Marxist economics facts for kids

Marxist economics is a way of understanding how money and goods work in a society. It is based on the ideas of a famous thinker named Karl Marx. Marx's theories looked at how things are made and traded under a system called capitalism.

Marx believed his ideas could help the working class, also known as the proletariat, to change society. He wanted them to replace capitalism with socialism, and then eventually with communism. In a communist society, Marx imagined a world where goods and services would be shared based on what people needed and what they could do.

What is Value?

Marx believed in something called the Labor Theory of Value. This idea says that the true value of a commodity (which is anything that can be bought or sold) comes from the amount of work needed to make it.

For example, if it takes a lot of effort and time to make a chair, that chair would have more value than something quick and easy to make. Marx called this the "socially necessary labor time." This means the average time it takes to make something using the usual tools and methods in a society.

From this idea, Marx thought that the working class creates all the wealth in society. They are the ones who do the actual work to produce goods and services.

Capitalism and Workers

Marx saw the capitalist class, also called the bourgeoisie, as the people who own the factories, land, and tools needed for production. He believed they got their wealth by taking advantage of the working class.

Marx argued that workers under capitalism are not paid for the full value they create. Instead, they are paid only enough to cover their basic needs, like food, clothes, and a place to live. This payment is called their wages.

The difference between the value a worker creates and their wages is what Marx called surplus value. He believed this surplus value was unpaid work that the working class did for the capitalists. Marx called this process exploitation.

Why Change Society?

Because capitalists get rich from the exploitation of workers, Marx believed that the interests of these two groups were completely opposite. He thought they could never truly agree.

Marx argued that if the working class took control of the means of production (factories, land, tools), it would end this class struggle. He believed this change would lead to a society with more fairness and allow humans to develop much more freely in many areas.

See also

In Spanish: Economía marxista para niños