Concepts of Humanity
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Introduction Karl Marx largely criticized capitalism as a production and social construction method. He perceived capitalism as facilitating the relationships between people rather than between people and things (Hughes, 2003). He criticized capitalism because it supports private ownership of the means of production, thus widening the economic statuses between the rich and poor. Capitalism supports a system whereby the rich continues to exploit those with fewer resources to own production methods in the country. This essay seeks to discuss how Karl Marx perceives the modern world by analyzing his theoretical contexts of the issue of capitalism.
Discussion
Karl Marx perception of capitalism is that it is a tool innovated by the high economic status people, including politicians and successful business people, to control production methods, thus maintaining the status quo (Varul, 2013). The implication of capitalism on the middle and low class people is that they find hard to experience upward mobility in the society because they lack the opportunity to improve their economic statuses in the society. In this context, technology plays a small role in determining production as compared to the ownership of production processes. Financially resourceful people own and control the production processes in ways that give little or no chance for the middle and low class people to experience social mobility. Marxists opinions suggest that historical developments have been characterized by class and economic aspects (Hughes, 2003). For instance, the rich share or exchange production methods with people of their own class, thus denying the middle and low class people the opportunity to succeed in various endeavors such as businesses among others. Capital exchange between the rich mainly includes property. Marx explained that the exchange of private property characterizes capitalist societies (Hughes, 2003). In capitalist societies, there are laws, regulations, and policies that seek to protect the interest of the people who owns production means. These laws, policies, and regulations affect the trade sector more than other sectors in the economy of capitalist societies. Such societies justify their protection of the rich and powerful that they support the economy, and a collapse of their enterprises would compromise economic growth (Varul, 2013). In this case, they perceive the entry of new enterprises into the market as a threat to the existing enterprises. Therefore, they control the threat of entry by imposing somehow unrealistic requirements that only the rich can meet. In the end, peoples’ motivation to produce wealth comes from the fact that capitalist societies allow the private property ownership. People know that the ownership of production processes allows them to monopolize the market. In this case, they are able to influence market forces including market prices for various commodities among others. This trend is likely to compromise the development of authentic social relationships in the society (Butgereit & Carden, 2011). Modern relationships are based on the context of class as well as what people can gain from one another. Socioeconomic statuses have replaced cultural identity and religion as the predominant factor that determines social relationship within the society. The rich socializes in a class that does not include middle or low class people in the citizens (Marx & Engels, 1985). As a result, the poor are left fighting for their rights as the rich continue to amass wealth through the monopolization of production processes. The poor are also left at the mercy of the rich people because they need jobs to meet their basic needs in the society. The inability of low and middle class members of the society to experience upward socioeconomic mobility is facilitated by the lack of opportunity to create competition for the established businesses in the market (Marx & Engels, 1985). The contemporary society is characterized by a wider gap between the rich and poor. Marx also criticized capitalism because it leads to the reduction of labor as mere commodities that only enrich production owners rather than workers. Human beings are naturally innovative, and are capable of developing things that would improve the quality of their wealth. Thus, when the rich reduces labor to commodity, they exploit the talents, skills, and innovative capacities of their workers for their selfish gains in the process. No wonder, management frameworks have emerged that seek to enhance the intrinsic motivation level of workers with the aim of encouraging them to be innovative at work and enrich their companies.
Conclusion
Karl Marx criticism of capitalism portrays the modern society as characterized by capitalism where the rich owns private property and controls production process. This trend has various adverse impacts in the middle and low socioeconomic members of the society. For instance, the monopolization of production processes has denied the poor the opportunity to compete effectively against the rich in the market. As a result, they have been reduced to workers whose purpose, as seen by the rich, is to help the rich amass great wealth. Correspondingly, the trend has compromised the development of authentic social relationships in the society.

References
Butgereit, B., & Carden, A. (2011). Capitalism, Socialism and Calculation. Economic Affairs, 31(3), 41-45.
Hughes, J. (2003). Understanding Classical Sociology. London; Sage Publications
Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1985). The communist manifesto; with an introduction by A.J.P Taylor. London; Penguin.
Varul, M. Z. (2013). Towards a consumerist critique of capitalism: A socialist defence of consumer culture*. Ephemera, 13(2), 293.