ENGL 200 D: Reading Literature: Literature in the Marketplace

“The production of life, both of one’s own in labour and of fresh life in procreation, now appears as a double relationship: on the one hand as a natural, on the other as a social relationship.” (157)

As civilization progresses from small family groups spread out in the wilderness to large and tightly packed cities, the more one needs to be mindful of those around.  While living isolated from the rest of society, natural needs for food and shelter are shared by all individuals in the community, but as more people are added to the society, more social relationships need to be established as labor is divided further.

Marx observes that society requires significant cooperation in order to continue functioning, but greed is not only present, it seems to thrive even at the cost of others.  The system seems to be corrupt and biased in favor of the rich, but like the lines from Mandeville’s The Grumbling Hive, “Thus every Part was full of Vice, Yet the whole Mass a Paradise” (155-6).  In theory a world where everyone collaborated for the good of the whole would be ideal, but without the desire to one-up your peers or neighbors, the economy and production stagnates.

In the modern world, as the population continues to grow and lifespans continue to be extended, people have become more and more dependent on each other to ensure their own welfare.  Greed is still the driving force behind the world’s economy, and in recent years we have seen the fallout of excessive speculation, ranging from the dot com bubble in the late 1990’s to the lending industry’s recent crash.  Greed can be good for prodding a stagnant economy back into life, but when it exceeds reason, the results can be devastating in today’s tightly connected society.