Diotima: The Marist Undergraduate Philosophy Journal
in the Midwest and Northeast. Second, international trade and immigration can
influence the wage gap by increasing the supply of ‘unskilled’ workers to perform
‘unskilled labor’ in exchange for reduced wages . 3 The capitalists’ prerogative is to
reduce the cost of production of a commodity (basic goods that can be bought or
sold), which involves decreasing the cost of labor by ensuring that the majority of
the workforce consists of unskilled workers. Unskilled workers are preferable to
skilled workers because the bourgeoisie does not have to compensate them for their
unskilled work and can generate more profit since workers will be more willing to
sell their labor to partake in “mindless” labor , which Marx claims is deeply
alienating for the proletariat. In fact, Black women made approximately 58% of
what non-Hispanic white males earned in 2022. 4 Unsurprisingly, Black men earned
76% of what white men earned in 2022 and Latinos earned 75%, 5 and so on and so
forth according to the racial hierarchy in America. It is highly likely that the
bourgeoisie utilize race and gender discrimination as tools to perpetuate the racial
and gender wage gaps that enable them to increase their profit margins. Put
simply, capitalism uses race and gender pay gaps, as well as other forms of labor
exploitation, to increase the amount of surplus value generated by decreasing the
costs of production, even though the actual amount of labor hours required to
manufacture the commodity remains the same.
Marx’s materialist conception of history is further developed via his theory of
estranged labor and ruling class theory. 6 According to his theory of estranged labor,
under the system of private ownership, society is divided into two classes: the
bourgeoisie, the property owners, and the proletariat, the propertyless workers who
3 Daniel Costa , “Labor Day 2019: Employers Increase Their Profits and Put Downward Pressure on Wages and Labor Standards by Exploiting Migra nt Workers,” Economic Policy Institute , accessed October 6, 2023, https://www.epi.org/publication/labor-day-2019-immigration-policy/. 4 Edmond Berisha, Ram Dubey, and Eric Olson, “Monetary Policy and the Racial Wage Gap,” Empir Econ 63, 3045 – 3059 (2022), https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-022-02233-5. 5 Siddhant Issar, “Listening to Black lives matter: racial capitalism and the critique of neoliberalism,” Contemporary Political Theory 20, 48 – 71 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-020- 00399-0. 6 Robert C Tucker ed., The Marx-Engels Reader 2nd ed., (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1978), Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/marxengelsreader00tuck.
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Volume VI (2023)
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