“Capitalist production, therefore, develops technology, and
the combining together of various processes into a social whole, only by
sapping the original sources of all wealth -- the soil and the labourer.” –
Karl Marx (Capital, 1867)
“The core dynamic of the capitalist system is the
accumulation process, a process in which a portion of the profits reaped
through the sale of goods and services is reinvested, swelling the capital
stock, incorporating new technologies in the process, and permitting larger
sales and profits in the future.” –Victor D. Lippit (Capitalism, 2006)
Global economic stratification is not a random phenomenon as
“stratification by class, country, gender, race and other social categories
predates the contemporary rise of supraterritoriality by several generations or
even many centuries” (Scholte, 235). When
considering that the basic premise of capitalism is that an entity must have
capital to generate capital through reinvestment to generate further capital,
it is important to recognize that “the modern history of capital dates from the
creation in the 16th century of a world-embracing commerce and a
world-embracing market” (Marx, Das Capital).
The origins of global economic stratification originated from the 16th
century and accelerated with industrialization, first within the state and
later with developed global stratification beginning with colonialism and the
transatlantic slave trade. From a
historical perspective, it can be argued that the capital generated from
colonial exploitation and the transatlantic slave trade was eventually consolidated
through cyclic reinvestment of generated capital from those forms of colonial exploitation
and reinvested in new technologies to magnify capital accumulation through
exploitation and production. As
industrialization and new technologies evolved, economic stratification within
the state and across the international stage was elevated because the exploited
domestic capital-less working masses and exploited states had only their labor and
natural resources to generate capital while the colonizing state and the private
sector capitalist with means of production could continuously reinvest
generated capital into new technological means of production, exploitation, and
military weaponry.
As we look at domestic stratification within the United
States, “By 1991 the richest 10 per cent of the US population owned 83.2 per
cent of assets” (Scholte, 238). This stratification
phenomenon is not exclusive to the United States, but is a characteristic of
most states with capitalist structure or tendencies. In Russia the “richest fifth of the
population saw its proportion of national income rise from 32.7 per cent in
1990 to 46.7 per cent in 1997, while the poorest fifth had its share decline
over the same period from 9.8 to 6.2 per cent” and “in the early 1990s the
wealthiest fifth of the population in Brazil earned 26 times as much as the
poorest fifth” (Scholte, 238).
Looking at the international stage, it can also be
identified that factors of capital imperialism “have since the nineteenth
century highlighted a purported inequitable stratification of countries”, especially
after the end of World War II and the establishment of organizations such as
the World Trade Organization/GATT (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
and the World Bank (Scholte, 242). The Bretton Woods organizations, in
correlation with the WTO/GATT, began a shift in international imperialism from
state on state colonial exploitation of natural resources to the imperial private
sector exploitation of so-called Lesser Developed Countries (LDCs) through private
sector globalization structurally enforced and stimulated by IMF and World Bank
conditional loans which open up poorer states to foreign private sector investment
through extraction of domestic natural resources and exploitation of cheap
labor, especially with Multinational Corporations (MNCs) profiting from lower
wage requirements in poorer states in order to maximize profit by moving “manufacturing
from the North to the South and the East” (Scholte, 238).
The most powerful international government organizations
(IGOs) and the most capital heavy Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) also contribute
to global stratification among states.
One example for this argument is “the G7 governments currently control
more than 45 per cent of votes on the IMF Executive Board, while 43 governments
in Africa between them control less than 5 per cent” (Scholte, 244).
What are possible solutions to economic stratification
within the state and on the international stage within economic globalization? The first thing that must be considered in
the basic concept of capitalism and that is the generation, accumulation and
reinvestment of capital for further capital regeneration and accumulation. This is an exploitative concept and the
system of capital generation itself goes against any true altruist relief of
stratification whether on the state level or international level. Solutions to economic stratification within individual
states are much more difficult to propose and implement because it requires
analysis of the history of that state.
For instance, there are racial economic divides in the modern United
States due American slavery. In order to
rectify the historical economic ramifications of slavery in the U.S., some sort
of redistribution of wealth would have to be implemented. Sadly, the United States government has not
even issued an apology for slavery. As
for international stratification, perhaps former imperial powers that generated
capital from the exploitation of colonial possessions should be held
responsible, to some extent, for the conditions of their post-colonial
possessions (such as Britain to Jamaica or Italy and Britain in the case of
Somalia).
With centuries of capitalism and centuries of capital
regeneration through exploitation and accumulation, evolving from colonial
imperialism to imperialist globalization, there really is no clear cut solution
to economic inequality among the most powerful capitalist states and exploited
states. Globalization is based on capital
exploitation.
Resources:
Marx, Karl.
1867. Das Kapital: Volume One. Accessed on November 28, 2013 from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/index.htm
Scholte, Jan. 2000. Globalization: a Critical Introduction.
London, England: MacMillan.
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