| This question <579|585> overall <580|582> TOAD: <556|10>. |
| Term Paper 299: Essay about Chapter Twenty-Five |
| [581] TOAD: Chapter 25 For my term paper I have chosen to discuss section 4 of chapter 25. In this section Marx talks about the three forms that relative surplus population possesses. However I think that there could be six forms. Marxs' three forms are:the floating, the latent, and the stagnant. After reading this section a number of times I feel the six forms that he discusses are: the floating, the latent, the stagnent, the pauper, the orphans and pauper children, and the cripple. |
| The floating form: This form of surplus population is that which has reached and exceeded maturity. Once a member of the male population reaches maturity they are not considered to be prime for employment, this makes it hard for them to continue to find employment in ther same branches of industery. Thus they are left to emigrate and follow capital which has itself emigrated. Hence they are considered floating. |
| The Latent form: This form of surplus population is that which is out there to be exploited, but it is not done so unless there is a demand for there labor. Marx says that the latent population exists in agriculture and that there wages are so low that they already exist with one foot in pauperism (the poor house). |
| The Stagnent form: This form of surplus population is that which consists of those with irregular employment. Meaning that they can't hold a job. So for capitol this means an “inexhaustible reservoir of labor-power” or that there are allot of people to be taken advantage of. These people are those that typically will work for a maximum of hours with minimum wages because they cant find work and they need to survive. |
| This is where I don't follow Marx, because he said in the beginning of this section that there were only three forms of surplus population. However after he finishes discussing those three forms he goes on to explain the three forms of pauperism that exist under surplus population, doesen't this make six. he says that the three forms of pauperism are: those that are able to work but don't; orphans and pauper children, these are candidates for the industrial reserve army to be exploited in times of prosperity. And third the demoralized the raged and those unable to work; basicaly, the old, the widowed, the sickly, the mutilated, and those who have fallen victim to dangerous machinery. Marx explains that capital transfers the resoponsibility of these to the working class and the petty bourgeoisie. |
| Marx continues and concludes the rest of this section by talking about the Venetian monk Ortes, one of the great economic writers of the eighteenth century. Ortes explains his view of wealth, and how if there is wealth there is an equal amount of poverty to offset that wealth. He says that there cannot be success without failure and good without evil, basicaly the natural balance of life. Marx closes with a quote from Destutt de Tracy “in poor nations the people are comfortable, in rich nations they are generally poor.” The reason I feel that this is, is because in poor nations the people have nothing to compare themselves to, and in rich nations they do. |
| Hans: The difference between the three forms of relative surplus population (floating, latent, and stagnant), and pauperism is: pauperism is a consequence of the existence of unemployment. Unemployment is caused by the accumulation of capital, and pauperism is caused by unemployment. |
| Marx does not just “talk about” Ortes, he heartily disagrees with him! He would also disagree with your interpretation that the povery amidst plenty is only an artefat of the comparison effect. |
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