introduced the cocenpt of the term socialism which is mainly the
result of the clash in thr capitalist procedure.Through out his theories,marx highlighted how
human societies have struggled to develop and how the ruling class have controlled the
working class.His works basically highlighted the relation between labor and
capital.According to Karl Marx,Capital is a social power (Marxists.org 1848).Workers work
in the organizations and produces outputs for the capitalists who sells those output for futher
capital and the workers in return of their productivity gets their capital in the means of
wages.According to his theories,capital exist only in the procedure of buying and
selling.Money is advanced in order to get it back with a larger amount or with a higher rate of
profit.The concept of human capital includes all the
talents,intelligence,knowleges,skills,experience and abilities human processes either
individually or collectively.These are the wealth that can be used to gain targets for the
economy.Karl Marx concept of labor power is similar to tha concept of human capital since
his theories of capitalism states that workers sell their labor power to receive wages (Bowles
and Gintis 1975).In the modern era,human capital is similar to that of the labor power as
described by him.People these days may not go through any physical hardships for gaining
wages but they do sell their skills and knowleges to gain capital in the form of salaries.
Human Capital:
Human capital is not similar to the concept of natural and social capital since they are
used in bourgeois economies as the caapcities of human in the form of their

HUMAN CAPITAL BY MARX
skills,knowledges,experiences which are the main capital that can be utilized to gain
profit.Thus human capital is not exactly a capital since all its elemenst are the property of an
individual that are constituted by their intellectual and their physical capabilities.Human
capital is included inside the workforce and their pocession is contained in the companies
ability to utilize the employees skills affectively.The concept of human capital differs from
from the concept of labor power because labor power is the utilization of the capacities of
human which are the human capital measured in the terms of hour.Human capital also
involves collective skill sets that are emerged from number of workers working together in a
productive organization.In his theories of capitalism,karl marx introduced a crucial concept
of labor power (Engels 1848).He drew a difference in the concept of capacity to work and the
physical act of working.His theories gives a view of the existance of labor power in societies
from the historical era and the variation in the terms of trade with the production means of
goods and services.In his theory of capitalism,Marx stated that the productive powers of the
workers appers to be the creative powers of the capital.The poer of the labor in employment
is treated as a component of the capital and it operates as a workin capital.Workers provoding
the main labor power are treated as the abstract labor force and the management controls over
the entire working procedure.His theories also highlighted the exploitation of the loabor foce
where the laborers faes unfair means for the benefits of the ruling class.The common thing
for different use-value commodities is the labor time which is the only criterion during the
exchange situation.The concept of Marx’s labor theory of value implies that commodities
exchanged values are not intrinsic to them since they have a social dimensions(Marxists.org
1887).They depends on the society’s entire division of labor and system of economic
interdependence, where different people produce different products for sale on a common
market.

HUMAN CAPITAL BY MARX
History:
Bourgeoise were the capitalist class owning the most of the means of the
production,whereas the proletariat were the working class that includes the farmers and the
semi skilled workers.In his theories Marx argues that the proletrait class has been mercilessly
exploitd by the bourgeoisie class (Marxists.org 1986).In the ancient and the mediaval
society,the ruling class had oppressed the slaves and the poor laborers.He noted that the work
done by the proletrait class formed great capital and wealth for the ruling capitalist class.The
products formed by the workers were sold in higher prices that were more than the workers
wage rate.The capitalists gained profit and thus was in advantage through out.Karl Marx
believed that the seeds of destruction of capitalism is presented on the very concept of
capitalism itself (Engels 1848).The wealth of the capitalist section has been dependable on
the working skills of the proletrait from the ancient era.The continued exploitation of the
underclass has made the proletrait to accept their fate of being suppressed through out
andserving for the capitalist class.In his works regarding political and economic development
of the society,Karl Marx introduced the term feudalism to highlight the power of the
atistrocracy and their control over the lands.Feidalism explains the social class structure and
the exploitation of the laborers working and farmimg the lands under the condition of
bondage or serfdom (BOURDIEU 1983).The feudal society showed a picture where serfers
used to work for the land owner in exchange of protection,right to cultivate and minimum
wage to survive.The main thing to highiht about the feudal society is that the workers and the
farmers were bound legally by taxation by the ruling class resulting in m jor cases of black
death among the workers.Human capital in this era constiturtes manily the skills,the extent to
which a labor can work and the physical strength of a labour which can be utilized by the
land owners to maximize their profit margin.The concept of capitalism deals with the attempt
to maximize the profit margin with economic exchanges.From the ancient times,till today the

HUMAN CAPITAL BY MARX
workers are the main sources of the capital that initiate funds for their organization or the
owner they work for.Their skills,talents,powers and knowledges are the main ingredients for
the human capital that are utilized to maximize or earn profit.Hence the concept of capitalism
is totally dependable on the working class.
Modern:
The concept of capitalism has grown into a bigger state through out the time.Bourgeoisie
or the ruing class has gained more power through out the time resulting in major difference
between the ruling and the working class.The modern time shows a picture where laborers
are organized in the factories or organizations like soldiers(Sombart 2017). Like the structure
of an army,they are placed in a perfect hierarchy according to their position,class and
ranks.They have still remained slaves to the bourgeoisie and their states.The workers are
enslaved daily by the bourgeois owners.Besides the modern society doeas not show any
distinction between the working of men and women as lomg as they are productive.The more
the society and the industry is developing,less focus and importance is given to manual labor
strengths,employers are interested in the intellectual of mental knowledge of the employers
which results in the equal opportunities for both the sex in the society.Laborers are still in an
incoherent mass and are scattered over the globe.They lack union power to protest against the
ruling class and are often broken by their mututal competitions.Human capital served by them
has made them the servent or the slaves to the bourgeois class (Research-repository.st-
andrews.ac.uk 2013).Though the workers receive wages or salaries,they do not receive the
exact value of their capital.The ruling class sells their products in a higher rate to earn profit
and the workers are left with their minimum wage structures. The value of their capital is the
amount of output they produced and not the amount they receive as salaries.

HUMAN CAPITAL BY MARX
Wage Labour:
The concept of wage labor is a socio economic norm which highlights the relationship
between the employer and the worker.The worker sells his skills or knowledge under an
employment contract.The works get wages or salaries in exchange of their work
productivity.In short,they sell their abilities and skills to gain wages for their living.In his
theories,marx established the position of labor under capitalism.Labors sell their skill sets and
powers to gain money,this same money could have been used to obtain some commodities
also,thus by Karl Marx,labor power is similar to a commodity (Engels 1848).The exchange of
the skill sets and the labor power by the worker to the employer is characterized by the
measurement of capital or money,hence the wage obtained is the price of the labor power
supplied.Thus Marx pointed out that wages are the basic name for the amount paid for a
particular commodity that contains no other repository other than human blood and flesh
(Becker 1994).Workers can sell their labor to any capitalist who will buy it and provide the
maximum proce as compared to others in the market,they are freee to move from one
capitalist employer to other but the workers cannot leave the entire market without
renouncing their existance.Hence,according to Marx, workers doesn not belong to any
perticluar capitalist,they belong to the whole class of capitalist (Marx 2010). Marx in his
theories of wage labor and capitalist,explained the capitalism as the in depth observation on
the procedure of the working structure of the capitalist economy and the reasons for its
exploitative nature (Engels 1848).Human capital consists of various norms.In todays
economy,the relation between the human capital and the wage capital is determined by
number of factors influencing the productivity of an individual.Education,knowledge of
work,skills,experience and abilities to cope up with the modern technology are some of the
important factors that determine the wage capital an individual receives.

HUMAN CAPITAL BY MARX
Conclusion:
The concept of capitalism has originated long back and still prevails in the society.
The role of bourgeoise and how they have suppressed the proletariat class from the ancient
times is the key concept of capitalism.The exploitation of the working class is still present in
the modern time.Individual sells their knowledge,skills in the form of human capital to the
capitalist class since it is their only source of income.This essay discussed the different
thoughts of Karl Marx regarding the concept of human capital in the light of his famous
theories.It further highlights on the fact that capitalism cannot function without the proletariat
class since the entire wealth of the bourgeoise or the capitalist ruling class is dependable on
the labor power or the productivity of the proletariat class.

HUMAN CAPITAL BY MARX
References
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Analysis with Special Reference to Education (3rd Edition) (pp. 15-28). The university of
Chicago press.
BOURDIEU, P. 1983. The Forms of Capital. [online] Faculty.georgetown.edu. Available at:
http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Bourdieu-Forms_of_Capital-1.pdf [Accessed
18 Feb. 2018].
Bowles, S. and Gintis, H., 1975. The problem with human capital theory--a Marxian
critique. The American Economic Review, 65(2), pp.74-82.
Engels, K. 1848. Communist Manifesto (Chapter 2). [online] Marxists.org. Available at:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm
[Accessed 18 Feb. 2018].
Engels, K. 1848. Communist Manifesto (Chapter 3). [online] Marxists.org. Available at:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch03.htm
[Accessed 18 Feb. 2018].
Engels, K. 1848. Communist Manifesto (Chapter 4). [online] Marxists.org. Available at:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch04.htm
[Accessed 18 Feb. 2018].
Marx, K., 2010. A contribution to the critique of political economy. In Marx Today (pp. 91-
94). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.

HUMAN CAPITAL BY MARX
Marxists.org. 1848. Communist Manifesto (Chapter 1). [online] Available at:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm#007
[Accessed 18 Feb. 2018].
Marxists.org. 1887. Economic Manuscripts: Capital: Volume One. [online] Available at:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ [Accessed 18 Feb. 2018].
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https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/bourdieu-forms-capital.htm
[Accessed 18 Feb. 2018].
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