More Similar than You’d Think - Adam Smith & Karl Marx

here are the links to our playlists and the links to the books themselves:

0:00 Intro
1:16 Smith
2:14 Marx
3:18 Marx's Ideas
4:08 Smith's Ideas
4:48 Freedom
5:50 Labor
7:28 Capitalism
8:30 Religion
9:20 Summary

[Incred_Canemian]

I really liked the visual for the invisible hand of the free market

[ernestokrapf]

I'm kinda disappointed that you didn't point out that both Marx and Smith thought that landlords are parasites

[markadams]

I've heard that Marx didn't necessarily see religion as harmful. When he said "religion is the opium of the people, " he didn't necessarily mean that as bad thing, but saw religion as something to ease the pain of whatever emotional pain people might be experiencing.

[zoewells]

Great video. So many people who haven’t read either tend to think of Smith as just “the capitalist guy” vs Marx as “the communist guy”

[no-relic]

Props for getting the definition correct on the invisible hand. It's not a market regulating force but a prosperity incentivizing one.

However, your portrayal of Smith as believing that positive freedom by state intervention did not exist is completely wrong. Smith explicitly stated that state intervention was necessary to ensure free markets by prohibiting conglomeration into monopolies and prohibiting economic rents (natural monopolies). These are clear examples of positive freedoms imposed by state action. Of course, you won't hear this from the likes of the Heritage Foundation.

[dionysianapollomarx]

Smith points out the potential for alienation briefly in Wealth of Nations and especially in Theory of Moral Sentiments his other work which changes the tone of his more popular work

[williammiller]

Adam Smith once considered becoming a priest during a time when every good Catholic boy considered becoming a priest and every good Catholic girl considered becoming a nun. Let us not forget that young Joseph Stalin lived in a monastery and studied to become a priest. The world was different then.

[alfredk]

“Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work together for the benefit of all.” John Maynard Keynes

[JohnKruse]

I think this overstates Smith's aversion to governmental regulation. Smith, especially in Theory of Moral Sentiments, acknowledges that human nature is not entirely altruistic and that self-interest can sometimes lead to immoral actions. In such cases, the government should play a role in enforcing moral and ethical standards through laws and regulations. He was coming out of the era of mercantilism where govt regulation was way over the top. He was actually a pretty optimistic guy about human nature. I tend to think that is generally correct, but in a world of global, somewhat faceless, commerce it is a lot easier to not really understand the harms to which one (or a firm) might inadvertently or be contributing (e.g., selling fertilizer without thinking that it could be used for a bomb). As Primo Levi said, "Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions."

[jackbartzen]

Insane how much right wingers will cite adam smith despite the fact that he’d be disgusted by modern capitalism

[lawsonj]

It's completely inaccurate to say that for Smith governments can only take away our freedom. The Wealth of Nations lays out very significant roles for government in creating the infrastructure necessary for markets to exist: not just physical infrastructure, but laws, regulations, and enforcement mechanisms.

[stephenhemingway]

Very summary but very balanced comparison. I always appreciate it when you contrast the thoughts of the different philosophers that you talk about.

[EmilienBandrac]

"Efficiency VS Meaning" Smith wasn't 100% pro-division of labor. He foresaw the concept alienation behind it that Marx later developped. He's known for the idea of division because historically he was one of the first advocates of it, not because he would be still one of the most fervent promoters of it today. He's way much moderate on this point than most economic students thinks.

[davidjairala]

This was a cool video. I think the key criticism of Smith would be his flawed understanding of the power dynamic between rich and poor, and the key criticism of Marx would be his toxic philosophical presumptions that portray everyone as having equal wants and needs that can be rationally calculated, as well as the reduction of human motivation to acquisition and oppression.

[alexanderwhite]

with regards to Smith's religious views its interesting to note that he was good friends with the philosopher David Hume, who was a religious skeptic

[la-irqo]

smith cares about the bag. marx cares about the grind

[lyubitelliubitel]

You do not say anything about the most important thing in Smith's and Marx's theories, i.e labour theory of value. According to Smith all value comes from workmen's labour. Capitalists and landlords take a part from worker's labour in form of rent and profit. Smith also mentions that profit of capitalists should not be confused with labour of supervision and organization. He claims that profit has nothing to do with that. Profit is proportional to capital invested not to the labour of supervision. And such labour very often perform with hired clerks who are paid salaries.
Marx takes that framework and expands it and calls it exploitation. But essentially they have the same view on the source of value, which is in labour but not in capital.

[mullraerae]

Marx certainly didn't think government could bring freedom from poverty, Marx was for a stateless society

[mikhailthetenor]

Also don't forget that Smith's writings and professional journalistic work and Marx's writings and professional journalistic work are like 70 to 100 years apart.

[pinochet]

Great video. In the past 11 minutes I gained a slightly more nuanced view of both Smith and Marx and I'm not even sure whether you have a preference for one or the other. You've done a great job creating an insightful yet balanced video.