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By Elizabeth Morris*
While neither eighteenth centuryās Adam Smith nor nineteenth centuryās Karl Marx invented capitalism or socialism, neither capitalism nor socialism were clearly expressed prior to their attempts to express and build on these observed trends in varied societies. Feudalism had been the primary economic system for centuries, and capitalism and socialism grew āonly after feudalismās demiseā (Blomberg 2012).
Twentieth century Liberal Philosopher John Rawls now identifies five types of social order: ālaissezāfaire capitalism [individual, natural liberty], welfareāstate capitalism, state socialism with a centrally controlled economy, propertyāowning democracy, and liberal (or democratic) socialismā (Pogge & Kosch, 2007, p. 133). We will discuss the relationship between Socialism, Marxism, and Critical Theory.
Key Ideas of Socialism
Socialists claim their key ideals include āprinciples of equality, democracy, individual freedom, self-realization, and community or solidarityā (Pablo Gilabert 2019). Despite the necessity of individual determination for each these noble objectives, socialists call for strong government legislation to control and enforce the exercise of them. According to Mises, āā¦ a paternal authority, as a guardian for everybody,ā is required by socialism (Mises, 2006).
Key Ideas of Marxism
Marxism originated in the mid-1800ās. Introduced by German Philosopher Karl Marx, it is a political theory involving ādialectical materialism,ā a resultant ālabor theory of value,ā and ātransition from past to futureā (Strauss and Cropsey 1987, 803). Marx viewed capitalism’s law and order as just a facade hiding a struggle between two main classes: āCapitalists, who own the productive resources, and the workers or proletariat, who must work in order to surviveā (Olman 2004). Marx endeavored to analyze the relationship between them. His analysis involved three theories: āthe theory of alienation, the labor theory of value, and the materialist conception of historyā (2004). According to Marxism, the ruling class can control the āideological outlookā of the working classes through production of materials that the working-class desire. āAs long as the workers agree with the ideology that they are subject to, they will acquiesce to their place in the structure of societyā (Formby 2015).
The result, according to Marx, of a ānatural progressionā that societies undergo as they and their economic systems are born, progress and either die off or reach a new level, is Marxism. Socialism is the āunrealized potential inherentā within the wealth and organization of Capitalism itself, which allows for āa more just and democratic society in which everyone can develop his/her distinctively human qualitiesā (Olman 2004). Capitalism matures to Socialism, which in turn progresses to Communism/Marxism, which Marx described as a utopia that will no longer need politics or religion. (Strauss and Cropsey 1987, 826).
Marx drew his ideas from āGerman philosophy, English political economy, and French utopian socialismā (Olman 2004). One of those was Jeremy Bentham, an English philosopher and social reformer. He had taught in the late 1700ās and early 1800ās that there needed to be a separation of ālaw as it is from law as it ought to beā (Hart, 1958). Calling this āLegal Positivism,ā he pushed the detachment of statements of fact from statements of value and therefore, a detachment of law from morality and Godās Word. Instead of basing law on Scripture or a moral goal to be attained, he wanted law to be viewed only in terms of how it was written. The decision as to how it should be written should be based on his “fundamental axiom” that law should reflect whatever brings āthe greatest happinessā to the greatest number of people (Daniels 2012). Popular opinion would be the definition of right and wrong. His ideas formed a basis for welfarism (Hart, 1958).
While socialism and communism deny the reality of a morality defined by God, many adherents recognize the difficulty of selling these social theories to the general public. Marxism comes out of naturalism and leads to an emphasis on āeconomic and political solutions,ā including behavior modification of the population and redistribution of wealth (Fischer, 2013). Knowing that behavior modification is not something most people would embrace, Utopian socialists advocated use of āuniversal ideas of truth and justiceā to appeal to the āmoral sensibilitiesā of men. They asserted this is the only way to bring about necessary change to society (Wolff 2017). However, Marx disagreed and distanced himself from utopian thought. He asserted that the way to bring about his vision of āhuman emancipationā was to study and explain the āhistorical and social forcesā that he believed had shaped the world to this point. Appeal to āmoralityā was, in his mind, regressive (2017).
With morality unnecessary, justice, as Bentham suggested, was solely the decision of men. Marx either considered communism to be justice, or that the entire concept of justice does not apply because ācommunism would transcend justiceā (Wolff 2017). He described communism as āa society in which each person should contribute according to their ability and receive according to their needā (2017). While some believe this is a theory of justice, it is also possible that Marx is explaining how and why communism transcends justice. If ājusticeā is nothing more than a method of resolving disputes, then āa society without disputes would have no need or place for justiceā (2017). Hume had argued that if society had complete acceptance of all human beings and enough abundance for everyone to have āwhatever they wanted without invading anotherās share,ā then there would be no need for rules of justice. There would be no conflict. Marx had claimed that communism would bring abundance to everyone.
Whether or not world-wide brotherly love and abundantly available material possessions is even possible, the concept put forward was that ācommunism transcends justiceā (Wolff 2017). The sin nature of men, including greed, lust, laziness and selfishness, is ignored because if there is no God, there is no sin-nature. Everything is controllable on a physical level (Fischer, 2013). And therein lies the reason for behavior modification and redistribution of wealth.
Key Ideas of Critical Theory
Originating in Germany in 1931, Critical Theory was a child of its time and birth. Like most other modernists, postmodernists and naturalists, Critical Theorists inherently believe evolution includes a hierarchy of humans. With that, they imagine that if allowed opportunity, societyās best and brightest intellectuals and progressives ā by their standards ā can ārationally solve all problemsā and should govern everyone else (Fischer, 2013).
According to these āGerman philosophers and social theorists in the Western European Marxist tradition,ā a ācriticalā theory is set apart from ātraditionalā theory to the extent it is a āliberating ā¦ influence,ā pursuing human āemancipation from slavery,ā and functions to ācreate a world which satisfies the needs and powersā of human beings (Horkheimer 1972, 246). There is a growing number of elite intellectuals who believe critical theory provides descriptive and ānormativeā grounds for āsocial inquiryā and is valid science for decreasing domination and increasing freedomā in any form they deem to deconstruct (Bohman, Flynn and Celikates 2019 [2005]).
By their definition, Critical Theory considers āsocial facts as problematic situations from the point of view of variously situated agentsā (Bohman, Flynn and Celikates 2019 [2005]). The philosophical approach of Critical Theory āextends to ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of history.ā Because they view this as a ānormative task,ā they believe it ācannot be accomplished apart from the interplay between philosophy and social science through interdisciplinary empirical social researchā (2019 [2005]). Because Critical Theory should bring āexplanation and revolutionā to all ādimensions of the domination of human beings in modern societiesā and ācircumstances that enslave human beings,ā social inquiry should combine philosophy and the social sciences. Intellectual feel to the sciences needs to be suppressed (2019 [2005]).
So, whereas traditional theory would verify empirically whether a stated fact has occurred or not, Critical Theory considers knowledge to be a fetish that infers ātruth and falsehood presupposes an objective structure of the worldā (Corradetti 2020)and is ārather functional to ideology critique and social emancipationā (2020). Social criticism, therefore, is true knowledge and the vehicle for social action that transforms reality (2020). In other words, by irrefutable judgement of these scattered theorists, any social standard considered normal and beyond question for the entirety of human history is now a āproblematic situationā if any one person views it as such.
Critical Theory addresses all methods in which power is used through words or customs (Fischer, 2013). Using āBounded and Satisficing Rationality,ā a person can reach a āsatisfactory solution rather than an optimal oneā (English 2016), and ādesign strategic toolsā for making decisions, setting standards and creating environments in which the tools become āecologically rationalā (Gigerenzer 2011).
With this in mind, āā¦any philosophical approach with similar practical aims could be called a ācritical theory,ā including feminism, critical race theory, and some forms of post-colonial criticismā (Bohman, Flynn and Celikates 2019 [2005]). Fischer notes Queer Theory and criticism of current prison systems are also included (Fischer, 2013).
Opening the door to allow for every type of human complaint enlarges the size and power of the political movement. However, the more voices in the tent, the more disagreement over policy and criticism of fellow āCritical Theorists.ā Dr. William Scheuerman notes some concern that ācontemporary critical theory is succumbing to legalist or juridical preoccupations that distort the nature of social realityā (Scheuerman 2016), and Dr. Amy Allenās primary concern is the Frankfurt Schoolās critical theory āremains wedded to problematically Eurocentric and/or foundationalist strategies for grounding normativityā (Allen 2015, xii). She wants to ādecolonize Frankfurt School critical theoryā and open it up āto the aims and concerns of post- and decolonial thoughtā (2015, xii).
Antonio Vazquez-Arroyo, reviewing Dr. Allenās work, notes her distaste for ārobust claims to progress as ahistorical fact,ā made by projects that claim to be critical, and ābackward-looking conceptions of progress that understand history as a learning process that has led up to āusā (p. 98)ā (Vazquez-Arroyo 2018, S227). He comments, āā¦a different warning goes unheeded. Paraphrasing her formulation, any theory that purports to be critical should be extremely wary of thought forms whose sediments and de-differentiations, along with neo-nativist gestures and inane ideas of decolonization, undermine genuine critiqueā (2018, S227).
According to Dr. Rasmussen, āthe great challenge to critical theory that has to deal with the rise of religion, on the one hand, and globalization, on the other, will be whether or not it can keep a critical perspective alive or whether in the future we will look back at critical theory as just another theory of modernityā (2012).
Socialism, Marxism and Critical Theory
All three, Socialism, Marxism and Critical Theory, profess to be a pathway to Utopia ā a society where all laws, government, and social conditions are ideal. Fischer explains that Marxism and socialism are both a derivative of a naturalistic worldview and assume there is only a physical universe, not a spiritual one, and at the same time, free will is an illusion. They believe that our choices are constrained by and are a product of our physical environment. Therefore, social and economic justice are entirely achievable, as they are entirely physical constructs and ācan and should be manipulatedā (2018).
Critical theory views the universe the same way, as noted by Gigerenzer, who said that āunbounded rationalityā is the illusion there is āan āomniscient being,ā omnipotent ā knows everything ā can compute all the consequencesā¦a Laplacian demon, or maybe ā GodāĀ (Gigerenzer 2011).
All three disciplines view people groups as monolithic. They expect individuals of similar backgrounds to maintain the same views ā ignoring individual thought and experience because such things make calculation and projections much more difficult. Anyone who had not reached the same conclusions they had were either lying or deluded.
Dr. Satnam Virdee recalled how in the early twentieth century, Englandās Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF) ārepeatedly emphasized how working-class racism was āpart of the imperialist rationale to stress the inherent backwardness of African peoples.ā and (Virdee 2017). Socialists denied that classism, rather than racism, could be the real problem because they had already decided that racism was the issue. At the same time, in Germany, socialists stressed class was the issue, while the Naziās stressed race. German socialists touted that āabolition of class exploitationā would liberate everyone, āincluding the racially oppressedā (2017). Virdee surmised that āsocialist political practiceā will have to become more āintersectionalā if solidarity between the āethnically diverse proletariat in the imperialist coreā is to be achieved (2017). Further, economic tenets would need to change, as attempts to practice Marxist socialism have āhad to reintroduce elements of private ownership in the means of production in order to overcome or prevent manifest bankruptcyā (Hoppe 1988 [2010]).
Impact of Socialism, Marxism and Critical Theory
The reason the United States has been āby and large, richer than Western Europe, and West Germany much richer than East Germanyā is a direct result of less socialismā (Hoppe 1988 [2010], 11). The difference between Switzerland and Austria, as well as England in the nineteenth century and England today, is also a reflection of socialism (1988 [2010], 11). It appears socialism has had little success in anything other than stirring up rage within propaganda instilled college students.
In late fifties, many in the United States began to see the separation of law and morals as intellectually misleading and superficial, blinding men āto the true nature of law and its roots in social life.ā Others asserted that the separation was corrupting society, bringing disrespect to the law, and giving way to āstate tyranny or absolutismā (Hart, 1958). The term “Legal Positivism,” took on a negative context. One of them āwas the sinā of Bentham insistence on the separation of ālaw as it is and law as it ought to beā (1958).
In the sixties, the New Left, a political movement that consisted of anti-war groups, libertarians, democrats, and Marxists, picked up the utopian idea of camouflaging socialism and Marxism in āmorality-speakā and campaigned together on issues involving class, race, gender, ideology and culture. In doing this, they brought ārevision and diversificationā to Marxism (Alexander 2018). In the 21st century, āPrefigurative politicsā is a new buzz word purported to represent āethos of unity between means and ends,ā as the New Left draws from its ā60āsā past with anarchist rioting as a means to bring about ārevolutionary social transformationā (Gordon 2018). That is an aspect that has had a large impact on American politicians, if not necessarily the general public. In fact, Alexander reports that his Marxist passion waned after realizing the people he was attempting to liberate had no desire to be liberated. Alexander related:
We formed a sociology collective and did our part during street demonstrations, the rousing performances that unfolded inside tear gas clouds. But holding back from the window breaking and systematic “trashing,” we felt increasingly alienated from the hardened members of the revolutionary vanguard. Ground down by its own internal dynamics and hounded by the triumph of backlash politics and Richard Nixon, the new left had come to resemble the old. It became increasingly polluted by Stalinism and sectarianism, by desperate militancy and acts of revolutionary terrorism. Watching this transformation with horror and fear, I looked for a different way to do radical politics, helping to lead more traditional organizing projects. Our sociology collective traveled to Los Angeles to stand beside workers striking the Goodyear Tire plant. We confronted their conservative trade union leadership and produced a wall poster that provided an alternative intellectual framework for their struggle.
We did not find any converts, and the first doubts about the appropriateness of radical criticism began to form in my mind. ā¦For three months we canvassed this working-class community of General Motors employees, seeking to organize them against the Vietnam war, demonstrating the connection between such imperialist violence and capitalism, whose exploitation we believed such workers would be naturally against. But, if only an hour’s drive from Berkeley, Fremont was actually a universe away. The manifest satisfaction of Freemont residents with the American way of life mystified but also deeply impressed me. Was commodification as alienating as the good books had said? Had capitalist culture really brainwashed these workers in a hegemonic way?Ā (Alexander 2018)
The Progressivism in America today is a post-modern version of Marxism. Marxism pitted the rich against the poor. Progressivism pits white males ā ostensibly rich white males ā against everyone else (Fischer, 2013). In a debate between Trotsky and U.S. socialist C.L.R. James, James recognized the ārevolutionary potential of African Americans.ā He believed that because of the history of slavery and then Jim Crow, āAfrican Americans were not ādeceived by democracy,āā and would never support capitalism (Virdee 2017). He was correct concerning some who have black heritage, but not all. In fact, the Marxist socialists are not united in every aspect of their projects. New communists often push the left to pay āincreasing attention to feminism, anti-racism and sexual politicsā and believe failure to do so nullifies their radicalism and effectiveness. To others, engaging with ānon-class forms of politicsā is what causes loss to their āradicalism and efficacyā (Dean 2015). Neither camp has yet to come to terms with the possibility that free peoples, when given a choice, reject socialism, let alone communism.
Biblical principles of statesmanship and government
Neither pure capitalism nor socialism were economic systems at the time of Jesus Christ (Blomberg 2012). Nevertheless, historians who study the Biblical economy and patterns of social interaction generally agree that Biblical communities, which measured wealth by the amount of land and number of animals a man owned, operated within the theory of ālimited good.ā Most people believed wealth was measured and finite, and only a small portion was accessible to persons such as themselves (2012).
While persons of whom the Bible was written may have had some belief similar to that of Marx, Karl Marx and others of his circle had no belief in them. Nineteenth century philosopher Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach claimed that human beings had invented God in their own image and argued that worshipping God ādiverted human beings from enjoying their own human powers.ā Feuerbach believed this happened to men by innocent āintellectual error.ā They merely needed to have truth explained to them for them to pull out of it. Marx appreciated the book but criticized Feuerbach for failing to understand the reason so many fall prey to religion. If one doesnāt understand the genesis of it, one canāt understand the solution. Marxās view was that āreligion is a response to alienation in material life,ā and therefore, ācannot be removedā until the person is set financially and materially free. Once that happens, āreligion will wither awayā (Wolff 2017). In the introduction of his work, āContribution to a Critique of Hegelās Philosophy of Right,ā Karl Marx remarked that religion is the āopiate of the people.ā It is in this section that he also discusses the question of āhow revolution might be achieved in Germany,ā and describes the ārole of the proletariatā in making that happen (2017).
Naturalists, socialists, and Marxists do not believe a metaphysical component exists in the world. God and any form of spirituality are myths created to comfort distressed and oppressed āmassesā of people. Therefore, they believe all change must come through the physical tools and institutions available to men. It is up to government to guide, teach, sustain and protect people (Fisher 2018).
However, it was witnessed and documented that Jesus rose from the dead. Unexplainable miracles have occurred throughout history and continue to this day, giving direct evidence of a spiritual component to the world. God is personal, intelligent, and the timeless creator. While it is true that injustice exists in the world, Jesus urged his followers to give to the poor, but did not demand government take money from citizens to give to the poor. Helping oneās neighbor is an individual responsibility. āEach of you should give whatever you have decided. You shouldnāt be sorry you gave or feel forced to give, since God loves a cheerful giverā (2 Corinthians 9:7).
Americaās founding fathers did not want federal government to have the power to demand more money from the public than necessary because they had been abused in that way by the British government (Vaughan 1997). Governments are constituted of men, and men are inherently sinful and selfish. Many seek pleasure and power at the expense of others and even at times take perverse pleasure in it. Tyrants and despots exist.
This is also why justice cannot be arbitrary.Ā There needs to be uncompromising, enduring justice. Bentham assumed people would naturally seek āgoodā and pleasure over pain, but neither Marx nor Bentham appeared to accept the genuine nature of man and manās need for intervention from the Holy SpiritĀ (Daniels 2012). Ā Men cannot depend on a government structure. Men can only depend on God.Ā Without Jesus, society devolves. Daniels’s warns, āThe social ethic of the secular is so narrowā¦they give up on trying to defend principalāā¦āBut Christians canāt give upā (2012).
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Elizabeth Morris is the administrator of the āChristian Alliance for Indian Child Welfareā ā a national non-profit she and her husband, a member of the Minnesota Chippewa tribe, founded in 2004. Ms. Morris has been writing, lobbying, and advocating on issues related to federal Indian policy since 1995 and is currently working on her PhD in Public Policy: Social Policy at Liberty University.
Ms. Morris was also a Commissioner on the congressional āAlyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children.ā After holding several hearings in regions across the country, the Commission submitted its Final Report and Ms. Morris submitted her Minority Report to Congress in February 2024.
Ms. Morris earned her Bachelor of Science, Interdisciplinary Studies: Government and Policy, Communication, and Health Science magna cum laude in August 2016 and her Master of Arts in Public Policy with Distinction in July 2019, both at Liberty University. Her Master Thesis is titled: āThe Philosophical Underpinnings and Negative Consequences of the Indian Child Welfare Act.ā
Ms. Morris also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Ministries; an Associate of Science (Registered Nurse), a Diploma of Bible & Missions, and is the author of the book, āDying in Indian Country.ā
CAICW.org; X.com/CAICW; Facebook.com/CAICW.org; Linkedin.com/in/elizabethsharonmorris/