CapitalismCapitalism is an economic system in which people and private businesses are able to control their own trade and means of production for profit. It emerged when technology, production and trade began to increase. During the industrial revolution, capitalism began to influence people more. Some characteristics of capitalism are capital accumulation, competitive markets, and wage labor. The government should not interfere with trade. Individual markets increase or decrease prices due to competition and demand for goods. There has been much discussion about the usefulness of capitalism. Some believed capitalism had negative effects while others saw greater benefits. Adam Smith and Andrew Carnegie pushed for a capitalist society, but had different beliefs about how to distribute economic wealth; Karl Marx advocated a communist society in which wealth was equally distributed. Karl Marx was born into the middle class in 1818 in Trier, Germany (Weber 39). He was more communist than capitalist; he saw many flaws in the system. Marx believed that everyone should have the same wealth. In his eyes, capitalism divided people into two main classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The bourgeoisie was the wealthy class that owned the factories and businesses. The proletariats were the wage workers who could only sell their labor (Weber 14). Capitalism has made the gap between two classes even wider by making the rich richer and the poor poorer. In 1867, Das Kapital was published in which he discussed the unjust society created by capitalism. The bourgeoisie has the power to control who works, when and how much. They also control the media, government and other social powers which give them greater influence over workers. The proletarian......middle of paper......rnegie was a wealthy upper class man and believed in the survival of the fittest, he was concerned with the "proper stewardship of wealth". (Weber 45) He believed that wealth should be under the control of only a handful of people and that they should decide how to administer it; however, he didn't want a corporate aristocracy either. In 1889, Andrew Carnegie wrote a book called The Gospel of Wealth that offered a solution to these problems. He believed in philanthropy and wanted rich people to give away their money as they saw fit. His book stated: “A man who dies rich dies dishonored.” (Weber 46) It was the idea that the rich should give their surplus money wisely to the lower classes. Carnegie wanted people not to spend money on unnecessary luxuries and use it for society. The rich could still choose how much and with whom to share their wealth.