Improving Society Mill’s On Liberty and Marx’s Communist...

Society is built and run on social and moral obligations and while these two are closely related, both impact cultures around the world in different ways. Marx’s Communist Manifesto and Mill’s On Liberty demonstrate the relationship these obligations have with successful and unsuccessful social constructs. For the purposes of this paper, a moral obligation is a consideration of what is right ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬ and wrong and can vary depending on pressures from external sources such as religion, while a social obligation is a responsibility the individual has to act to benefit the best interests of their class as well as supporting the stability between society and the individual. Marx and Mill differ greatly in their opinions on the role and effects of†¦show more content†¦Since the Bourgeoisie control the means of production, their social obligations stem from the betterment of their own class by maintaining the status quo between themselves and the Proletariat, and to this end, the Bourgeoisie are continuously revolutionizing the modes of production so that the workers are constantly dependent on them. Marx’s views of social obligation differ from Mill’s in that by Marx’s view, there are two classes with their own social agendas and obligations to their own class, whereas Mill’s idea is that all members of a society should act in a way that brings about the most benefit for everyone, without causing harm to others. Marx shows that there is a split in advancement of society due to self-interest since the Bourgeoisie is trying maintain the status quo when he says that there is â€Å"Constant revolutionizing of productions† and â€Å"uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions† (Marx 12), while the Proletariat is trying to break the status quo. Mill on the other hand believes advancement comes from the expression and discussion of all opinions, even those that don’t represent the favor of the majority. In addition to differences in social responsibilities, Marx and Mill contradict each other in regard to social tyranny because in Marx’s Communism, the social obligation introduced by the self-interest of the majority of would coerce the working class into