KARL MARX, PROPERTY RIGHTS SCHOOL AND THE PROCESS OF SOCIAL CHANGE

Steve Pejovich

Kyklos, 1982, vol. 35, issue 3, 383-397

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the process of social change as understood by Karl Marx and modern property rights theorists. Differences between Karl Marxand modern property rights theorists are quite substantial. Yet, Karl Marxand modern property rights theorists have one thing in common: the perception about the importance of property rights structures on the character of economic life. Same as modern property rights theorists, Marxrecognized that the solution of the social problems is not merely the task of reason but that the process of social change is caused by forces and movements that work from within the existing social system. Marx viewed economics as the study of property rights over scarce resources. As man learned to apply human work to the production and use of tools, it became essential to specify the relations among men with respect to the right to use those intermediate goods. And that meant the development and specification of property rights. Thus, Marxdeduced the historical necessity of property rights from the initial subordination of man to nature and his survival instincts. The most important difference between Marxand property rights scholars lies in the method of analysis. Modern property rights scholars are methodological individualists. They view the capitalist community as a voluntary association of utility seeking individuals. Instead of exogenously‐imposed ‘common good’, emphasis in the capitalist community is on the right of ownership and contractual freedom which allow each individual the freedom of choice and the obligation to bear the costs of pursuing his own preferences, Marx viewed the process of social change as occurring in a series of historically predetermined discontinuous sequences. Thus, he viewed the development of property rights as both endogenous to the prevailing stage of economic development and pre‐ordained by the laws of history.

Date: 1982
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