compare & contrast

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19 June 2007

Critique of Capitalism System and Monopoly

In the books Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and The Jungle by Upton Sinclair the authors examine social and economic relations affected the American society during different historical periods . The authors vividly portray that labor put value into a commodity in good part because productive labor is humanity 's proper activity . Thesis Both books criticize capitalism and portray a negative impact of capitalistic system on social and economic relations

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similarity between he books is that they examine and discuss labor relations and capitalistic production . Schlosser and Sinclair portray importance of material self-interest originated in their conception of America and their ideas about the ends any properly organized society should serve . For most Americans , including Sinclair the success of the American experiment and the happiness of its people depends on the proper exploitation of the potential productivity of the country 's rich environment and active population . Sinclair describes the society

There are able-bodied men here who work from early morning until late at night , in ice-cold cellars with a quarter of an inch of water on the floor--men who for six or seven months in the year never see the sunlight from Sunday afternoon till the next Sunday morning (Sinclair

In Fast Food Nation nothing in workers experience calls for a more intricate analysis of labor , profits , and surplus value in a capitalistic society . Indeed , the old traditions give capitalists an entrepreneurial ideal which their experience tended to support . Each producer enjoys the with other producers . Schlosser writes that McDonald has helped to transform not only the American diet , but also our landscape , economy workforce , and popular culture (Schlosser 3 . All receive the full value of their labor because , since a market in labor does not exist people cannot accumulate more than they actually produce with their own hands

Another similarity is that the American system of capitalism has changed society and social relations . Thus , this change leads society to false ideals and values , loosing hopes and unachievable dreams . For instance , Sinclair describes that withh the necessary credit people believed they could achieve their independence , the essence of which was to receive all the benefits of their labor . Their cooperative experience reinforced their belief in the desirability of being independent producers , and the treasury plan , by freeing farmers of having to consider private sources for the credit they needed , would eliminate for them any conflict between the realization of a labor theory of value and the maintenance of a market system and private property . And then to spend such a sum , all in a single day of your life , at a wedding feast (Sinclair . Schlosser depicts that the value given productive labor in this manner tinged it with the notion of right and wrong , and value tended to become as much a function of the moral of society as a function of the relation of labor to the production of...