Challenges of Modernity Essays

Submitted By beezy3259
Words: 902
Pages: 4
Open Document
Society is faced with a plethora of different obstacles throughout time periods. Karl Marx was an individual during the 1800’s that was considered to be a historian, sociologist, and even an economist. He provided theories and predictions on the negatives of society and what would happen to society if these negatives continued. Towards the end of the second section in his book The Communist Manifesto, Marx lists ten statements that he believes will happen to nations in the future. “Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes” is the first prediction that Karl Marx makes in respect to the revolution of the proletariat class to develop into the ruling class. This prediction can be translated to the ownership of land is to be removed and that all payments that are made are for public purposes. This prediction seems to have not entirely come to pass. The ownership of land is a hallmark of American society, however, there is evidence that some aspects have in fact been realized. Banks, not people, own most properties. Since banks are private institutions, there are no public purposes that are being taken care of.
Marx predicting that eliminating land ownership would be beneficial for society is in a way prophetic. If the government had removed ownership of property, there would not have been countless citizens applying for bank loans that they could not pay off. We are currently in one of the deepest recessions this country has ever faced. The reason for this recession can be most closely related to a majority of the big banks providing loans to unqualified applicants. If the government didn’t have private land ownership, there is a strong possibility this recession either would not have happened or wouldn’t be nearly as severe.
The next prediction that Marx made was “A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.” Essentially this prediction was describing that individuals with higher incomes would have to pay higher taxes. For the most part, this seems to be accurate in society today. However, the income tax isn’t necessarily black and white. There are so many different deductions that can be made in order for individuals to pay less. If Marx were here today, he would state that the bourgeois is not only still in power, but also possibly more powerful than his time. The government might make it seem like the middle class is being taken care of by forcing those in high tax brackets to pay a significantly higher income tax. For example, my father is the CEO of a insurance brokerage firm, and he told me today after I brought up this topic that “Even though I make way more than my secretary, she probably pays more taxes than I do because I have an accountant that is respectable in his field and can tell me every single way possible that I can pay less, she probably doesn’t have an account nearly as deft.” One of the last predictions Marx makes in the second section of his book is “Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.” Compared to the variety of other predictions that Marx made, this one in particular caught my eye. To state that public school education is free, to an extent is true but in a way false as well. There is currently no specific payment towards public
Show More

Related Documents: Challenges of Modernity Essays

The Challenges Of Modernity

03. The Challenges of Modernity Introduction - Americans living in 1877 felt dismayed by the chaos they were witnessing o “Great Uprising” of 1877 was an ominous sign of what was to come o Americans liked to view themselves as a classless society, but by 1877, it was hard to ignore the class tensions and the growing disparity of wealth o Influential Americans expressed concern that disgruntled workers might reject capitalism and violently turn to socialism or communism—the foundations of…

Words 1623 - Pages 7

Modernity In Presidential Elections

is in a daily struggle to perform a task in the most efficient way possible. This struggle for a more efficient society is what drives the human race itself into modernity. Without cultural advancements such as the Enlightenment or the Industrial revolution, we would be decades behind the current state we are in. The concept of modernity is the reason you receive mail on your phone, rather than just your mailbox. Technology in general has allowed us to expand nearly every field of life from a personal…

Words 644 - Pages 3

Ontological Conflicts and the Stories of Peoples in Spite of Europe Essays

= One historical trajectory Are their Alternate histories? Other histories have little relevance What were the histories of those before intervention? Anthropological accounts needed to investigate An All Encompassing Modernity Assumption of an all-encompassing modernity has come to dominate both scholarly + political analysis General Idea: (1) Culture as systemic, organic and bounded (1970-present) (2)Assumes any given culture is always the historical product of…

Words 2121 - Pages 9

Compare And Contrast Reform Judaism And Hasidism

The responses of Reform Judaism and Hasidism to the challenges posed by modernity have resulted in unique challenges within each movement, some of which are distinct, while others are shared struggles. Both movements reflect the ongoing dialogue within Jewish denominations about the balance between tradition and adaptation in a rapidly changing world. Assimilation and persecution pose the most significant threats to the adherents of both movements. While Reform Jews benefited from ideals espoused…

Words 538 - Pages 3

Japan: Japan and Late Twentieth-century World Essay

is always relative (see note 2). | Contemporary Japan is a modern society, an instance of the multiple patterns of modernity that characterize the late twentieth-century world. Images of samurai and sumo wrestlers, of geisha and cherry blossoms, should not mislead: Japan is no exotic Lotusland, no topsy-turvy Asian version of Western-style modernity. If modernity, broadly defined, implies industrialization, the nation-state, expanded political participation, forms of middle class or mass…

Words 2718 - Pages 11

Critical Analysis of a Passage from Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto Essay

such as Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis. Many of these defining characteristics can be seen within the very first few pages of the text and for the purposes of this essay, to identify some of these conventions used and the relevance of this text to modernity I shall focus this analysis on the passage between pages twenty-four and twenty-six from the Oxford World’s Classics edition. The gothic novel emerged during the late eighteenth century and the ‘Age of Enlightenment’, which emphasised rationality…

Words 1000 - Pages 4

Analyzing Jean Vigo's 'Kids United'

University of Southern California Final Exam Jori Richman CTCS 200: History of International Cinema I Professor Laura Serna TA: Andrew Meyers 12 December 2014 Final Exam A. Clip Analysis – “Kids United” from Zéro de conduite (1933) Through his distinctive formalistic style and vibrant temporal experimentation, Jean Vigo’s famous pillow fighting sequence from Zéro de conduite (1933) represents a culmination of his anarchist political ideology. Because the children present a microcosmic…

Words 3223 - Pages 13

Lucy Westenra And Mina In Bram Stoker's Dracula

is eternally devoted to her fiance, Jonathan Harker, and continuously learns new things to help aid Jonathan. Although Mina also becomes a victim of the Count, it is not because of her physical beauty, or rebellious spirit, but rather due to the challenge she presented to the Count that caused her to become a victim. Mina, throughout the novel is portrayed as having superior intellect, helping aid Harker, Van Helsing, and the other characters in their attack against the Count. Without her skills,…

Words 471 - Pages 2

David Harvey

form and rhyme, “Design” in theme and tone has proven itself to be a modern poem. When looking at modern writing, the definition of “modernity” must be first understood. In David Harvey’s book The Condition of Postmodernity, he quotes from poet Charles Baudelaire that it is “one half of art, the other being the eternal and the immutable” and uses this to say, “Modernity...not only entails a ruthless break with any or all preceding historical conditions, but is characterized by a never-ending process…

Words 1503 - Pages 7

Essay on Israeli Society

Q. 1. Discuss the ways in which the potential tension between the “Jewish” and “democratic” aspects of the Israeli state has manifested itself over the course of Israeli history. How have changing historical circumstances given new shape to the challenges of maintaining a Jewish democracy? How have different social and political groups in Israel understood these terms, and the relationship between them, differently? When the state of Israel was created in 1948, it declared itself both a Jewish…

Words 1490 - Pages 6