Capitalism And The American Worker - 1331 Words

Throughout the 19th and 20th century capitalism was on a rise and many writers had different perspectives on the positives and negatives of capitalism and how it shaped America. Thomas DiLorenzo who wrote How Capitalism Enriched the Working Class, focused on how the world became better because of capitalism. Melvyn Dubofsky’s Industrialism and the American Worker, focused on how the lives of working people were deteriorated because of the development of labor and what conditions these people faced. Douglas Blackmon’s Slavery by Another Name, provided evidence that slavery did not end along with the Civil War and that African-Americans continued to be enslaved and exploited under the system. DiLorenzo agrees that capitalism helped improve wages and workers in America, but Blackmon and Dubofksy show evidence of other arguments that prove to us that capitalism was not a positive impact. In the era when capitalism was booming workers faced very harsh working conditions and little job security. The workers were the very last ones to benefit from their own work, â€Å"the products of capitalism invariably benefit[ed] the ‘wealthy’ first†(DiLorenzo, pg.96). Workers worked long hours sometimes even a 24 hour shift and maybe got a day off every two weeks, with a typical work week of 50-54 hours, where today it is only 40 hours. Due to this era being big on industrialism that meant machines were constantly replacing workers, that is â€Å"new machine techniques replacing old human skillsShow MoreRelatedKarl Marx and Capitalism Essay880 Words   |  4 Pages developed his critique of capitalism by analyzing its characteristics and its development throughout history. The critique contains Marx’s most developed economic analysis and philosophical insight. 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