People are selfish and lazy. But they need to work together in order to achieve their ends. It is why trade and bartering exists, instead of each person simply making everything they need themselves. People work together in order to get what they need individually. Adam Smith demonstrates this in the first chapters of his Wealth of Nations. He also demonstrates the idea that the most effective and efficient method of producing goods is to have multiple people working together to complete different functions of the production process. Overall, human cooperation is what drives the worlds economy and its industry.
Humans are the only organism on Earth that will trade with another of its species in order to achieve its ends. This is because it is simply the most efficient way of getting something you want. It is the most basic concept of supply and demand. If one person has something another wants, and vice-versa, they can trade and both will be happy. Thing part of trade that Adam Smith stresses is the divisions of labor. It is the way of producing an item in te most efficient possible way. Instead of one person, who is most likey uneducated in many areas of making a cirtain item, making the entire thing, many people will cooperate together to make the item. The example Adam Smith uses is a pin making industry. Instead of one person who does not know all about ever aspect of pin making, making the entire pin, many people will make the pin, one person will make the head and others will make the point, etc... This process will cause a great rise in the number of pins being produced daily. However, many people will need to be hired, and each one will be paid less becuase so many people are working. If one person was working, he would be paid more and get less done. The next example of divisions of labor that Smith uses is with a wool coat, and this example is on a much larger scale. Instead of just a few people working together to make a coat, much more goes into it. There are dyers, spinners, weavers, dressers, and many many more people that are designated to do work that relates to making one wool coat. Without these labr divisions, industry completel ceases to exist.
Adma Smith's overal point is that cooperation is fundemental. It is the first thing that is necesary in not just factries, but in every day life as well. There is no one on this planet that can get through life without the help of the people around him. Cooperation not only makes the process of production easier and more effective, but it single handedly helps our economy progress.
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I agree with your point Ben, i think that when smith was talking his main point was that humanity is much more productive when they work together. Instead of trying to handle everything idividually. People need to join together in order to make real progress. the idea that nothing can be done progressively by one man is put into place. People always need support from others, which can apply to anything. It is easier working in a group on a problem than individually, you can accomplish more labor with more people working to gether than separate. All of these ideas apply to Smiths ideas.
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