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More vs. Marx

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Explain at least four of the ways in which More tries to reduce the work load for individuals in Utopia. What did he want Utopians to do in their spare time? Is More’s attitude about labor the same as Marx’s? Why or why not? When comparing Utopia by Sir Thomas More and The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, it is clearly noticeable that both take on different extremes while discussing common issues. For instance, Thomas More believes that idleness is unnecessary and that the workload shouldn’t be as burdensome, therefore he finds a way to lessen the workload by lessening the work hours for each day, creating gender specific occupations, emphasizing the importance of reason and intellectual exploration, and lastly through strategic punishment. Karl Marx on the other hand, believes that division of labor leads to the alienation of mankind. Both Utopia and The Communist Manifesto provide insight on a whirlwind of different beliefs all to come to the conclusion that the working class should not suffer. In Utopia people are not forced to work for unreasonable hours each day. The Utopian day is broken into twenty-four hours; Utopians only work for six hours per day (three before lunch and three after). Utopians also sleep on average about eight hours a day. This leaves them with a great deal of free time, which they are free to do with as they will, as long as they do not spend it in idleness. Most people use their free time to engage in intellectual pursuits. They also involve themselves in music, gardening, and physical activity. The people who demonstrate love for intellectual pursuits are identified early and, as long as they are diligent in their studies, they are exempt from physical labor. If a laborer should demonstrate some great skill in his recreational intellectual efforts, then he can be excused from work. Besides farm work, women and men have specific occupations. Some common occupations/trades are spinning and weaving, blacksmithing, and carpentry. According to More, due the fact that women are less strong, they are employed in trades that do not require excessive laborious work. Young boys usually are taken under the wing of their father and learn through apprenticeship (unless their talents reveal a different path for them). Another way Thomas More tried to reduce the workload of those part of the Utopian society comprises of the importance of reason and intellectual exploration. For example, More describes Utopians as spending idle time taking part in scholarly activities, such as attending public lectures, and finding natural enjoyment in learning. More clearly proclaims the necessity of reason when describing this specific area while incorporating religions of Utopia. Within Utopia, each religion is fundamentally the same, each guided of nature and what is natural. Doing what nature intends, which is established through reason, is the true way of worshipping God, according to the Utopians. This claim remains consistent with the humanist theory of a higher, absolute natural law created by God, and thus must be followed by man. For man to be able to “discover” this natural law, one must use reason. The final way Thomas More tried to reduce the workload of the members of the Utopian society was through strategic punishment. More argued that the Utopian society can never be wealthy since common ownership deprives the people of the incentive to work. Hythloday states that strategic punishment will guarantee that the citizens will pull their own weight and that the system of punishment must exist in order for Utopia to succeed. When an individual in a market-based economy works long hours in order to effectively compete against the other man, he is more productive than the “average” Utopian worker. Hythloday explains that for one productive person, there are many more that make no productive contribution. Hythloday concludes by saying that while no one in Utopia is extraordinarily productive, everyone is fairly productive, and laziness on the job is punished.
Alienation is the transfer of property from one to another; foreign strange, unknown or to separate. Marx explains how labor negatively produces itself and the workers as a commodity. The object that labor produces confronts the laborer as something alien and a power independent of the producer. The product of labor is labor. In capitalism, the loss of the object is loss of reality for the worker. For Marx, division of labor is what is wrong with the world. The division of labor pits man against man, creates class differences, and destroys the unity of the human race.
In the end however, it is seen that both Thomas More as well as Karl Marx have formed their views on the foundation of the welfare/wellbeing of the working class. I believe that Thomas More and Karl Marx both have principalities that underlie the basic concept of labor, while expressing two very different extremes.

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