essay question about capitalism

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190 Capitalism Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on capitalism, ✍️ capitalism essay topics for college, 👍 good capitalism research topics & essay examples, 🔥 hot capitalism ideas to write about, 🎓 most interesting capitalism research titles, 💡 simple capitalism essay ideas, 📌 easy capitalism essay topics, ❓ research questions about capitalism.

• Marx vs. Weber: Capitalism – Compare and Contrast Essay
• Why Capitalism is Better Than Socialism
• Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
• Strengths and Weaknesses of the Theories of Capitalist Imperialism Proposed by Hobson-Lenin
• Deleuze’s “A Thousand Plateaus” and Guattari’s “Capitalism and Schizophrenia”
• The Industrial Age and Capitalism: Key Features and Impacts on Society
• Economic Systems: Attitude to Work in Capitalism
• Alienated Labor in Capitalist Societies The alienation of labor is an integral part of capitalist society since it is built on producing and exchanging goods.
• The Superiority of Socialism Over Capitalism In the capitalist environment, which leaves large corporations to dominate the economic discourse, the planning process becomes disrupted and starts lacking homogeneity.
• Division of Labor in the Context of Capitalism This paper discusses labor division in the context of capitalism and productivity and provides a real-life example.
• Comparison and Contrast of Marx and Weber’s Theories of Capitalism The contrast promises to be necessary since capitalism is portrayed differently in the views of these two well-known sociologists.
• The Essay “Capitalism and Freedom” by Milton Friedman While ‘some’ time has passed since 1962, Milton Friedman’s essay titled “Capitalism and Freedom” remains relevant to this day.
• Poverty and Capitalism in Trash by Dorothy Allison The paper discusses the book titled Trash, author Dorothy Allison. It features the struggles of a violent survivor from a poverty-stricken family.
• “Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not a Problem” by Jay Richards In his book “Money, Greed, and God,” Jay Richards, an American analytical philosopher, seeks to address the most common myths about capitalism.
• Capitalism and Its Benefits to the Public Goods The basis of capitalism is the freedom of economic activity of individuals within the state, which provides protection, justice, and order for the functioning of the system by political power.
• Exploitation and Profit in Capitalism Although the exploitation of people by other people has always existed, the capitalist rule has transformed this practice into something unique and to some degree acceptable.
• The “How Will Capitalism End?” Article by Streeck Wolfgang Streeck’s article “How Will Capitalism End?” critically analyzes contemporary capitalism and its prospects for the future.
• Unveiling the Benefits and Drawbacks of Free-Market Capitalism The essay evaluating credible sources, the “The Benefits of Free-Market Capitalism” and the “What Is Free-Market Capitalism?”, and discusses strategies for identifying information.
• Capitalism and Its Threats and Benefits for Society Capitalism is sometimes defined as an economic system in which individual actors own and dispose of the property following their interests.
• Capitalism and Socialism Systems’ Morality The paper focuses on the capitalistic views as more moral due to the opportunities for individual freedom and open markets that support the development of society.
• Capitalism and Socialism in the Marxist School of Thought The Marxist school of thought claims that capitalism would ultimately evolve into socialism in the same manner that feudalism had developed into capitalism.
• Social Classes and Capitalism: Sociological Theories This article focuses on the ideas of capitalism based on social classes while describing the concepts of perspective, conflict, symbolic interaction, and functionalism.
• “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” by Max Weber In his work “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”, Max Weber gives his ethical views on the protestant religion and its contribution to capitalism.
• Globalization: Climate Crisis and Capitalist Ideology One of the main features of the development of the world community in recent decades has been globalization as part of integration processes that are changing the world structure.
• Raciolinguistic Ideology: Language, Capitalism, Colonialism Raciolinguistic ideology was born from European colonialism, and it suggests that language and race are correlated.
• Capitalism: History and Basics Capitalism represents the dominant economic concept in modern reality, based on private property, the competence of actors, and the principle of supply and demand.
• Capitalism as a Means of Promoting Inequality The degree to which capitalism has impacted the distribution of wealth and opportunities in society has shaped the course of events in the world.
• Surveillance Capitalism in Shoshana Zuboff’s View Surveillance capitalism is different from information capitalism in that it is based on the commodification of behavioral analysis.
• Church’s Responses to Development of Capitalism This paper analyzes different reactions of the Christian society to the Industrial revolution and defines which is the most consistent with Biblical Scripture.
• Contemporary Racial Capitalism in Flint The research shows the poor living standards in Flint, which the author attributes to the deliberate negative activities of the administration.
• Marx’s Objections to Capitalism This essay describes and evaluates Marx’s three main objections to capitalism and criticizes them on the grounds of his underestimation of capitalism’s creative force.
• “Modern Capitalism Needs a Revolution…” by Cohen The social and climatic consequences caused by people’s desire to produce more and more unnecessary goods become so devastating that humanity cannot cope with them.
• Capitalism and Religion: Sociological Perspective In sociological tradition, such scholars as Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber are the most prominent researchers of religion’s role in society.
• The Market Economy and Capitalism The choice of an economic model is determined by the nation’s economic state and governmental influences. Market economies are characterized by demand and supply forces.
• Capitalism and Democracy: The Problem of Coexistence The paper examines whether the coexistence of capitalism and democracy provides mutual benefits or enforces detremial mechanisms that strain the relationship between these forces.
• Christian Business Operation in Capitalism Although some Christians agree with the fundamentals of capitalism, other Christian theologians propose different economic strategies that best represent Christian traditions.
• Capitalism as a Form of Social Competition This paper aims to describe the thesis that capitalism drives society toward competition and rivalry with the help of scholarly literature and real-life examples.
• Conscious Capitalism: Marketing Plan Actions The intensity of the market competitiveness is reduced by the company’s deliberate focus on recreation and speed as key features of its products.
• Conscious Capitalism and Fair Trade The paper discusses the concept of conscious capitalism. It supports fair trade and is relevant to many types of businesses.
• Whole Foods Market Inc.’s Conscious Capitalism Whole Foods Market Inc. is an American chain of supermarkets. The paper describes Whole Foods in terms of its practice of conscious capitalism.
• Marxian Alienation in Modern Capitalist Countries This paper aims at answering a more specific version of this question – “is Marxian alienation present in modern capitalist societies?”
• Small Business in an Ideal Capitalist Economy The purpose of this piece of work is to examine the process and includes activities of small businesses ownership in ideal capitalism and evaluate the possible sides of the concept.
• Why Capitalism Is Superior to Socialism The comparison of the two economic systems is rather complex and involves many aspects, but various facts and numbers are showing the superiority of capitalism over socialism.
• Capitalism in Business and Modern World With all the criticism it receives, capitalism has played a key role in many of the humaachievests, including technology, science, and culture.
• Capitalism in Brook’s Vermeer’s Hat and Rediker’s Slave Ship This essay comprises a comparison of Brook’s and Rediker’s depiction of how global capitalism was perpetuated in a social, political, and economic context.
• Universal Health Care Under Free-Market Capitalism During the last centuries, certain attempts were made to stabilize healthcare services and choose between universal and single-payer care types.
• The Theory of Capitalism: Hayek’s Arguments Friedrich Hayek strove to defend traditional concepts of morality in economics and fought the progressive representatives of the new era who sought to destroy the classical canons.
• Capitalism vs. Socialism: Comparing and Contrasting Debates around the economic model of the social structure have not stopped since the XIX century when Karl Marx introduced his leftist paradigm.
• Capitalism, Climate Change, and Globalization Globalization allowed significant corporations to put a substantial strain on the environment in developing countries.
• Conscious Capitalism Description: Humanity and Business Conscious capitalism or marketing is gaining popularity as companies seek to embrace compassion in their business ventures.
• Weber’s and Marx’s Views on Capitalism Comparison The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast political theories and highlight similarities and differences between Marx and Weber.
• Crumbling American Dream: The Thrive of Capitalism The notion of the American dream has now become a universal matter. The thrive of capitalism has made the American dream a desirable state of things unachievable in the near future.
• Rhetorical Analysis: Capitalism and Socialism Both systems have their flaws, but capitalism is more practical and efficient in bringing prosperity and reducing scarcity, which means that it is better.
• The Impact of the Industrial Age and the Rise of Capitalism The definition of the key features of the industrial epoch and the early capitalism would help discuss them in relation to modern times and values.
• Population, Consumerism and Capitalism The author analyzes examines the joint impact of population, consumerism and capitalism on the economy and on the environment.
• Capitalism and Socialism, Democracy This kind of system is illustrated by having recognized equality rights and freedom both in a social setting and political locale.
• Understanding Economics: Definition of the Capitalism Wealth creation in a capitalist system relies on private ownership of property. Individuals are given the freedom to own and control the property.
• Authoritarian Capitalism and Western Liberal Version This paper supports authoritarianism for economic development as compared to a democratic system. It mostly examines a state that advocates for the authoritarian regime.
• Democratic Capitalism and Morality in America The problem of the level of the salary in the modern world remains core in economics in the condition of the free market.
• Marx’s Criticism of Capitalism and Sociological Theory This paper tells about Marx who contributed to sociological theory by linking the economic structure of the society and how it affected social interactions.
• Democratic Capitalism and Individual Liberty Democratic capitalism is the economic and political system based on individuals’ potentials in an environment of cooperation and trust.
• Capitalist Modernity in the 19th and the 20th Century This essay examines the problems, discomforts, benefits and drawbacks created by capitalist modernity in the 19th and the 20th century and its impact on the human society.
• Social, Technical, Economic and Ideological Factors of a Capitalist Economy Capitalism has been defined as that economic system that that allows both wealth as well as its production means to be controlled and owned privately.
• Zuboff’s “Surveillance Capitalism” and Hiring Bias The paper explains what Zuboff means by surveillance capitalism, and how this concept could be used to understand problems like information pollution and hiring bias.
• Marx’s and Weber’s Opposing Views of Capitalism Weber is among the profound critics of Marxist ideologies. They have opposing views on the issue of capitalism even though they share some similarities on the same topic.
• US Capitalism. William Leach’s “Land of Desire” William Leach’s “Land of Desire” is concerned with exploring the development of consumer capitalism in the US between 1890 and 1932.
• The Industrial Age and Capitalism Industrial Age can be defined as the time when people became actively engaged in the development of manufacturing machinery.
• Capitalism vs. Socialism: Principles and Arguments The rhetorical argument is effective because another claim is the statement about fair distribution based on the market mechanism.
• Socialism as an Alternative to Capitalism in the United States This report seeks to evaluate socialism as an alternative to capitalism as the primary economic system of the United States and present viable solutions to the issue.
• Public Capitalism in Promoting the Common Good Capitalism is both an economic and political system in which the financial market, production, and concepts of private ownership are driving factors for operation and success.
• Karl Marx’s Critique of Capitalism This paper will examine the key ideas of Marx regarding class division, labor, ideology, and fetishism of commodities in the context of capitalism.
• “Freedom and Capitalism” by Milton Friedman The principle behind the book “Capitalism and Freedom” was that the government only existed for the will of the people, and thus served as the means towards a goal.
• The Industrial Revolution & the Rise of Capitalism The Industrial Age and early capitalism have made a significant contribution to the perceptions of wealth and business. This paper discusses this theme in presentation style.
• Inheritance in Capitalism and Ethical Grid Society still goes ahead to praise those who seem to have amassed a lot of wealth for their future generations.
• Friedman’s Free Market Capitalism A free market economy is a system in which the prices of goods and services are determined purely by the demand and supply in the market.
• Capitalism in “Out of This Furnace” by Thomas Bell This paper is intended to discuss the structure and general ideas of capitalism based on the phrase of the main character of the book “Out of This Furnace” by Thomas Bell.
• East Asian Capitalism and Its History This paper examines the degree to which an individual or group of Asian capitalists fit into the overall process of adapting to capitalism.
• Capitalism and Gay Identity by D’Emilio and Berube In this paper, the author will review the link between gay identity and capitalism from the perspective of two essays written by D’Emilio and Berube.
• The Industrial Age Impact and the Rise of Capitalism The project focuses on defining the key characteristics of the Industrial Age and analyzing their impact on the worldview of modern people in developed countries.
• Industrial Age and Early Capitalism The Industrial Age and early capitalism have made a significant contribution to the perceptions of wealth and business in contemporary society.
• Avant-Garde Art, Urban Capitalism and Modernization The avant-garde artists provided experimental and innovative arts, which transformed the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of society.
• The Vision of Capitalism: Adam Smith vs Karl Marx Comparing Smith’s vision of the impact of the capitalist economy to that of Marx, it can be claimed that the former offers a more positive evaluation of the relevant outcomes.
• Work Motivation: Capitalism, Individualism, Institutionalism The reasons why people work can be found in Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. The key constituents are calling, predestination, and asceticism.
• The Status of Capitalism in Communist China In the current paper, the author reviews some of the important factors needed for a capitalist economy to produce wealth. The discussion will be made in relation to DeSoto’s arguments.
• The Role of Markets and the State in Different Approaches to Understanding a Capitalist Economy Capitalism is an economic policy used by the government aimed at minimal participation in production. This paper looks into issues associated with capitalism.
• Consecrating Capitalism: The United States Prosperity Gospel and Neoliberalism
• Capital Ownership via Capitalism: Main Features and Differences
• Knowledge Capitalism: Business, Work, and Learning in the New Economy
• Capitalism’s Anglo-American Model and the German Economic Alternative
• Industrial Production and Capitalism Drivers of Social Change in History
• Investor Capitalism and the Reshaping of Business in India
• How Did Communism and Capitalism Lead To the Cold War?
• Europe and the Economic Crisis: Forms of Labour Market Adjustment and Varieties of Capitalism
• How Does Shared Capitalism Affect Economic Performance in the UK
• Understanding Capitalism: Competition, Command, and Change
• Cooperative Capitalism: Self-Regulation, Trade Associations, and the Antimonopoly Law in Japan
• Capitalism, Socialism and the Mixed Economic System Compared
• Corporate Islam, Global Capitalism and the Performance of Economic Moralities
• Criminal Justice System, Capitalism, and Victimization
• Free Marxism, Global Capitalism and the Human Being as a Commodity
• Global Capitalism and Imperialism Theory: Methodological and Substantive Insights From Rosa Luxemburg
• State-Monopoly Capitalism and Bourgeois Political Economy
• How Does the Spirit of Capitalism Affect Stock Market Prices in a Small-Open Economy
• Making Capitalism Work: Social Capital and Economic Growth in Italy, 1970-1995
• The Link Between State Making and Mercantile Capitalism
• Cutthroat Capitalism Versus Cuddly Socialism: Are Americans More Meritocratic and Efficiency-Seeking Than Scandinavians
• The Link Between Colombia’s Capitalism and Drug Trade
• Workplace Relations, Unemployment, and Finance-Dominated Capitalism
• Cognitive Capitalism, Welfare, and Labour: The Common fare Hypothesis
• Finance Capitalism and Germany’s Rise to Industrial Power
• Max Weber and Karl Marx on Modern Capitalism
• Wealth and Inequality Over Eight Centuries of British Capitalism
• Globalization and the Contradiction of Peripheral Capitalism in Nigeria
• Why Does Marx Believe That Capitalism Will Inevitably Give Way to Socialism?
• When Managerial Capitalism Embraced Shareholder-Value Ideology?
• Imperialism and Colonialism Are Obstacles to Global Capitalism
• Capitalism Was Behind American Colonization of Puerto
• Capitalism Dominates the Way How Human’s Acquire Goods and Wealth
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Crony Capitalism in Taiwan
• Why Inheritance Undermines Capitalism?
• The Role of Deng Xiaoping and the Origins of Chinese Capitalism
• The Truth Behind the Political System of Capitalism in the United States
• The Vanishing Hand: The Changing Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism
• Capitalism, Globalization and the Perpetuation of Women’s Oppression: A Vicious Cycle
• The Global Financial Crisis, Neoclassical Economics, and the Neoliberal Years of Capitalism
• Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom: A Binary Economic Critique
• Class System and Alienation Under Capitalism According to Karl Marx
• The Cotton Kings: Capitalism and Corruption in Turn-Of-The-Century New York and New Orleans
• Municipal Capitalism, Regulatory Federalism and Politics
• The Relationships Between Capitalism, Colonialism and the Libratory Struggles
• Capitalist Transformation Without Political Participation: German Capitalism in the First Half of the 19th Century
• Civilizing Capitalism: “Good” and “Bad” Greed From the Enlightenment to Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929)
• How Capitalism, University, and Mathematics as Institutions Shaped Mainstream Economics
• Capitalism and Patriarchy Effect on Woman Abuse
• Unregulated Capitalism Undermines the Legitimacy of Liberal Democracy
• Colonial Capitalism: Changing Cultures and Lives
• How Sweet Capitalism Has Risen in Great Britain?
• Corporative Capitalism: Civil Society and the Politics of Accumulation in Small Town India
• The Trade-off Between Capitalism and Democracy in a Historical Perspective
• The Causes and Effects of the Cold War Between Communism and Capitalism
• Learning Capitalism the Hard Way – Evidence From German Reunification
• The History and Impact of the Free Market System or Capitalism in the United States
• Capitalism and Western Philosophy Have Taken the World by Storm
• Re-Imaging Capitalism Through Social Entrepreneurship
• Vietnam War: The Product of Capitalism and Communism
• European Monetary Integration and the Incompatibility of National Varieties of Capitalism
• Entrepreneurship and the Defense of Capitalism: An Examination of the Work of Israel Kirzner
• Coordination and Organization: The Two Dimensions of Nonliberal Capitalism
• Does Karl Marx’s Critique of Capitalism Rest on a Fallacious Philosophy of History
• Differentiate Laissez-Faire Capitalism From State-Directed Capitalism
• The Nature and Functioning of European Capitalism: A Historical and Comparative Perspective
• Modern Capitalism: Its Origin and Evolution
• Welfare Over Time: Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism in Panel Perspective
• Why Does Market Capitalism Fail to Deliver a Sustainable Environment and Greater Equality of Incomes?
• The Differences Between Capitalism vs. Socialism
• The Contradiction Between Capitalism and Democracy in the United States
• What Can Marx’s Work on Capitalism Tell Us About Modernity?
• Capitalism, the State, and the Underlying Drivers of Human Development
• Slovenia’s Transition From Labor Managed Economy to Privately Owned Capitalism
• Are Democracy and Capitalism Compatible?
• Did John Maynard Keynes Save or Destroy Capitalism?
• How Does Capitalism Contribute Towards Unemployment?
• Why Did Karl Marx Condemn Capitalism?
• Does Capitalism Destroy Culture?
• How Did the Successive Stages of Capitalism Change the UK’s Accounting and Financial Reporting Processes?
• Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism?
• What Does Advertisement Tell Us About America Before and After Capitalism?
• Did the New Deal Weaken or Strengthen Capitalism in the US?
• Has Capitalism Lifted Billions Out of Poverty?
• How Has the Internet Changed Modern-Day Capitalism?
• What Caused the Clash Between Communism and Capitalism During the Cold War?
• How Did Government Policies Affect Global Capitalism?
• Does Global Capitalism Mean Free Trade?
• Why Has Liberal Capitalism Failed to Stimulate a Democratic Culture in Africa?
• Are Managerial Capitalism and Crony Capitalism Incompatible?
• Did the Progressive Reform Substantially Restrain the Power of American Capitalism?
• Can the BRICS Help Global Capitalism Escape Its Crisis?
• Why Did Marx Believe That Capitalism Is Destined to Self-Destruction?
• Does Capitalism Maximize Human Well-Being?
• How Does Capitalism Differ From Socialism and Communism?
• Does Capitalism Promote Social Inequality?
• Is Capitalism Good for Poor Countries?
• Has Socialism Been Defeated by Capitalism?
• Did Marx Condemn Capitalism as Unjust?
• How Can Capitalism Take Control of People’s Lives?
• Why Did Early Capitalism Benefit the Majority?
• Does the Current Financial Crisis Mean the Crisis of Liberal Capitalism?
• How Does Capitalism Influence the Debt of Developing Countries?
• Did the USSR Really Benefit From Its Transition to Capitalism?

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These essay examples and topics on Capitalism were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on June 20, 2024 .

248 Capitalism Essay Topics & Examples

Looking for capitalism essay topics? The economic system considered the most advanced and effective is worth exploring!

• 💸 Research Questions
• 🏆 Best Topic Ideas & Essay Examples
• 👍 A+ Essay Examples
• 🎓 Interesting Essay Topics
• 📌 Hot Topics to Write about

💡 Most Interesting Capitalism Topics to Write about

✍️ capitalism essay topics for college.

• ❓ Research Paper Topics

In your capitalism essay, you might want to focus on its key features or history. Another idea is to talk about the pros and cons of capitalism, discussing why it is good or bad. One more option is to compare capitalism and socialism. Whether you are assigned to write an argumentative essay, research paper, or thesis on capitalism, this article will be helpful. Here you’ll find everything you might need to write an A+ paper! Capitalism research questions, prompts, and title ideas are collected below. Best capitalism essay examples are also added to inspire you even more.

💸 Research Questions about Capitalism

• How did capitalism in its modern form appear?
• What are the key ideas of mercantilism?
• What is the relationship between capitalism and democracy?
• How did globalization help capitalism spread worldwide?
• Is inequality inevitable in a capitalist economy?
• What are the key characteristics of modern capitalism?
• What are the ways to ensure fair competition in a capitalist economy?
• What is the role of wage labor in capitalism?
• How to protect private property in capitalist economy?
• What are the disadvantages of capitalism?

🏆 Best Capitalism Topic Ideas & Essay Examples

• Marx vs. Weber on Capitalism Besides, this time was the period of the close attention of the sociologists to the bourgeois society and the development of capitalism.”The debate over the relationship between Marx’s political economy and Max Weber’s interpretative sociology, […]
• “The State in Capitalist Society” by Ralph Miliband According to Anonymous, this book has played a major role in the renewal of both “state theory and Marxist political thought”.”The state in capitalist society” is a piece of work that has remained to be […]
• What Is the Relationship Between Capitalism and Democracy? The importance of the roles played by the stock market in the capitalistic economy is related considerably to the aspects of democracy and free market.
• Max Weber – The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Max Weber in his book the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism sought to explain the emergence of the modern capitalism and the origin of the modern secular and industrial society.
• Similarities Between Capitalism and Socialism. Compare & Contrast In this system, the government manages the overall means of production but the members have the duty of choosing the best setting for the production, the amount to produce and which product should be produced.
• Nationalism Versus Capitalism: Compare & Contrast According to Marxist philosopher, Herbert Marcuse, the main disadvantage of capitalism is prosperity that seduces workers with the items of comfort and makes them forget their primarily aim of overthrowing the capitalism.
• Communism and Capitalism Through the History In this system, the means of product and service production is mainly carried out and owned by the individuals instead of the government while communism also known as fascism is contrary to this where production […]
• Capitalism and Globalization Effects However, according to an article by Anderson, in free market capitalism, initial wealth is created, which then spreads; it then leads to the social and political change due to the increase of power in the […]
• Differences Between Capitalism and Socialism In capitalist economic models, the rate of employment is determined by the pressures of demand and supply in the labor markets.
• Karl Marx’s Critique of Capitalism They were enslaved by the bourgeoisie and machinery hence, they became a majority and were empowered in the light of the competitive bourgeoisie class, which created commercial conflicts and fluctuated the earning of the working […]
• Lenin on Imperialism as the Highest Stage of Capitalism Lenin, in his analysis on imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism, stated that the integration of bank capital with the industrial capital facilitates the creation of financial oligarchy.
• H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine” as Critique of Capitalism In the reality of the world that the book inhabits, the Eloi, who live above ground, represent the upper class, and the Morlocks, who live below ground, represent the lower class.
• Climate Change: Is Capitalism the Problem or the Solution? This means that capitalism, which is the ability to produce wealth lies in the solution and also the causes of the current global climatic governance.
• Stages of History, Capitalism, Class Conflict, and Labor Theory in Adam Smith’s Writings The stages of history in Adam Smith’s writing, as reiterated by Paganelli, are the age of hunters, the age of shepherds, the age of agriculture, and the age of commerce.
• Capitalism, Individualism, and Social Responsibility This has largely been attributed to the regulation of modern societies by the state, the localization of the life-worlds, and the crisis of the subject in the post modernist culture of intellectuals.
• The Effects of Capitalism on People’s Diet Food capitalism has brought about new changes in the human diet and has changed the nutritional value of foods eaten by human beings.
• Compare of Capitalism and Socialism In light of this definition and description, one would argue that this is the most convenient system of economic governance because individuals have the freedom to conduct business in a manner that best meets their […]
• Can Capitalism Be Ethical? In my opinion, one of the most serious ethical objections to capitalism is its unjustness that leads to the exploitation of workers by robbing them of the products of their labor.
• Capitalism Versus Communism In the case of capitalism this comes in the form of the widening gap between the rich and the poor while in the case of communism this comes in the form of economic stagnation due […]
• British Capitalism: Nature and Characteristics It discusses the nature and characteristics of Britain’s capitalism by outlining its history and how the principal city, London, plays a critical role in the spread of capitalism.
• Varieties of Capitalism in China The field deals with the relationship between the labor market and investors within a country and the dynamics that govern them.
• Rhetorical Analysis of Socialism vs. Capitalism by Thompson In order to convey this message, the author uses several rhetorical devices, the discussion of which is part of this analysis.
• The Theory of Capitalism and Its Current Context One of the main acknowledgments correlating with the Scottish philosopher is the establishment of the notion and foundation of the “free market”, the system in which supply and demand shape prices.
• Infrastructure in Capitalism and Socialism Systems The Garden City concept, based on building around the decentralized plant, does not reduce the pressure on the central part of the city and the growing population of the modern world.
• The Capitalism Development in Russia In the book The Communist Manifesto, the authors view capitalism as a brief economic form destined to fail to lead to a rise in the communist system. Capitalism was attributed to the harsh inequalities of […]
• Capitalism: Definition and History Further, this system indeed considers the needs and interests of private actors to be of vital importance and does not allow the authorities to control the trade and industry of the country.
• Discussion of Racial Capitalism Issue on Modern Society This stance contributes to the idea of the significance of political processes in the worsening of the situation for individuals who are likely to be exploited by the system.
• Discussion: Ecology and Capitalism The four laws of ecology include ‘everything is connected to everything else,’ ‘everything must go somewhere,’ ‘nature knows best,’ and ‘nothing comes from nothing.’ The four laws of capitalism are ‘the only lasting connection between […]
• Jamaica and the Modern Capitalism Countries in Western Europe and Australia, and North American countries belong to the group of core countries. On the contrary, periphery countries in most of Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe tend to have relatively […]
• Capitalism and Racism in Past and Present Racism includes social and economic inequalities due to racial identity and is represented through dispossession, colonialism, and slavery in the past and lynching, criminalization, and incarceration in the present.
• Surveillance Capitalism on Digital Platforms The appearance of capitalism was associated with the formation of the working class and affluent owners of production, but the new surveillance capitalism altered the classic perception of this system.
• Capitalism Is Not a Good Governance Solution in the Pandemic The capitalist flow of goods and services across the world and the role of governments in this was a major setback in the fight against the pandemic.
• Social Inequality, Capitalism, and Globalization It replaces slavery of antiquity and negatively affects almost all aspects of society, from the inequality of men and women to the sphere of science and education.
• Capitalism Development & Racial Issues in Rochester Hence, the authors show the importance of the topics about race through the extensive description of the development of the work culture in one city.

👍 A+ Capitalism Essay Examples

• Varieties of Capitalism and Employee Relations In providing the comparison for employee relations, the VoC approach has the strength of drawing attention to sectoral, national, and social responses to the crisis and the globalization challenges.
• Potency of Free Speech in Capitalist Society The rapid change in technology, discovery and rediscovery of the previous history, and the process of actively redefining what it means to be human, all contribute to the general diversification of the world.
• Capitalism as an Economic System: Op-Ed The main point of the letter to the editor. The letter I have chosen to respond to concerns the topic of capitalism.
• Capitalism, Black Marxism and Social Balance Thus, capitalism and racism developed as a consequence of the evolution of Western society, while Black radicalism was a response to this process.
• Abstract Dynamics of Capitalism and Daily Experiences of Business and Society Crucial historical transformations such as the back-rolling of capitalist west welfare states, decline or crucial metamorphosis of party states which were bureaucratic in the communist East, and weakening of the economic sovereignty of nation-states have […]
• Capitalism Approach: Attributes and Disadvantages It also offers theoretical and analytical methods to recognize the commonalities and dissimilarities between countries and groups of nations in the region.
• Flint Water Crisis: Environmental Racism and Racial Capitalism The Flint crisis is a result of the neoliberal approach of the local state as opposed to the typical factors of environmental injustice; a polluter or a reckless emitter cutting costs. The two main factors […]
• Modern Capitalism in Great Britain This leads to the emergence of social classes in society, with the elites who own most business enterprises at the top of the hierarchy.
• “What Is Capitalism?” Article by Jahan and Mahmud Its main idea is based on the discussion of capitalism characteristics and its impact on the modern economy. On the other hand, inequality provokes controversies and questions the effectiveness of capitalism.
• Is There an Ethical Case for Capitalism? The most essential feature of capitalism is the incentive to make a profit based on the canonical principles, including private property, self-interest, competition, market mechanism, freedom of choice, and the limited role of the state.
• Financial Markets as an Element of the Capitalist Economy Model The story demonstrates various use of the financial market by involved stakeholders such as Credit Suisse, Archegos, investors and lenders for the Archegos, as well as shareholders of Credit Suisse.
• Christians in Communism and Capitalism After viewing the video “The Cold War in Context,” the role of Christians in analyzing the war and the concepts of capitalism and communism can be clarified.
• The Supply of Money in the Capitalist Economy In the capitalist economy that the world is currently based on, the supply of money plays a significant role in not only affecting salaries and prices but also the growth of the economy.
• “Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist” by R. Lowenstein The book provides an avenue for Investors and businessmen to learn a lot from the thoughts of Warren Buffett on issues pertaining to business and the methods he applies when making investments.
• Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism I agree with the statement because people with different cultures have different ways of doing things and architecture is one of the crucial tools used to express the culture of the people.
• Shared Value: Business Organizations and Capitalism Systems The intention of the review, authors and the title of the article: This paper will review the views presented by the authors on business organizations and capitalism systems to draw informed and objective conclusion.
• The Various Aspects of Capitalism Communism is a sociopolitical faction whereby the means of production, such as land, labor, and machinery, are possessed and managed by “the state”, and individuals control only a small portion of the means of production.
• Edward Luttwak’s Turbo-Capitalism: Danger or Blessing? And these are some of the reasons to read his book and agree or disagree with the writer’s points of view on the present and future world economy. The main points of the author lie […]
• Saving Capitalism: Video and the Articles Analysis The video and the articles analyzed in the paper allow for a comprehensive understanding of current issues, with the increasing income inequality that undermines the virtues of capitalism being the major challenge.
• Trans-Atlantic Chattel Slavery and the Rise of the Modern Capitalist World System The reading provides an extensive background of the historical rise and fall of the African nations. The reading gives a detailed account of the Civil War and the color line within its context.
• Triumph of Capitalism and Liberalism in Kagan’s “The Jungle Grows Back” In this situation, Kagan argues that it is not rational for the US “to mind its own business and let the rest of the world manage its problems”. It is to demonstrate the need to […]
• “Capitalism in America: The History” by Alan Greenspan and Adrian Wooldridge Such books are now divided into the synchronic and diachronic ones, where the latter ones examine the economics in the context of history, and the first focus on modern development. Hence, the major value of […]
• Capitalism: Contemporary Political Culture Various theories and ideologies have been introduced to try to establish awareness of the socio-economic and political nature of the life of various people in different societies.
• Anti-Capitalism: Social Phenomenon Thus, the younger generations are most likely to be polarized by the ideology of anti-capitalism, which is a divisive issue, since they are opposed to the idea of a few individuals in society controlling trade […]
• The Relations Between Capitalism and Socialism On the other hand, Marx defined socialism as a principle that ensures the most of these production factors are owned and controlled by the society or the state for the benefit of the whole community […]
• Phenomenon of the Capitalism and Socialism The system values private ownership with the price system as the system of determining the rate of exchange of goods and services.
• Capitalism in America in 1865-1930’s The capitalist economy of the US between the 1865 and 1930 laid a framework for the present American economic system. The objective of the union was to protect the rights of the workers, who were […]
• Jonathan Prude: Capitalism, Industrialization, Factory The aspects of historical industrialization were based on rural capitalism of the North-West regions and the co-existence of nonprofit factories along with private properties makes it difficult to understand the milieu of the factory of […]
• Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story” Documentary The results of the research are deplorable, because the rate of unemployed people increases every day, people have nothing to pay for their homes, insurances, and education. Is it possible to make fortune in the […]
• “Turbo-Capitalism: Winners and Losers in the Global Economy” by E. Luttwak Consequently, the thesis of the book may be formulated in the following way: human society should beware of the present state of capitalism, turbo-capitalism, which can bring very harmful results of its existence that will […]
• Capitalism History: Ancient and Modern Capitalism During the 1st century, the double currency was stable and towards the end of 2nd century, the denars equivalent to gold started to rise.
• Capitalism and Industrialization in the “Communist Manifesto” by Marx In fact, the Communist Manifesto is clear in indicating that industrialization was a process that led to the overall improvement of society in doing away with the hardships of the majority of the population.
• How Best To Ensure US-Style Global Capitalism This research work aims to analyze the peculiarities of global capitalism and the impact that the United States has on other nations.
• The Concept of Capitalism in China In actual by capitalist state Chinese dreamt of living a life style free of bureaucracy so that they may be able to offend their sense of pride and demean the life-style of the workers’ families.

🎓 Interesting Capitalism Essay Topics

• Capitalism: Competitional Free Trade This essay will try to highlight the first problem area of Competition and Free Trade, what some of the known authors had to say about the effect of capitalism on it, and finally the overall […]
• The Synergy Between Capitalism and Democracy Democracy and its success: Democracy refers to a political system in which the political part of the government is elected through adult suffrage.
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• Capitalism Characteristics and American Identity The aim of colonization was occupation of new lands and new ways of wealth accumulation for France and Britain. The plantation was an instrument in the growth of trade and industrial development, and can be […]
• The Result of Western Capitalism Fueling Communism The paper starts with the history of China and elucidates the entry of western capitalism into China in different stages, including the historic opium wars.
• Financial System, Financial Markets and Understanding of Capitalism in Germany and the U.S. The reason for this has been primarily identified as to the experiences and the events the countries have had to face in the past century.
• Canada as a Liberal Capitalist Democracy It includes also the re-organization of the enterprises in order to make a profit, for instance, changing management of the enterprise or adding new departments in the organization.
• Urban Democracy and Capitalism For example, surveys show that people increasingly identify with the planetary scale, the local scale, and a whole series of spaces in between.
• Supermarkets. The Machinery of Capitalism Even the meat, which is placed in the market, seems to be losing the imprints of nature, as it is boneless and entirely processed out of human hands.
• Environmental Sociology. Capitalism and the Environment Some evident examples of remarkable economic development in modern capitalism encompass the enormous industrial development of England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the outstanding development levels of Western Europe, the emergence of East Asian […]
• Reciprocity in the Capitalist Workforce Thirdly, the majority of companies have failed to implement the policy of employee engagement despite the fact that the requirements are quite common and easy to follow.[1] All of these factors separately or in a […]
• Race and Ethnicity: Capitalism, Law, and Biology Stemming from the bigoted perspective that the colonialist thinking provided, legal regulations and biological theories have aggravated the quality of relationships between members of different racial and ethnic groups, creating the scenario in which the […]
• Capitalism and Its Influence on the Environment The characteristic will be determined by both benefits to the environment and the overall result for the company, as companies should implement the changes willingly. The results are expected to be a set of suggestions […]
• “The People’s Republic of Capitalism” Documentary The central themes of The People’s Republic of Capitalism are the intricacies of the Chinese experiment with capitalism restrained by the authoritarian government and interdependence of American and Chinese economies.
• Economics: Socialism vs. Liberal Capitalism Karl Marx, a great proponent of socialism, refers to the ethical, economic, and political contribution of socialism to the welfare of the society in asserting his position on the debate of the best economic model.
• Federici’s “Caliban and the Witch” and Capitalism The main thesis of the book is multilayered and addresses the development of capitalism and the role women, as well as violence, played in the process.
• Weber’s “The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism” Much of the book focuses on the concept of capitalism as witnessed in northern Europe and the United States of America due to the influence of the Protestants.
• David Harvey’s Movie “Crises of Capitalism?” According to the opinion of the expert, the problem is that every system has some risks and the crises that society is experiencing today are the result of how the conflicts were managed and mitigated […]
• 2008 Global Financial Crisis: Crises of Capitalism? Although I had an idea of the possible catalysts of the 2008 global financial meltdown before watching the video, Harvey presented a clear report of the events that occurred before the crisis and put them […]
• Karl Polanyi’s Theory: Market Systems Critique In the meantime, while Keynes simply rejects the potential of the invisible hand of the market, Polanyi develops this idea and comes to a conclusion that the liberalistic attempt to establish the self-regulating market system […]
• Keynes vs Hayek: Debating Economic Stability The pivot point of the Hayek’s theory is the consideration of those factors that illustrate the market’s failure to coordinate human’s actions in an appropriate manner and the consequences of this failure such as unemployment.
• Astrology in Socialist, Capitalist, Psychological Views The fact that many people overlook what astrologers do or say has resulted in the unavailability of information in the area of study.
• The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber At the time of producing the document, society expected its people to believe in something. The sociologist used the concept of Ascetic Protestantism to investigate the origin and nature of capitalism.
• Chapters 4-6 of “After Capitalism” by D. Schweickart Also, the act of democracy does not seem to have any place in such a system since individuals who are wealthy take over the control of every process.
• Chapters 1-3 of “After Capitalism” by Schweickart According to the author, moral and pragmatic failures of capitalism are vividly evident in the modern world. In order to comprehend these lessons, it is necessary to compare and contrast socialism both in the 20th […]
• Economy of Capitalism, Communism, Fascism and Socialism Government structure: the structure of the government in the two countries, involves federal governments that are led by the political elites in the countries. The government has the duty of formulating policies that regulate the […]
• “Capitalism and Freedom” by Milton Friedman In turn, the competition will be one of the factors that can improve the quality of education. Moreover, the increased competition can make school administrators more responsive to the suggestions and critique of parents who […]
• “State Capitalism Comes of Age” by Ian Bremmer Thus, Bremmer concentrates on the discussion of the opposition of the models realized in such countries as Russia, China, Brazil, and India with basing on the principles of state capitalism and the model of free […]
• Labor Market, Social Organizations and Wages in Capitalism Therefore, employers are forced to pay efficiency wages to increase work intensity and the cost of job loss. The intention is to reduce wages as employees are pressurized to work harder and to the extreme.
• Capitalism in Poland and Its Transitional Stage The decades of socialism had a significant impact on the transition countries and resulted in the lack of institutions involved in the provision of the functioning of a market economy.
• Stakeholder and Shareholder Capitalism Models In the shareholder capitalism model, shareholder interests are the main concern, while in stakeholder model shareholder interest is on equal ground with concerns and interests of other stakeholders, such as the community, the employees, the […]
• Protestantism, Capitalism, and Predestination Calvinism and Predestination are central to the book because Weber considers the actions and beliefs of Calvinists as two of the major factors in the development of capitalism.
• Saving Capitalism: Its Role in Modern World This type of economic structure is called capitalistic, and one of its central conditions is the right to private property and free trade within the limits of the norms established by the law.
• Capitalism in Flux: Reevaluating Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand In the meantime, the latest change in the economic trends shows that the economist’s expectations were inflated as well as the potential that he assigned to the free market turned out to be exaggerated.

📌 Hot Capitalism Topics to Write about

• The Destructive Nature of Capitalism The author emphasizes the tendency in the modern popular culture to humanize the technological aspects of our lives, probably in order to compensate for the exacerbated violence and a lack of compassion that human beings […]
• Poverty: An Echo of Capitalism Poverty is a word that has always been a part of people’s lives at different stages of the development of human society. Relative poverty is often defined as the lack of material resources needed to […]
• Capitalism in Milanovic’s and Ferguson’s Views Other economists establish that there is a need for the government to intervene to avoid the risk of monopolies. The question of wages in labor also calls for the intervention of the government to make […]
• Nature, Technology, Society, and Capitalism For the majority of human history, the approach towards the relationship between Humanity and Nature was perceived through the lens of binary interactions.
• Division of Labor: Aspects of Capitalism The paper then focuses on the differences between the social division of labor and the detailed division of labor. It is important to look at the difference between the social division of labor and the […]
• Capitalism in Marx’s, Weber’s, Durkheim’s Theories Conceptualizing change as a feature of social modernity using analogies such as growth, cyclical renewal, progress, modernity, development, and evolution gives us presuppositions for understanding the world and the concept of individual, society, and culture. […]
• The Development of Capitalism in Canada To begin with, Pentland states that by the middle of the nineteenth century there were a plenty of signs indicating that the changes of the course of the economy “had gone too far to be […]
• Society, Culture, Economy in “Capitalism” Mini-Series While certain points, such as the historical, sociological, and anthropological grounds for the Smith’s work are persuasive and present a solid basis for further inquiry, some of the conclusions, such as the inherent malevolence of […]
• Capitalism and Its Influence on Globalization Some of the approaches in the varieties of capitalism include the modernization approach. Varieties of capitalism approach help in the study of globalization and employment relations.
• “The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism” by Weber While faith was a consideration, if one was found to be unreliable in their business dealings, it could result in their ex-communication or denial of admittance into the congregation.
• Capitalism in Adam Smith’s and Karl Marx’s Views Specifically, the paper examines some of the key concepts and the underlying assumptions of each theorist concerning factors that drive capitalism in the 21st century. The rise of capitalism in the 21st century is largely […]
• Globalization, Art and Capitalism It would seem that the cultural legacy of humanity was an indispensable and logically integrated part of the process and it was, up to a certain point in history.
• Karl Marx: Critique of Capitalism His point of view was that the globalization would inevitably lead to the concentration of wealth in the hands of relatively small groups of economic actors, and that will entail the emergence of the economic […]
• Varieties of Capitalism – Comparative Advantages It is important to recognize that corporate governance is subjected to change as shown by the case of Germany and Japan in the 1990s.
• Capitalism and Just Eat It Documentaries Contrast They should scrutinize the impacts of the film and highlight how it depicts its subjects. They emphasize the necessity for leftover reduction in the documentary.
• Work Ethics in a Capitalist American Society This is unlike the employees at the restaurant who wanted to get rid of customers as fast as they could and had the contempt to the extent of provoking customers to seek management’s intervention.
• Evolution of Capitalism: Concept, Origin and Development The central idea in the ‘Evolution of Capitalism’ is that western society is archetypical of a radical change and gradual development of the capitalist system.
• Capitalism in the US: Criticism and Alternative In the beginning of the 19th century, there was a labor movement that is described by the organized approach from people to the businesses and governments.
• Globalization and Its Impact on Capitalism The author provides quite an explicit thesis at the beginning of the article. Importantly, the author provides the answer to the question he raises at the beginning of the article.
• Documentaries – Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story” examines the effects of capitalism on the American society. The film struggles to maintain a balance between the positives of capitalism and its negatives.
• Capitalism in Canadian Society In the allegorical sense of this word, the mentioned state of affairs in being reflected by the essence of the dynamics in the arena of international politics: “Within the capitalist world-economy, nations are allocated to […]
• History Fukuzawa Yukishi: From Samurai to Capitalist According to different historians, the majority of these westerners wanted to redefine the history of Japan by force. Fukuzawa and his colleagues inspired the people of Japan to support their country.
• Capitalism Versus Environmental Sustainability Free market refers to a market where prices are derived through competition among the individual businesses and not under the regulation of the government.
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• Marxist Critique of Capitalism: Expropriation of Surplus Value Secondly, the value of the labor used to produce the market product is usually lower than the market price of the same product.
• Clean Capitalism in Organizations Therefore, companies that engage in ethical activities avoid the costs of running campaigns to improve their tarnished image and reputation. Corporate citizenship requires companies to engage in various activities that improve the welfare of the […]
• Capitalism Currently, the types of questions various scholars are grappling with a range from the type of social and economic institutions that bring about improvements in the current capitalist advanced economies to the kinds of institutions […]
• Weber and the Rise of Capitalism Max Weber is known for his analysis of the factors that led to the creation of modern capitalism. This is one of the issues that should not be overlooked.
• Natural Capitalism in Economic Businesses are the major cause of environmental, social and economic problems in the society. Leaders in the organization should appreciate that the societal needs, improved productivity and profit maximization are the main objectives of a […]
• Relationship Between Capitalism and a Logically Formal Rational Legal System The seminal work of Max Weber has largely been used to provide and elaborate the law and its role in the development of capitalism. In the wording of Weber, the relationship between capitalism and law […]
• Marxist Critiques of Capitalism: Theory of Surplus Value Further, there is an assumption of the value of production that a worker will create by the end of the day. This situation creates a new equation that relates the working hours to the new […]
• Socialist Market Economy of China Shift Toward Capitalism In fact, the United States is currently the largest world economy though it could be surpassed by the second biggest global economy of China by the financial year 2015 in terms of the PPP.
• Robert Brenner on the Development of Capitalism The development of capitalism has often been discussed by historians who focus on the factors that could lead to the decline of the feudal society and emergence of the new socio-economic system.
• Capitalism and Colonialism These features are: divergence in wealth and technology of the West and the “Rest”, “transformation” of trade relations between colonies and empires and the very nature of this trade, appearance of new “settler-monopoly” and creation […]
• The Transition of Russia to Capitalism
• Capitalism: Theoretical and Operational Limitations
• The Role of Capitalism and the Life of Workers: XX Century
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Socialist and Capitalist Perspective
• Global Capitalism and Its Discontent
• An Invisible Hand of Capitalism in the Business
• Market Structure during Post-Mao China: Capitalism or Socialism?
• Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Dynamic Capitalism
• Marxists’ Critique of Crises With the Capitalist System
• Capitalism, Democracy and the Treaty of Waitangi are Three Ways Through Which We in Aotearoa ‘Organise’ Ourselves
• Taxes, Capitalism, and Democracy: Karl Marx vs. Plato
• Racial Capitalism and Colonialism
• Capitalist Societies Economic Disparities
• How Is Today’s Capitalism Society Changed by the “New Left?”
• Video Report “China’s Capitalist Revolution”
• Arguments Against Capitalism
• Capitalism in Modern Societies
• The Political and Economic Spheres in Capitalist Societies
• The Global Financial Crisis and Capitalism for the Elite Rich
• David Harvey About Capitalism
• Weber’s Ideal Type of the Spirit of Capitalism
• Understanding Economics: The Nature and Logic of Capitalism
• Richard Sennett’s Account of the ‘New Capitalism’ in Relation to Current Organizations
• Labor in Capitalism System
• “New Capitalism” by Peston
• Economic Principles and Theories of Adam Smith: A Case for Free Markets and Capitalism
• Capitalism and World Inequality
• Weber’s Conception of the Capitalist Entrepreneur and the Modern Bureaucrat
• Capitalism Concept Evolution
• British Capitalism Development
• Capitalist Economy Support
• John Gray: Fast Capitalism and the End of Management
• Running Economies: Capitalism and Socialism
• Capitalist Economies in the US
• Scholars on the Effects of Capitalism
• Political Ideologies: Capitalism vs. Socialism
• Adam Smith’s Understanding of Capitalism
• Capitalism and Its Role in Commodity Exchange and Value
• Capitalism and Poverty
• Alienation and Capitalism
• Karl Marx: From Feudal Society to Modern Capitalism
• Capitalism: A Love Story: A Reflective Paper
• Development of the Atlantic Trade Triangle a Colonial Capitalism (Mercantilism)
• How Capitalism Beat Communism/Socialism
• Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Weber
• US Economic Success: Rise of Capitalism
• Capitalism: Exploitation of the Poor and Resource Monopoly
• Forced Labor and Free Enterprise on Sugar Plantations Created a Feudal and Capitalism Society

❓ Capitalism Research Paper Topics

• Why Has Liberal Capitalism Failed To Stimulate a Democratic Culture in Africa?
• What Is the Connection Between Capitalism and Modern Culture?
• How Government Policies Affected Global Capitalism?
• What Are the Positive and Negative Outcomes of Market Capitalism?
• How Does Capitalism Differ From Socialism?
• What Is the Connection Between Slavery, the Rise of Capitalism, and Colonization?
• What Is the Relationship Between Race and Capitalism?
• How Does Modern Capitalism Looks Like?
• Will Global Capitalism Fall Again?
• What Is the Relationship Between Capitalism and Democracy?
• How Capitalism Contributes Towards Unemployment?
• What Is the Difference and Similarity Between Socialism and Capitalism?
• How Does Shared Capitalism Affect Economic Performance in the UK?
• Why Doesn’t Capitalism Flow to Poor Countries?
• How Does Capitalism Affect Population Growth?
• Did the New Deal Strengthen or Weakened the USA Capitalism?
• How Has the Rise of Capitalism Contributed to the Persistent Gender Inequity?
• How Can Capitalism Take Control of People’s Lives?
• What Is the Conflict Between Socialism and Capitalism?
• What Can Marx’s Work on Capitalism Tell Us About Modernity?
• How Does the Spirit of Capitalism Affect Stock Market Prices?
• How Capitalism and the Bourgeois Virtues Transformed and Humanized the Family?
• Who Are Capitalists and What Is Capitalism?
• How Does the Capitalism Influence the Debt of Developing Countries?
• Why Does Market Capitalism Fail To Deliver a Sustainable Environment and Greater Equality of Incomes?
• How Can Capitalism Save American Healthcare?
• How Slavery Shifted the Economy Towards Capitalism?
• How Has the Internet Changed Modern-Day Capitalism?
• Why China Chose the Socialism Instead of Capitalism as the Country Political System When Prc Was Established?
• How Capitalism Thwarts Creativity?
• Feudalism Titles
• Colonialism Essay Ideas
• Democracy Titles
• Fascism Questions
• Nazism Topics
• Socialism Ideas
• Totalitarianism Questions
• Marxism Essay Ideas
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology

Philosophy, One Thousand Words at a Time

Arguments for Capitalism and Socialism

Author: Thomas Metcalf Category: Social and Political Philosophy Wordcount: 993

Editor’s Note: This essay is the second in a two-part series authored by Tom on the topic of capitalism and socialism. The first essay, on defining capitalism and socialism, is available here .

Listen here

Suppose I had a magic wand that allowed one to produce 500 donuts per hour. I say to you, “Let’s make a deal. You use this wand to produce donuts, and then sell those donuts for $500 and give me the proceeds. I’ll give you $10 for every hour you spend doing this. I’ll spend that time playing video games.”

My activity—playing video games—seems pretty easy. Your job requires much more effort. And I might end up with a lot more money than $10 for every hour you work. How is that fair?

In the story, the magic wand is analogous to capital goods : assets (typically machinery and buildings, such as robots, sewing machines, computers, and factories) that make labor, or providing goods and services, more productive. Standard definitions of ‘capitalism’ and ‘socialism’ indicate that, in general, capitalist systems permit people to privately own and control capital goods, whereas socialist systems do not. And capitalist systems tend to contain widespread wage labor, absentee ownership, and property income; socialist systems generally don’t. [1]

Capital goods are morally interesting. As in the case of the magic wand, ownership of capital goods can allow one to make lots of money without working. In contrast, other people have to work for a living. This might be unfair or harmful. This essay surveys and explains the main arguments in this debate. [2]

1. Capitalism

Arguments for capitalism tend to hold that it’s beneficial to society for there to be incentives to produce, own, and use capital goods like the magic wand, or that it’s wrong to forcibly prevent people from doing so. Here are four arguments for capitalism, stated briefly:

(1) Competition: ‘When individuals compete with each other for profits, this benefits the consumer.’ [3]

Critique : Competition also may encourage selfish and predatory behavior. Competition can also occur in some socialist systems. [4]

(2) Freedom: ‘Preventing people from owning capital restricts their freedom. Seizing their income in the form of taxes may constitute theft.’ [5]

Critiques : Maybe owning property, itself, restricts freedom, by excluding others from using it. [6] If I announce that I own something, I may be thereby announcing that I will force you not to use it. And maybe “freedom” requires the ability to pursue one’s own goals, which in turn requires some amount of wealth. [7] Further, if people must choose between work and starvation, then their choice to work may not be really “free” anyway. [8] And the general distribution of wealth is arguably the result of a morally arbitrary “natural lottery,” [9] which may not actually confer strict property-rights over one’s holdings. [10] I didn’t choose where I was born, nor my parents’ wealth, nor my natural talents, which allow me to acquire wealth. So perhaps it’s not a violation of my rights to take some of that property from me.

(3) Public Goods: [11] ‘When objects, including capital, must be shared with others, then no one is strongly motivated to produce them. In turn, society is poorer and labor is more difficult because production is inefficient.’ [12]

Critique : People might be motivated to produce capital for altruistic reasons, [13] or may be coerced in some socialist systems to do so. Some putatively socialist systems allow for profitable production of capital goods. [14]

  (4) Tragedy of the Commons: ‘When capital, natural resources, or the environment are publicly controlled, no one is strongly motivated to protect them.’ [15]

Critique : As before, people might be motivated by altruism. [16] Some systems with partially-private control of capital may nevertheless qualify as socialist. [17]

2. Socialism

Arguments for socialism tend to hold that it’s unfair or harmful to have a system like in the story of the magic wand, a system with widespread wage labor and property income. Here are four arguments for socialism, stated briefly:

(1) Fairness: ‘It’s unfair to make money just by owning capital, as is possible only in a capitalist system.’ [18]

Critique : Perhaps fairness isn’t as morally important as consent, freedom, property rights, or beneficial consequences. And perhaps wage laborers consent to work, and capital owners have property rights over their capital. [19]

(2) Inequality: ‘When people can privately own capital, they can use it to get even richer relative to the poor, and the wage laborers are left poorer and poorer relative to the rich, thereby worsening the inequality that already exists between capital-owners and wage-laborers.’ [20]

Critiques : This is a disputable empirical claim. [21] And perhaps the ability to privately own capital encourages people to invest in building capital goods, thereby making goods and services cheaper. Further, perhaps monopolies commonly granted by social control over capital are “captured” by wealthy special-interests, [22] which harm the poor by enacting regressive laws. [23]

(3) Labor: ‘Wage laborers are alienated from their labor, exploited, and unfree because they must obey their bosses’ orders.’ [24]

Critiques : If this alienation and exploitation are net-harmful to workers, then why do workers consent to work? If the answer is ‘because they’ll suffer severe hardship otherwise,’ then strictly speaking, this is a critique of allowing poverty, not a critique of allowing wage labor.

(4) Selfishness: ‘When people can privately own capital, they selfishly pursue profit above all else, which leads to further inequality, environmental degradation, non-productive industries, economic instability, colonialism, mass murder, and slavery.’

Critique : These are also disputable empirical claims. Maybe when people are given control over socially -owned capital, they selfishly extract personal wealth from it. [25] Maybe when the environment is socially controlled, everyone is individually motivated to over-harvest and pollute. [26] State intervention in the economy may be a major cause of the existence of non-productive industry, pollution, and economic instability. [27] Last, some of the worst perpetrators of historical evils are governments, not private corporations. [28]

  3. Conclusion

It is difficult to justifiably draw general conclusions about what a pure capitalism or socialism would be like in practice. [29] But an examination of the merits and demerits of each system gives us some guidance about whether we should move a society in either direction.

[1] See my Defining Capitalism and Socialism for an explanation of how to define these systems.

[2] For much-more-extensive surveys, see Gilabert and O’Neill n.d. and Arnold n.d.

[3] By analogy, different people might try to construct even better magic wands, or use them for better purposes. Typically the benefits are thought to include lower prices, increased equality, innovation, and more options. See Smith 2003 [1776]: bk. 1, ch. 2 and Friedman and Friedman 1979: ch. 1.

[4] Schweickart 2011 presents an outline of a market socialism comprising much competition.

[5] By analogy, if I legitimately own the magic wand, then what gives you the right to threaten violence against me if I don’t give it to you? Nozick 1974: ch. 7 presents a general discussion of how socialism might restrict freedom and how taxation may be akin to theft or forced labor.

[6] Spencer 1995 [1871]: 103-4 and Zwolinski 2015 discuss how property might require coercion. See also Scott 2011: 32-33. Indeed, property in general may essentially be theft (Proudhon 1994 [1840]).

[7] See Rawls (1999: 176-7) for this sort of argument. See John Rawls’ ‘A Theory of Justice’ by Ben Davies for an introduction.

[8] See e.g. Burawoy 1979 for a discussion of whether workers consent to work. See also Marx 2004 (1867): vol. IV, ch. VII.

[9] Rawls 1999: 62 ff.

[10] Relatedly, while one may currently hold capital, one may greatly owe the existence of that product to many other people or to society in general. See e.g. Kropotkin 2015 [1913]: chs. 1-3 and Murphy and Nagel 2002.

[11] A public good is a good that is non-excludable (roughly, it is expensive to prevent people from using it) and non-rivalrously consumed (roughly, preventing people from using it causes harm without benefiting anyone) (Cowen 2008).

[12] By analogy, why bother building magic wands at all if someone else is immediately going to take it from me and start using it? Standard economic theory holds that public goods (non-excludable and non-rivalrous goods) will, on the free market, be underproduced. This is normally taken to be an argument for government to produce public goods. See e.g. Gaus 2008: 84 ff.

[13] For example, according to Marxist communism, the ideal socialist society would comprise production for use, not for profit. See e.g. Marx 2004 [1867]: vol. 1 ch. 7. See also Kropotkin 1902, which is a defense of the general claim that humans will tend to be altruistic, at least in anarcho-communist systems.

[14] In a market-socialist system (cf. Schweickart 2011), it is possible to make capital goods and sell them at a profit that gets distributed to the laborers.

[15] By analogy, if I know that anyone in the neighborhood can use the magic wand, I might not invest my own time and money to maintain it. But if it’s mine alone, I care a lot more about maintaining it. This is the basis of the well-known ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ alleged problem. See, e.g., Hardin 1968.

[16] Kropotkin 1902.

[17] As before, in Schweickart’s (2011) system, firms will be motivated to protect capital if they must pay for capital’s deprecation, even though the capital is owned by society.

[18] By analogy, as noted, the wand-owner might make lots of money for basically doing no work. Sherman 1995: 130; Schweickart 2011: § 3.2.

[19] See e.g. Friedman 2002 for a collection of consequentialist arguments for capitalism, and Nozick 1974: chs. 3 and 7 for some arguments concerning freedom and capitalist systems.

[20] By analogy, the wand-owner might accumulate so much money as to start buying other magic wands and renting those out as well. See e.g. Piketty 2014.

[21] Taking the world as a whole, wealth in absolute terms has been increasing greatly, and global poverty has been decreasing steeply, including in countries that have moved in mostly capitalist directions. See e.g. World Bank Group 2016: 3. Friedman 1989: ch. 5 argues that capitalism is responsible for the improved position of the poor today compared to the past.

[22] See e.g. Friedman 1989: ch. 7 for a discussion of regulatory capture.

[23] Friedman 2002: chs. IV and IX; Friedman 1989: ch. 4.

[24] By analogy, the person I’ve hired to use the wand might need to obey my orders, because they don’t have a wand of their own to rent out, and they might starve without the job I’ve offered them. Marx 2009 [1932] introduces and develops this concept of alienation. See Dan Lowe’s 2015 Karl Marx’s Conception of Alienation for an overview. See also Anderson 2015 for an argument that private corporations coercively violate their workers’ freedom.

[25] See n. 21 above. This result is most-obvious in countries in which dictators enrich themselves, but there is nothing in principle preventing rulers of ostensibly democratic countries from doing so as well. Presumably this worry explains the presence of the Emoluments Clause in the U. S. Constitution.

[26] See n. 14.

[27] See e.g. Friedman 2002: chs. III and V and the example of compliance costs for regulations.

[28] See Huemer 2013: ch. 6 ff.

[29] All or nearly all large-scale economies have been mixed economies. In contrast, a pure capitalism would be an anarcho-capitalism (see e.g. Gaus 2010: 75 ff. and Huemer 2013), and a pure socialism wouldn’t permit people to privately own scissors. See also the entry “Defining Capitalism and Socialism.”

Anderson, Elizabeth. 2015. Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don’t Talk about It) . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Arnold, Samuel. N. d. “Socialism.” In The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (ed.), The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy , URL = < https://www.iep.utm.edu/socialis/ >

Burawoy, Michael. 1979. Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process under Monopoly Capitalism . Chicago, IL and London, UK: The University of Chicago Press.

Cohen, G. A. 2009. Why Not Socialism? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Cowen, Tyler. 2008. “Public Goods.” In David R. Henderson (ed.), The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics . Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund.

Dagger, Richard and Terence Ball. 2019. “Socialism.” In Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (ed.), E ncyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/socialism

Dahl, Robert A. 1993. “Why All Democratic Countries have Mixed Economies.” Nomos 35: 259-82.

Dictionary.com. N.d. “Capitalism.” URL = < https://www.dictionary.com/browse/capitalism >

Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. 2019. “Henri de Saint-Simon.” In Encyclopædia Britannica , Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henri-de-Saint-Simon

Friedman, David D. 1989. The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism , Second Edition. La Salle, IL: Open Court Publishing Company.

Friedman, Milton. 2002. Capitalism and Freedom . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Friedman, Milton and Rose Friedman. 1979. Free to Choose: A Personal Statement . New York, NY: Harcourt Brace.

Gaus, Gerald. 2010. “The Idea and Ideal of Capitalism.” In George G. Brenkert and Tom L. Beauchamp (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Business Ethics . New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Gaus, Gerald. 2008. On Philosophy, Politics, and Economics . Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Gilabert, Pablo and Martin O’Neill. 2019. “Socialism.” In E. N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socialism/ .

Hardin, Garrett. 1968. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162(3859): 1243-48.

Herzog, Lisa. 2019. “Markets.” In E. N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , Spring 2019 Edition, URL =https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/markets/

Huemer, Michael. 2013. The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey . Houndmills, UK and New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Investopedia. 2019. “Mixed Economic System.” Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/mixed-economic-system.asp

Kropotkin, P. 1902. Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution . New York, NY: McClure Phillips & Co.

Kropotkin, Peter. 2015 [1913]. The Conquest of Bread. London, UK: Penguin Classics.

Lowe, Dan. 2015. “Karl Marx’s Conception of Alienation.” 1000-Word Philosophy . Retrieved from https://1000wordphilosophy.com/2015/05/13/karl-marxs-conception-of-alienation/.

Marx, Karl. 2009 [1932]. “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844.” In Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and the Communist Manifesto , tr. Martin Milligan (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books), pp. 13-202.

Marx, Karl. 2004 [1867]. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume One . New York, NY: Penguin Classics.

Merriam-Webster. N.d. “Capitalism.” URL = < https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capitalism >

Mill, John Stuart. 1965 [1848]. Principles of Political Economy with Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy, Volume I: The Principles of Political Economy I , ed. J. M. Robson. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

Murphy, Liam and Thomas Nagel. 2002. The Myth of Ownership: Taxes and Justice. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Nozick, Robert. 1974. Anarchy, State, and Utopia . New York, NY: Basic Books.

Oxford English Dictionary, N.d. a. “Capital.” Retrieved from http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/27450

Oxford English Dictionary. N.d. b. “Capitalism.” Retrieved from http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/27454

Oxford English Dictionary. N.d. c. “Mixed Economy.” Retrieved from http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/120348

Oxford English Dictionary. N.d. d. “Socialism.” Retrieved from http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/183741

Piketty, Thomas. 2014. Capital in the Twenty-First Century , tr. Arthur Goldhammer. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph. 1994 [1840]. What is Property? Ed. Donald R. Kelley and Bonnie G. Smith. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Rawls, John. 1999. A Theory of Justice, Revised Edition . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Schweickart, David. 2011. After Capitalism , Second Edition. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Scott, Bruce R. 2011. Capitalism: Its Origins and Evolution as a System of Governance . New York, NY: Springer Science+Business Media.

Sherman, Howard J. 1995. Reinventing Marxism . Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Smith, Adam. 2003 [1776]. The Wealth of Nations . New York, NY: Bantam Dell.

Wikipedia. N.d. “Capitalism.” URL =

Wiktionary. N.d. “Capitalism.” URL =

World Bank Group. 2016. Global Monitoring Report 2015/2016: Development Goals in an Era of Demographic Change. Washington, DC: World Bank Group and The International Monetary Fund.

Zwolinski, Matt. 2015. “Property Rights, Coercion, and the Welfare State: The Libertarian Case for a Basic Income for All.” The Independent Review 19(4): 515-29

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Home — Essay Samples — Economics — Political Economy — Capitalism

Essays on Capitalism

Capitalism and socialism essay topics and outline examples.

• The Evolution of Capitalism: From Its Origins to Modern Day
• Capitalism and Its Role in Promoting Innovation and Technology
• The Ethics of Capitalism: Exploring Moral Considerations in Free Markets
• Global Capitalism: Its Impact on Developing Economies
• The Relationship Between Capitalism and Environmental Sustainability
• Consumer Culture in Capitalist Societies: Implications and Critiques
• The Role of Government Regulation in Capitalist Economies
• Capitalism in the USA 1900-1940: A Historical Overview
• Capitalism vs. Socialism: Impact on Income Inequality
• The Impact of Capitalism on Underdevelopment in the Global South

Essay Title 1: Capitalism vs. Socialism: A Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems and Their Impacts

Thesis Statement: This argumentative essay critically evaluates capitalism and socialism as economic systems, analyzing their strengths, weaknesses, and societal consequences, and seeks to determine which system provides a more equitable and sustainable future.

• Introduction
• Capitalism: Market-Based Economy, Private Ownership, and Competition
• Socialism: Collective Ownership, Wealth Redistribution, and Government Control
• Economic Inequality: Wealth Disparities in Capitalist Societies
• Social Safety Nets: Welfare Programs and Social Services in Socialist Societies
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Capitalism's Role in Technological Advancements
• Environmental Sustainability: Examining the Impact of Both Systems on the Planet
• Conclusion: Striving for a Balanced Economic System that Addresses Inequities

Essay Title 2: The Role of Capitalism and Socialism in Modern Societies: Achieving Economic Prosperity and Social Equity

Thesis Statement: This argumentative essay explores the coexistence of capitalism and socialism within modern societies, emphasizing the potential benefits of a mixed economic system that combines market forces with social welfare measures to achieve economic prosperity and social equity.

• Mixed Economy: Combining Capitalist and Socialist Elements
• Income Redistribution: Progressive Taxation and Social Programs
• Healthcare and Education: Ensuring Universal Access and Quality
• Worker Rights: Labor Unions and Employment Protections
• Regulation and Competition: Balancing Market Dynamics and Consumer Protection
• Global Perspectives: Comparing Economic Systems in Different Countries
• Conclusion: Advancing Economic Prosperity and Social Equity Through a Balanced Approach

Essay Title 3: Capitalism, Socialism, and the Future of Economic Systems: Toward a More Equitable and Sustainable World

Thesis Statement: This argumentative essay envisions the future of economic systems, proposing the development of innovative models that incorporate the best aspects of both capitalism and socialism to create a more equitable, sustainable, and just global economy.

• Hybrid Models: Exploring Economic Systems That Promote Equity and Innovation
• Environmental Responsibility: Addressing Climate Change and Resource Conservation
• Global Wealth Distribution: Reducing Income Disparities Across Nations
• Education and Healthcare: Ensuring Access and Quality Worldwide
• Technology and Automation: Adapting to the Changing Nature of Work
• Collaborative Governance: International Cooperation for Economic Reform
• Conclusion: Striving for a New Economic Paradigm for a Better World

Capitalism in Today's Society 

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The Origins and Development of Capitalism

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Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.

Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private property, property rights recognition, voluntary exchange, and wage labor.

Main types of capitalism include advanced capitalism, corporate capitalism, finance capitalism, free-market capitalism, mercantilism, social capitalism, state capitalism and welfare capitalism. Other variants of capitalism include anarcho-capitalism, community capitalism, humanistic capitalism, neo-capitalism, state monopoly capitalism, and technocapitalism.

Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, Ireland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Estonia, Canada, Denmark, etc.

Capitalism is driven by the law of supply and demand. In a capitalist society people have more freedom to choose their career paths. Countries that have capitalist economies today are not 100% capitalist. This is because they all have some form of government regulation to guide business.

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History of capitalism

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What is capitalism?

Who invented capitalism, what are some criticisms of capitalism, which countries are capitalist, is neoliberalism capitalist.

capitalism , economic system , dominant in the Western world since the breakup of feudalism , in which most means of production are privately owned and production is guided and income distributed largely through the operation of markets .

Although the continuous development of capitalism as a system dates only from the 16th century, antecedents of capitalist institutions existed in the ancient world, and flourishing pockets of capitalism were present in Europe during the later Middle Ages . The development of capitalism was spearheaded by the growth of the English cloth industry during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The feature of this development that distinguished capitalism from previous systems was the use of accumulated capital to enlarge productive capacity rather than to invest in economically unproductive enterprises, such as pyramids and cathedrals. This characteristic was encouraged by several historical events.

In the ethic fostered by the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, traditional disdain for acquisitive effort was diminished while hard work and frugality were given a stronger religious sanction. Economic inequality was justified on the grounds that the wealthy were more virtuous than the poor.

Another contributing factor was the increase in Europe’s supply of precious metals and the resulting inflation in prices . Wages did not rise as fast as prices in this period, and the main beneficiaries of the inflation were the capitalists. The early capitalists (1500–1750) also enjoyed the benefits of the rise of strong national states during the mercantilist era. The policies of national power followed by these states succeeded in providing the basic social conditions, such as uniform monetary systems and legal codes, necessary for economic development and eventually made possible the shift from public to private initiative.

Beginning in the 18th century in England , the focus of capitalist development shifted from commerce to industry . The steady capital accumulation of the preceding centuries was invested in the practical application of technical knowledge during the Industrial Revolution . The ideology of classical capitalism was expressed in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), by the Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith , which recommended leaving economic decisions to the free play of self-regulating market forces. After the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars had swept the remnants of feudalism into oblivion, Smith’s policies were increasingly put into practice. The policies of 19th-century political liberalism included free trade , sound money (the gold standard ), balanced budgets , and minimum levels of poor relief. The growth of industrial capitalism and the development of the factory system in the 19th century also created a vast new class of industrial workers whose generally miserable working and living conditions inspired the revolutionary philosophy of Karl Marx ( see also Marxism ). Marx’s prediction of the inevitable overthrow of capitalism in a proletarian -led class war proved shortsighted, however.

World War I marked a turning point in the development of capitalism. After the war, international markets shrank, the gold standard was abandoned in favour of managed national currencies , banking hegemony passed from Europe to the United States , and trade barriers multiplied. The Great Depression of the 1930s brought the policy of laissez-faire (noninterference by the state in economic matters) to an end in most countries and for a time created sympathy for socialism among many intellectuals, writers, artists, and, especially in western Europe, workers and middle-class professionals.

In the decades immediately following World War II , the economies of the major capitalist countries, all of which had adopted some version of the welfare state , performed well, restoring some of the confidence in the capitalist system that had been lost in the 1930s. Beginning in the 1970s, however, rapid increases in economic inequality ( see income inequality ; distribution of wealth and income ), both internationally and within individual countries, revived doubts among some people about the long-term viability of the system. Following the financial crisis of 2007–09 and the Great Recession that accompanied it, there was renewed interest in socialism among many people in the United States, especially millennials (persons born in the 1980s or ’90s), a group that had been particularly hard-hit by the recession . Polls conducted during 2010–18 found that a slight majority of millennials held a positive view of socialism and that support for socialism had increased in every age group except those aged 65 or older. It should be noted, however, that the policies actually favoured by such groups differed little in their scope and purpose from the New Deal regulatory and social-welfare programs of the 1930s and hardly amounted to orthodox socialism.

For fuller discussion of the history and characteristics of capitalism, see Economic system: The evolution of capitalism .

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What is capitalism.

Please answer ONE of the following essay questions. In doing so, please offer detailed discussion based on close analysis of the readings for the class. The essay should be 5 pages double-spaced.

• Choose any three of the following theorists and compare their viewpoints on capitalism. How did each understand the nature of capitalism and its implications for society? On what basis did they offer their views? How and in what ways did their perspectives parallel or differ from the other two? You might want to consider how particular historical influences came into play or whether they were in dialogue with or reacting against each other. Which arguments do you find most persuasive and why? You may choose three of any of the following theorists: Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Pierre Bourdieu, Sherry Ortner, Satnam Virdee, David Harvey, or Guy Standing.
• In the 1940s, the work of Austrian economist F. A. Hayek and Austrian economic historian Karl Polanyi emerged out of the maelstrom of two world wars and attempted to address the question of whether or not capitalism was beneficial to society overall. (For Hayek, this question was linked to questions of individualism.) In your paper, describe the viewpoints of these two theorists on capitalism. How and why did they see capitalism as either supportive or destructive of social relations? On what did they base their opposing viewpoints? In your view, who offers the more and less persuasive arguments about capitalism and why?

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U.S. Intellectual History Blog

Andrew Seal

August 20, 2018

Asking New Questions of the New History of Capitalism

With this post I want to begin a series where I will discuss several of the (always proliferating) methodological or historiographical essays that have been written on the new history of capitalism. Earlier this year, I wrote about Karl Polanyi and that other Karl , and promised in the latter post to try to “tie the two posts together.” I hope to make my way back to that after—or as I progress through—this series. [1]

In this preliminary post, though, I just want briefly to lay out a few themes or lines of questions. First, what are the questions that have been asked already?

The debate over the validity of the insights of the new history of capitalism—especially into the relation between slavery and capitalism—has been intense and interminable. I do plan on writing about Alan L. Olmstead and Paul W. Rhode’s piece from earlier this year, “ Cotton, Slavery, and the New History of Capitalism ” [not paywalled pdf], which is an important intervention in this debate, but my objective is not to adjudicate the matter but to think more about its framing, and about some of the boundary policing between economic history and the history of capitalism that we can see there.

Aside from the new history of capitalism’s validity, historians (and sometimes journalists) have focused on two “what” questions—“what is new about the new history of capitalism?” and “what is ‘capitalism’ in the new history of capitalism?”—i.e., how do the historians in this field define capitalism, implicitly or explicitly?

Finally, historians have gravitated to the “why now?” question—or as Seth Rockman put it, “ What Makes the History of Capitalism Newsworthy? ” [pdf, paywalled] That question partially overlaps with “what is new?” but looks beyond intradisciplinary trends or features to the political and economic context that has lent the field a sense of immediacy and purpose.

I hope to build on but also push further than these questions in my reading of essays like Rockman’s. One of the first questions I wish to ask is, “Is there an ‘old’ history of capitalism?” The new history of capitalism has gestured broadly at its predecessors, but I think we can bulk up our sense of how the prior historiography of U.S. capitalism fit together—who wrote it, why, and what they wrote about. As with most questions connected with the new history of capitalism, there has been a tendency to focus on the historiography of antebellum cotton-based slavery to the exclusion of other periods or sectors.

I would also like to think not just about the definition of capitalism in the new history of capitalism, but also about some other definitional questions we might put to the field, such as, what is a commodity? what is a price? and what is a market? I am not so much trying to derive a textbook definition as I am trying to explore the way that historians of capitalism have couched these concepts—what are the subtexts or connotations that surround them within the literature?

Third, I’d like to consider more intently than I think is usual across these historiographical/methodological essays the relationship between two dimensions of the field: materiality and what I’d like to call character structure. Much of the literature of the new history of capitalism is intensely materialist or, in the language that is often preferred, embodied—it takes place within or across bodies. Edward Baptist’s unifying metaphor of the enslaved person’s body in The Half Has Never Been Told is merely the most explicit and most encompassing instance of this insistence upon embodiment, but there is also another side of the field which in some ways hearkens back to a very different tradition that we could trace, perhaps, to Max Weber. This tradition asks, what kind of personalities or character structures are created by capitalism, or which kind of personalities flourish under capitalism? One might break this down further—what kinds of personalities emerge or flourish under different stages or varieties of capitalism (managerial capitalism, “late capitalism,” etc.)?—but the essential point is that this drama of capitalism takes place on some other, more intellectual, moral, or ideological plane.

Finally, I plan to consider the history of capitalism’s relation to intellectual history—how the two fields overlap, how one might shape or influence the other, and how we might sort out some of the works published so far that are clearly instances of both.

Clearly that is going to be a lot of work, but there are quite a few of these essays about the ‘NHC’ out there (as you can see below). I plan on being a bit selective, but I also intend both to make clear where the points of repetition and of difference lie, and also to give solid overviews of some of the more influential or substantial essays that have come out so far. Please leave any suggestions of pieces I may not have come across in the comments.

And a second request: if this series gets dull or repetitive, please let me know. I think there is plenty to say on this topic, but you may not feel the same, or you may feel that I’m not saying very much of it—or very much that is interesting. Cut me off whenever you’d like!

A Preliminary List of Historiographical/Methodological Essays on the New History of Capitalism:

• Jeremy Adelman and Jonathan Levy, “The Fall and Rise of Economic History,” in The Chronicle of Higher Education (2014)
• Joyce Appleby, “The Vexed Story of Capitalism Told by American Historians,” in Journal of the Early Republic (2001)
• Matthew Axtell, “Toward a New Legal History of Capitalism and Unfree Labor,” in Law and Social Inquiry (2015)
• Nicolas Barreyre and Alexia Blin, “À la redécouverte du capitalisme américain,” in  Revue d’histoire du XIX e  siècle   (2017)
• Sven Beckert, “History of American Capitalism,” in  American History Now (2011)
• Francesco Boldizzoni, “Capitalism’s Futures Past: Expectations in History and Theory,” in  Critical Historical Studies (2017)
• John Clegg, “Capitalism and Slavery,” in  Critical Historical Studies (2015)
• Peter Coclanis, “Slavery, Capitalism, and the Problem of Misprision,” in  Journal of American Studies (2018)
• Rosanne Currarino, “Toward a History of Cultural Economy,” in Journal of the Civil War Era (2012)
• Rosanne Currarino, “Transition Questions,” in  Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era  (2016)
• Tom Cutterham, “Is the History of Capitalism the History of Everything?” in The Junto (2014)
• With contributions by Michael Dawson, J. Phillip Thompson, Tianna Paschel, Megan Ming Francis, Adom Getachew, N. D. B. Connolly, Ella Myers, Nikhil Pal Singh, Leah Wright Rigueur, and Dan Berger
• Walter Friedman, “Recent Trends in Business History Research: Capitalism, Democracy, and Innovation,” in Enterprise and Society (2017)
• Greg Grandin, “Capitalism and Slavery,” in  The Nation (2015)
• Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor, “Gender’s Value in the History of Capitalism,” in  Journal of the Early Republic  (2016)
• Eric Hilt, “Economic History, Historical Analysis, and the “New History of Capitalism,” in Journal of Economic History (2017)
• James L. Huston, “Economic Landscapes Yet to Be Discovered: The Early American Republic and Historians’ Unsubtle Adoption of Political Economy,” in Journal of the Early Republic (2004)
• Louis Hyman, “Why Write the History of Capitalism,” in Symposium (2013)
• Aaron Jakes and Ahmad Shokr, “Finding Value in  Empire of Cotton ,” in Critical Historical Studies (2017)
• Walter Johnson, “On Agency,” in  Journal of Social History (2003)
• Walter Johnson, “The Pedestal and the Veil: Rethinking the Capitalism/Slavery Question,” in  Journal of the Early Republic (2004)
• Jürgen Kocka, “Writing the History of Capitalism,” in Bulletin of the GHI (2010)
• Paul Kramer, “Embedding Capital: Political-Economic History, the United States, and the World,” in Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (2016)
• Greta Krippner, “Polanyi for the Age of Trump,” in  Critical Historical Studies (2017)
• Leigh Claire La Berge, “Decommodified Labor: Conceptualizing Work after the Wage,” in Lateral (2018)
• Naomi Lamoreaux, “Beyond Markets and Hierarchies: Toward a New Synthesis of American Business History,” in American Historical Review (2003)
• Jonathan Levy, “Accounting for Profit and the History of Capital,” in Critical Historical Studies (2014)
• Jonathan Levy, “Appreciating Assets: New Directions in the History of Political Economy,” in American Historical Review (2017)
• Jonathan Levy, “Capital as Process and the History of Capitalism,” in Business History Review (2017)
• Kenneth Lipartito, “Connecting the Cultural and the Material in Business History,” in Enterprise and Society (2013)
• Kenneth Lipartito, “Reassembling the Economic: New Departures in Historical Materialism,” in American Historical Review (2016)
• Stephen Macekura, et al., “The Relationship of Morals and Markets Today: A Review of Recent Scholarship on the Culture of Economic Life,” in  Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal (2016)
• Robert A. Margo, “The Integration of Economic History into Economics,” in Cliometrica (2018)
• Ajay Mehrotra, “A Bridge Between: Law and the New Intellectual Histories of Capitalism,” in Buffalo Law Review (2016)
• Scott Reynolds Nelson, “Who Put Their Capitalism in My Slavery?” in  Journal of the Civil War Era (2015)
• Dael Norwood, “What Counts? Political Economy, or Ways to Make Early America Add Up,” in  Journal of the Early Republic (2016)
• James Oakes, “Capitalism and Slavery and the Civil War,” in  International Labor and Working-Class History (2016)
• Dara Orenstein and Aaron Carico, “Editors’ Introduction: The Fictions of Finance,” in  Radical History Review (2014)
• Charles Post, “Slavery and the New History of Capitalism,” in Catalyst (2017)
• Stuart Schrader, “Reading Eugene Genovese in the Age of Occupy,” in  Brooklyn Rail  (2012)
• Jennifer Schuessler, “In History Departments, It’s Up with Capitalism,” in New York Times (2013)
• Alan Olmstead and Paul Rhode, “Cotton, Slavery, and the New History of Capitalism,” in Explorations in Economic History (2018)
• Julia C. Ott and William Milberg, “Capitalism Studies: A Manifesto,” in Public Seminar (2014)
• Bruce Robbins, “Commodity Histories,” in  PMLA (2005)
• Seth Rockman, “The Future of Civil War Studies: Slavery and Capitalism,” in  Journal of the Civil War Era (2012)
• Seth Rockman, “What Makes the History of Capitalism Newsworthy?” in Journal of the Early Republic (2014)
• Seth Rockman, “Introduction to Forum: The Paper Technologies of Capitalism,” in  Technology and Culture  (2017)
• Christine Meisner Rosen, “What Is Business History?” in Enterprise and Society (2013)
• Tim Shenk, “Apostles of Growth,” in The Nation (2014)
• Tim Shenk, “Booked: The End of an Illusion,” in Dissent (2018)
• Jeffrey Sklansky, “The Elusive Sovereign: New Intellectual and Social Histories of Capitalism,” in Modern Intellectual History (2012)
• Jeffrey Sklansky, “Labor, Money, and the Financial Turn in the History of Capitalism,” in Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas (2014)
• Kate Smith, “Amidst Things: New Histories of Commodities, Capital, and Consumption,” in  The Historical Journal (2018)
• Amy Dru Stanley, “Histories of Capitalism and Sex Difference,” in Journal of the Early Republic (2016)
• Richard Teichgraeber, “Capitalism and Intellectual History,” in Modern Intellectual History (2004)
• Various, “Interchange: The History of Capitalism,” in Journal of American History (2014)
• David Waldstreicher, “The Vexed Story of Human Commodification Told by Benjamin Franklin and Venture Smith,” in  Journal of the Early Republic (2004)
• with video lectures by Manu Goswami, Paul A. Kramer, Lara Putnam, and Andrew Zimmerman and a collaborative bibliography (pdf)
• Michael Zakim, “Bringing the Economy Back In,” in Reviews in American History (2014)
• Michael Zakim and Gary Kornblith, Introduction to Capitalism Takes Command (2011)

Edit: added the two Walter Johnson essays (8.20.18 22:41)

Edit 2: I will continue to add essays as suggestions come in (8.21.18 18:32)

[1] I’ll also slip in a follow-up to the fantasy football post… somewhere.

Tags: Capitalism , Class/Labor , Historiography , history of capitalism , new history of capitalism

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7 thoughts on this post, s-usih comment policy.

We ask that those who participate in the discussions generated in the Comments section do so with the same decorum as they would in any other academic setting or context. Since the USIH bloggers write under our real names, we would prefer that our commenters also identify themselves by their real name. As our primary goal is to stimulate and engage in fruitful and productive discussion, ad hominem attacks (personal or professional), unnecessary insults, and/or mean-spiritedness have no place in the USIH Blog’s Comments section. Therefore, we reserve the right to remove any comments that contain any of the above and/or are not intended to further the discussion of the topic of the post. We welcome suggestions for corrections to any of our posts. As the official blog of the Society of US Intellectual History, we hope to foster a diverse community of scholars and readers who engage with one another in discussions of US intellectual history, broadly understood.

I’m very excited for this series, since HoC is a topic I am very interested in and your posts always make me think about subjects in new ways.

And S-USIH would never cut you off! I expect at least a 100 post series!

In case you don’t know it, I think John Clegg’s article in Critical Historical Studies is quite good. It got some attention at The Junto regarding disagreement between Clegg and Baptist, but the heart of the piece was an argument that historians of capitalism would benefit from theoretical clarification of what people mean by ‘capitalism.’ It also advocated (convincingly, in my opinion) that Robert Brenner’s definition of capitalism is particularly useful.

A few suggestions: Sven Beckert’s historiography essay in the Foner and McGirr American History Now volume John Clegg’s essay Capitalism and Slavery in Critical Historical Studies Aaron Jakes and Ahmad Shokr’s review of Beckert’s book in Critical Historical Studies And, to be self-indulgent and because I was thinking about the “why now?” question, my obit-like essay on Genovese in Brooklyn Rail: https://brooklynrail.org/2012/12/express/reading-eugene-genovese-in-the-age-of-occupy

A third tick for John Clegg’s essay in Critical Historical Studies. Still the best thing I think I’ve read on the whole debate and does a good deal of work (at least in terms of slavery) toward trying to figure out what the old history of capitalism was and how it compares with the new. Jakes and Shokr’s essay was hot too, though at times over my head. The distinction they draw between histories of the commodity and histories of value brings to mind a good article by Bruce Robbins on commodity histories in the PMLA, though it’s probably beyond the purview of this series.

Thanks to all of you! I’ve added your suggestions and a few others from Twitter. Please keep them coming!

Just to round things out a bit, you may want to include this series of pieces from the SSRC Items blog that came out of the Race and Capitalism working group organized by Megan Ming Francis and Michael Dawson. It covers a small library of works on capitalism and racism. In so doing, it serves as a crucial historiographical and methodological resource, and, not incidentally, desegregates the group of the authors under consideration here.

https://items.ssrc.org/category/reading-racial-conflict/

Thanks! That’s a great resource–I had not run into this series before!

Comments are closed.

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What Is Capitalism?

Understanding capitalism, capitalism and the profit motive, precursors to capitalism: feudalism and mercantilism.

• Pros and Cons

Capitalism vs. Socialism

• Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

• Government & Policy

What Is Capitalism: Varieties, History, Pros & Cons, Socialism

Daniel Liberto is a journalist with over 10 years of experience working with publications such as the Financial Times, The Independent, and Investors Chronicle.

Pete Rathburn is a copy editor and fact-checker with expertise in economics and personal finance and over twenty years of experience in the classroom.

Capitalism is an economic system in which private individuals or businesses own capital goods. At the same time, business owners employ workers who receive only wages; labor doesn't own the means of production but instead uses them on behalf of the owners of capital.

The production of goods and services under capitalism is based on supply and demand in the general market, also known as the market economy . This is in contrast to a planned economy or a command economy , in which prices are set through central planning.

The purest form of capitalism is free-market or laissez-faire capitalism. Here, private individuals are unrestrained. They may determine where to invest, what to produce or sell, and at which prices to exchange goods and services. The laissez-faire marketplace operates without checks or controls. Today, most countries practice a mixed capitalist system that includes some degree of government regulation of business and some extent of public ownership of select industries.

Key Takeaways

• Capitalism is an economic system characterized by private ownership of the means of production, with labor solely paid wages.
• Capitalism depends on the enforcement of private property rights, which provide incentives for investment in and productive use of capital.
• Capitalism developed out of feudalism and mercantilism in Europe and dramatically expanded industrialization and the large-scale availability of mass-market consumer goods.
• Pure capitalism can be contrasted with pure socialism, in which all means of production are collective or state-owned.

Capitalism is one type of system of economic production and resource distribution. Instead of planning economic decisions through centralized political methods, as with socialism or feudalism, economic planning under capitalism occurs via decentralized, competitive, and voluntary decisions.

Capitalism is essentially an economic system in which the means of production—factories, tools, machines, raw materials, etc—are organized by one or more business owners, also known as capitalists. Capitalists then hire workers to operate the means of production in return for wages. Workers have no claim on the means of production or on the profits generated from their labor; these belong to the capitalists.

As such, private property rights are fundamental to capitalism. Most modern concepts of private property stem from John Locke's theory of homesteading, in which human beings claim ownership by mixing their labor with unclaimed resources. Once owned, the only legitimate means of transferring property are through voluntary exchange, gifts, inheritance , or the re-homesteading of abandoned property.

Private property promotes efficiency by giving the owner of resources an incentive to maximize the value of their property. The more valuable a resource is, the more trading power it provides the owner. In a capitalist system, the person who owns the property is entitled to any value associated with that property.

Why Private Property Rights Matter for Capitalism

For individuals or businesses to deploy their capital goods confidently, a system must exist that protects their legal right to own or transfer private property. A capitalist society relies on the use of contracts, fair dealing, and tort law to facilitate and enforce these private property rights.

When property isn't privately owned but rather is shared by the public, a problem known as the tragedy of the commons can emerge. With a common pool resource—which all people can use and none can limit access to—all individuals have an incentive to extract as much use-value as they can and no incentive to conserve or reinvest in the resource. Privatizing the resource is one possible solution to this problem, along with various voluntary or involuntary collective action approaches.  

Under capitalist production, the business owners retain ownership of the goods being produced. If a worker in a shoe factory were to take home a pair of shoes that they made, it would be theft. This concept is known as the alienation of workers from their labor.

Profits are closely associated with the concept of private property. By definition, an individual only enters into a voluntary exchange of private property when they believe the exchange benefits them in some psychic or material way. In such trades, each party gains extra subjective value, or profit, from the transaction.

The profit motive , or the desire to earn profits from business activity, is the driving force of capitalism. It creates a competitive environment in which businesses compete to be the low-cost producer of a certain good in order to gain market share. If it is more profitable to produce a different type of good, then a business is incentivized to switch.

Voluntary trade is another, related mechanism that drives activity in a capitalist system. The owners of resources compete with one another over consumers, who, in turn, compete with other consumers over goods and services. All this activity is built into the price system, which balances supply and demand to coordinate the distribution of resources.

A capitalist earns the highest profit by using capital goods such as machinery and tools most efficiently while producing the highest-value good or service. By contrast, the capitalist suffers losses when capital resources aren't used efficiently and instead create less-valuable outputs.

Capitalism vs. Markets

Capitalism is a system of economic production. Markets are systems of distribution and allocation of goods already produced. While they often go hand-in-hand, capitalism and free markets refer to two distinct systems.

Capitalism is a relatively new type of social arrangement for producing goods in an economy. It arose largely along with the advent of the Industrial Revolution , some time in the late 17th century. Before capitalism, other systems of production and social organization were prevalent.

Feudalism and the Roots of Capitalism

Capitalism grew out of European feudalism. Up until the 12th century, a very small percentage of the population of Europe lived in towns. Skilled workers lived in the city but received their keep from feudal lords rather than a real wage, and most workers were serfs for landed nobles. However, by the late Middle Ages, rising urbanism, with cities as centers of industry and trade, became more and more economically important.

Under feudalism, society was segmented into social classes based on birth or family lineage. Lords (nobility) were the landowners, while serfs (peasants and laborers) didn't own land but were under the employ of the landed nobility.

The advent of industrialization revolutionized the trades and encouraged more people to move into towns where they could earn more money working in a factory than existing at a subsistence level in exchange for labor.

Mercantilism

Mercantilism gradually replaced the feudal economic system in Western Europe and became the primary economic system of commerce during the 16th to 18th centuries. Mercantilism started as trade between towns, but it wasn't necessarily competitive trade. Initially, each town had vastly different products and services that were slowly homogenized over time by demand.

After the homogenization of goods, trade was carried out in broader and broader circles: town to town, county to county, province to province, and, finally, nation to nation. When too many nations were offering similar goods for trade, the trade took on a competitive edge that was sharpened by strong feelings of nationalism on a continent that was constantly embroiled in wars.

Colonialism flourished alongside mercantilism, but the nations seeding the world with settlements weren't trying to increase trade. Most colonies were set up with an economic system that smacked of feudalism, with their raw goods going back to the motherland and, in the case of the British colonies in North America, being forced to repurchase the finished product with a pseudo- currency that prevented them from trading with other nations.

It was economist Adam Smith who noticed that mercantilism was a regressive system that was creating trade imbalances between nations and keeping them from advancing. His ideas for a free market opened the world to capitalism.

The Growth of Industry

Adam Smith's ideas were well-timed, as the Industrial Revolution was starting to cause tremors that would soon shake the Western world. The (often-literal) gold mine of colonialism had brought new wealth and new demand for the products of domestic industries, which drove the expansion and mechanization of production.

As technology leaped ahead and factories no longer had to be built near waterways or windmills to function, industrialists began building in the cities where there were now thousands of people to supply labor.

Capitalism involved reorganizing society into social classes based not on ownership of land, but ownership of capital (in other words, businesses). Capitalists were able to earn profits from the surplus labor of the working class, who earned only wages. Thus, the two social classes defined by capitalism are the capitalists and the laboring classes.

Industrial tycoons were the first people to amass wealth, often outstripping both the landed nobles and many of the money-lending/banking families. For the first time in history, common people could have hopes of becoming wealthy. The new money crowd built more factories that required more labor, while also producing more goods for people to purchase.

During this period, the term "capitalism"—originating from the Latin word " capitalis ," which means "head of cattle"—rose to prominence. In 1850, French socialist Louis Blanc used the term to signify a system of exclusive ownership of industrial means of production by private individuals rather than shared ownership.

Pros and Cons of Capitalism

More efficient allocation of capital resources

Competition leads to lower consumer prices

Wages and general standards of living rise overall

Spurs innovation and invention

Creates inherent class conflict between capital and labor

Generates enormous wealth disparities and social inequalities

Can incentivize corruption and crony capitalism in the pursuit of profit

Produces negative effects such as pollution

Pros Explained

More efficient allocation of capital resources : Labor and means of production follow capital in this system because supply follows demand.

Competition leads to lower consumer prices : Capitalists are in competition against one another, and so will seek to increase their profits by cutting costs, including labor and materials costs. Mass production also usually benefits consumers.

Wages and general standards of living rise overall : Wages under capitalism increased, helped by the formation of unions. More and better goods became cheaply accessible to wide populations, raising standards of living in previously unthinkable ways.

Spurs innovation and invention : In capitalism, inequality is the driving force that encourages innovation, which then pushes economic development.

Cons Explained

Creates inherent class conflict between capital and labor : While capitalists enjoy the potential for high profits, workers may be exploited for their labor, with wages always kept lower than the true value of the work being done.

Generates enormous wealth disparities and social inequalities : Capitalism has created an immense gap between the wealthy and the poor, as well as social inequalities.

Can incentivize corruption and crony capitalism in the pursuit of profit : Capitalism can provide incentives for corruption emerging from favoritism and close relationships between business people and the state.

Produces negative effects such as pollution : Capitalism often leads to a host of negative externalities , such as air and noise pollution, and these costs paid for by society, rather than the producer of the effect.

In terms of political economy , capitalism is often contrasted with socialism . The fundamental difference between the two is the ownership and control of the means of production.

In a capitalist economy, property and businesses are owned and controlled by individuals. In a socialist economy, the state owns and manages the vital means of production. However, other differences also exist in the form of equity, efficiency, and employment.

The capitalist economy is unconcerned about equitable arrangements. The primary concern of the socialist model is the redistribution of wealth and resources from the rich to the poor, out of fairness, and to ensure equality in opportunity and equality of outcome. Equality is valued above high achievement, and the collective good is viewed above the opportunity for individuals to advance.

The capitalist argument is that the profit incentive drives corporations to develop innovative new products desired by the consumer and in demand in the marketplace. It is argued that the state ownership of the means of production leads to inefficiency because, without the motivation to earn more money, management, workers, and developers are less likely to put forth the extra effort to push new ideas or products.

In a capitalist economy, the state doesn't directly employ the workforce. This lack of government-run employment can lead to unemployment during economic recessions and depressions .

In a socialist economy, the state is the primary employer. During times of economic hardship, the socialist state can order hiring, so there is full employment. Also, there tends to be a stronger "safety net" in socialist systems for workers who are injured or permanently disabled. Those who can no longer work have fewer options available to help them in capitalist societies.

Karl Marx, Capitalism, and Socialism

Philosopher Karl Marx was famously critical of the capitalist system of production because he saw it as an engine for creating social ills, massive inequalities, and self-destructive tendencies. Marx argued that , over time, capitalist businesses would drive one another out of business through fierce competition, while, at the same time, the laboring class would swell and begin to resent their unfair conditions. His solution was socialism, through which the means of production would be handed over to the laboring class in an egalitarian fashion.

Varieties of Capitalism

Today, many countries operate with capitalist production, but this also exists along a spectrum . In reality, there are elements of pure capitalism that operate alongside otherwise-socialist institutions.

The standard spectrum of economic systems places laissez-faire capitalism at one extreme and a complete planned economy—such as communism —at the other. Everything in between could be said to be a mixed economy. The mixed economy has elements of both central planning and unplanned private business. By this definition, nearly every country in the world has a mixed economy.

Mixed Capitalism

When the government owns some but not all the means of production and may legally circumvent, replace, limit, or otherwise regulate private economic interests, it is said to be a mixed economy or mixed economic system . A mixed economy respects property rights, but places limits on them.

Property owners are restricted as to how they exchange with one another. These restrictions come in many forms, such as minimum wage laws, tariffs, quotas, windfall taxes, license restrictions, prohibited products or contracts, direct public expropriation , antitrust legislation, legal tender laws, subsidies, and eminent domain . Governments in mixed economies also fully or partly own and operate certain industries, especially those considered public goods .

Anarcho-Capitalism

In contrast, with pure capitalism, also known as laissez-faire capitalism or anarcho-capitalism , all industries are left up to private ownership and operation, including public goods, and no central government authority provides regulation or supervision of economic activity in general.

What Is an Example of Capitalism?

An example of capitalist production would be if an entrepreneur starts a new widget company and opens a factory. This individual uses available capital that they own or from outside investors and buys the land, builds the factory, orders the machinery, and sources the raw materials. Workers are then hired by the entrepreneur to operate the machines and produce widgets. Note that the workers don't own the machines they use or the widgets that they produce. Instead, they receive only wages in exchange for their labor. These wages represent a small fraction of what the entrepreneur earns from the venture.

Who Benefits From Capitalism?

Capitalism tends to benefit capitalists the most. These include business owners, investors, and other owners of capital. While capitalism has been praised for improving the standard of living for many people across the board, it has by far benefited those at the top.

Why Is Capitalism Harmful?

Because of how it is structured, capitalism will always pit business owners and investors against the working class. Capitalists are also in competition against one another, and so will seek to increase their profits by cutting costs, including labor costs. At the same time, workers seek higher wages, fairer treatment, and better working conditions. These two incentives are fundamentally at odds, which creates class conflict.

Is Capitalism the Same as Free Enterprise?

Capitalism and free enterprise are often seen as synonymous. In truth, they are closely related yet distinct terms with overlapping features. It is possible to have a capitalist economy without complete free enterprise, and a free market without capitalism. Any economy is capitalist as long as private individuals control the factors of production . However, a capitalist system can still be regulated by government laws, and the profits of capitalist endeavors can still be taxed heavily. "Free enterprise" can roughly be understood to mean economic exchanges free of coercive government influence.

Capitalism is an economic and political system where trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit. Its core principles are accumulation, ownership, and profiting from capital. In its purest form, capitalism works best when these private owners have assurances that the wealth they generate will be kept in their own pocket, which is often a controversial proposition.

Capitalism is the dominant world economic system, although it often isn’t pure in form. In many countries, interventions from the state, a core trait of socialism, are frequent. Businesses are able to chase profit but within the boundaries set by the government. Most political theorists and nearly all economists argue that capitalism is the most efficient and productive system of exchange.

International Monetary Fund. " What Is Capitalism ?"

Nelson, Peter Lothian. " To Homestead a Nature Preserve: A Response to Block and Edelstein, 'Popsicle Sticks and Homesteading Land for Nature Preserves '. "  Review of Social and Economic Issues , vol. 2, no. 1, Spring 2019, pp. 71+. (Subscription required.)

Harvard Business School. " Tragedy of the Commons: What It Is and 5 Examples ."

Lester C. Thurow. " Profits ."

Michael Sonenscher. " Capitalism: The Word and the Thing ."

Laura LaHaye. " Mercantilism ."

Trinity University. " Adam Smith on Money, Mercantilism, and the System of Natural Liberty ."

Milios, John. " Social Classes in Classical and Marxist Political Economy ," The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 59, no. 2 (April 2000), pp. 283-302. (Subscription required.)

Cambridge University Press. " Cries of Pain: The Word 'Capitalism' ."

Columbia College. " Karl Marx ."

New World Encyclopedia. " Anarcho-Capitalism ."

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Essay on Capitalism

Students are often asked to write an essay on Capitalism in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Capitalism

What is capitalism.

Capitalism is an economic system where private individuals or businesses own goods and services. They make things or provide services to sell for profit. In this system, the market decides prices based on supply and demand. If many people want something that’s hard to get, it becomes expensive. If nobody wants something or it’s easy to get, it’s cheap.

Benefits of Capitalism

Challenges of capitalism.

Sometimes capitalism can make the rich richer and the poor poorer. This happens because not everyone starts with the same chance to succeed. Also, without rules, businesses might harm the environment or treat workers badly to lower costs and increase profits.

Capitalism in the World

Many countries have capitalism, but they also have laws to protect workers and the environment. Some countries mix capitalism with government programs that help people, like free healthcare or education. This mix can help fix some problems of pure capitalism.

250 Words Essay on Capitalism

Capitalism is like a big game where businesses and people try to make as much money as they can. Imagine a marketplace where everyone is free to sell their goods and services and set their prices. People can start their own businesses, and the ones with the best products or services often make the most money.

Freedom to Choose

In a capitalist system, you get to make choices. You can decide what to buy, which job to take, and even start your own company. This freedom means that if someone makes something really good or useful, they can become successful. But it also means that if they don’t do a good job, they might not make money, and someone else who does it better could win the customers.

Competition

Competition is a big deal in capitalism. It’s like a race where businesses try to outdo each other to win customers. This can lead to better products and lower prices. It’s good for customers because they get more choices and can find things that are better or cheaper.

Money and Wealth

Capitalism can make some people very rich. When a person or a company does really well, they can earn a lot of money. But this also means that not everyone gets the same amount. Some people might have a lot, while others have very little.

Capitalism is all about making money, having the freedom to choose, and competing in the market. It has its good sides, like better products and choices, but it also means not everyone will have the same amount of money. It’s a system that can help people succeed if they have a good idea and work hard.

500 Words Essay on Capitalism

Capitalism is a way of running an economy where private individuals or businesses own and operate the different things needed to make and sell goods and services. This includes factories, tools, and shops. In a capitalist system, the main goal is to make money. People who have money to invest, known as capitalists, spend their money on things that can make more money, like factories or machines.

Freedom of Choice

Competition is another important aspect of capitalism. Imagine there are two shops in your town that sell ice cream. One shop might try to have better flavors or lower prices to get more customers. This competition can lead to better products and services for everyone. Companies are always trying to improve what they sell and how they sell it to beat their rivals and attract more customers.

Pros of Capitalism

Capitalism has some good points. It encourages people to work hard and be creative, because they can keep most of the money they make. This can lead to new inventions and businesses. Also, since there is competition, customers usually get to choose from a variety of goods and services that might be better quality or less expensive.

Cons of Capitalism

In conclusion, capitalism is a way of organizing an economy that focuses on private ownership and making profits. It has benefits like encouraging hard work and innovation, and it also has downsides such as inequality and potential harm to people or the planet. Countries around the world practice capitalism in various ways, with different rules and regulations to balance these pros and cons. Understanding capitalism is important because it affects how businesses operate, what products are available, and the overall economy of a country.

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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The Questions That Will Shape the Future of Capitalism

Advocates of free markets must engage in the public debate about them..

• By John Paul Rollert
• November 13, 2019
• CBR - Economics
• Share This Page

What is the promise of capitalism? 

That may seem like a strange question, and when I ask it of my MBAs, I suspect they regard it as an exercise in the pedagogical pastime Guess What Teacher Is Thinking. Still I ask it, for I hope it prompts my students  to think about the kinds of problems capitalism is equipped to solve as well as those that are beyond its compass.

This is hardly a matter of idle speculation, especially for those who have good reason to believe that they will someday enjoy a disproportionate amount of the system’s spoils. Those fortunate individuals sometimes need to be reminded that free markets, however mighty, will not mend their marriage, relieve their cold, or stop their brother-in-law from bragging about his golf game. Indeed, there are plenty of things capitalism can’t do, and reflecting on them is a good way of distinguishing what it can do—and what it should. 

Naturally, what capitalism can and should do are not one and the same. The first is a technical matter best left to economists; the second is more of an ideological affair, the province of moral and political philosophy. The distinction is an important one, but it tends to fade whenever one believes that free markets will solve most any problem: moral, social, and political as well as economic. If capitalism can do anything, so the thinking goes, then it should do everything. 

Now, with the kind of intellectual prodding the question above intends, almost no one honestly believes that capitalism can, or should, do everything. Yet up until recently, it passed for conventional wisdom, in the United States and throughout most of the developed world, that capitalism could do most things, that the obvious solution to nearly any pressing problem of social organization was freer trade, fewer regulations, and far less government intervention.

With the benefit of hindsight, it is now plain that this was a central lesson many people took from the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism in the early 1990s. Rather than simply disqualify one extreme formulation, the failure of the Soviet system cast doubt on the very idea of a mixed economy, particularly in the US. The challenge was not to figure out the right balance of power between the invisible hand of the marketplace and the visible hand of government, but to enfeeble, if not eliminate altogether, the latter, not only to liberate capitalism but to deprive civil servants of what was assumed to be an ineluctable impulse and sinister raison d’être: central planning.

So commenced an unprecedented era of liberalization and global capitalist expansion. Sure, there were holdouts, but they were either deemed irrelevant and hopelessly backward (Cuba, North Korea) or, in the case of China, obstinate in the face of what they knew to be the inevitable.  

That sense of “the inevitable” was never more than an ideological conviction that the power of free markets, supported by restrained exercises in liberal democracy, would prove so compelling that no problem might arise—either beyond capitalism or as a consequence of its development—that would seriously threaten the system’s preeminence. Such a possibility famously compelled the political scientist Francis Fukuyama to proclaim “the end of history,” a phrase that served as the title for his 1992 book. It elaborated on a thesis Fukuyama had auditioned three years earlier in the pages of Foreign Affairs . “What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history,” he wrote in that essay, “but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.” 

This great divergence in worldviews—between a group bewildered that we haven’t gotten things back on track and another that is too busy figuring out the road ahead to litigate whether the track was ever so reliable in the first place—increasingly colors our civic discourse.

For Fukuyama, the failure of fascism in World War II, together with the death rattle of Soviet-style communism, left liberal democratic norms the triumphant alternative “underwritten by the abundance of a modern free market economy.” Or, as he put the matter somewhat more pithily, “We might summarize the content of the universal homogeneous state as liberal democracy in the political sphere combined with easy access to VCRs and stereos in the economic.”

For those nations that arrived at this ideological end state, the most urgent matters of the day would forever appear irretrievably mundane. As he described it: 

The struggle for recognition, the willingness to risk one’s life for a purely abstract goal, the worldwide ideological struggle that called forth daring, courage, imagination, and idealism will be replaced by economic calculation, the endless solving of technical problems, environmental concerns, and the satisfaction of sophisticated consumer demands.

To contemporary observers, it may seem baffling that anyone ever took the end-of-history thesis seriously. Then again, we have a fair amount of history that was unavailable to Fukuyama when he wrote his book, 30 years of experience that have seen, among other destabilizing events, the inception of an apparently endless war on terror, the 2008–09 global financial crisis, and the striking resurgence of nationalist sentiment in the most developed countries on earth. 

Still, worldviews can be a stubborn thing, forming as they do during the warm impressionability of late adolescence and early adulthood. The consequence, in this case, is a striking divergence between those who came of age in the irenic afterglow Fukuyama memorialized and those who only know the menacing turbulence of the past 18 years. The latter group, which includes more or less anyone under 35, better accepts the challenges of a radically uncertain future because nothing they have experienced in their own lives has given them reason to believe things would ever be any other way. This puts them at odds with the elite members of the two generations preceding them. They assumed that the world had basically solved all of its major problems such that we could get on with the business of living. For these individuals, the past two decades seem like a bracing departure from the future promised them rather than a return to the routine of disruption that has always characterized human life.  

This great divergence in worldviews—between a group bewildered that we haven’t gotten things back on track and another that is too busy figuring out the road ahead to litigate whether the track was ever so reliable in the first place—increasingly colors our civic discourse, which of late has shown itself favorable to substantial interventions to “correct” the tendencies of capitalism. Naturally, such interventions are especially vexing to those who adhere to a maximalist view of capitalism’s promise, for the more problems capitalism is assumed to address, the more any intervention can only be assumed to be counterproductive. 

Fairly or not, Adam Smith is often regarded as the intellectual godfather of the maximalist view of capitalism’s promise (which, in turn, commends a minimalist approach to politics). As Smith said in The Wealth of Nations of what he famously called “the obvious and simple system of natural liberty”:

Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men. The sovereign is completely discharged from a duty, in the attempting to perform which he must always be exposed to innumerable delusions, and for the proper performance of which no human wisdom of knowledge could ever be sufficient; the duty of superintending the industry of private people, and of directing it towards the employments most suitable to the interest of society.

It is important to note that, for Smith, the superpower of this system is merely the ability to efficiently price and, thereby, allocate goods and labor. There were plenty of other concerns beyond its ken that the sovereign or some other political authority would need to address, such as the funding of public education, the amelioration of oppression, and the maintenance of public institutions—all responsibilities Smith details.

Still, even beyond its practical application, the reallocation of such an essential part of community life (economic affairs) from the deliberate orchestration of central authorities to the inadvertent ministry of every marketplace participant has had two lasting consequences, one technical, the other broadly psychological. As a technical matter, that markets proved so powerful in economic affairs suggested that their efficacy might extend to other realms that didn’t seem essentially commercial in nature, further relieving government officials of the trouble of attending to them. Psychologically speaking, the more that managing a community didn’t require self-conscious endeavors but, instead, the pursuit of blinkered self-interest, the more the ability to intelligently engage in debates about civic life deteriorated. Indeed, if, as the ironic logic of the invisible hand holds with respect to self-interested pursuits, the common good goes on behind our backs, coming about not because of our express intentions but despite them, there was simply no need to spend much time thinking about the obligations of citizenship. On the contrary, they would be best discharged by diligently attending to the needs of bank account and belly. 

By a means slightly different from Fukuyama’s vision, such assumptions about how exactly a nation functions put individuals beyond ideology. Indeed, the questions that have kept philosophers and politicians alike debating late into the night for ages have all been neatly resolved by an invisible hand. Liberté, égalité, fraternité may stand aside in favor of “economic calculation, the endless solving of technical problems, environmental concerns, and the satisfaction of sophisticated consumer demands.” 

And yet, if the promise of capitalism proves more limited, the debilitating consequences of a postideological disposition for one’s critical faculties comes into full view. Like any muscle that has not been flexed, the capacity to assess the necessities of civic life atrophies, and one becomes a citizen in name only. She cannot debate the meaning of that role with any subtlety or historical perspective. 

Such limitations are especially perilous for business professionals. Not only are such individuals far more susceptible to a blind faith in the invisible hand, but so much of the angst of the present moment revolves around doubts about capitalism and the questions they raise: 

• Are all levels of inequality consistent with a healthy, well-functioning democracy? 
• Do we need to limit the power of money to reshape public and private institutions? 
• Should the government play an aggressive role in retraining workers displaced by liberalized trade policies and increased automation? 
• Should it insulate them from the adverse consequences of such changes or, for that matter, affirmatively redistribute the benefits? 
• Can we square a belief in meritocracy with the legacy effects of inherited wealth? 
• Should our notion of public utilities be updated to encompass modern services we depend on, such as those provided by Google or Amazon? 
• Should the government encourage new forms of collective bargaining and ownership and pursue policies that put property into the hands of the propertyless? 
• Should capitalism be regarded as the servant of a community and therefore be tamed by it when it fails to live up to prevailing standards of liberty, equality, justice, tolerance, and decency?

These are just some of the questions business professionals will face in the years to come, to say nothing of those noncommercial questions of custom and culture that Fukuyama mistakenly concluded had been resolved for the developed world once and for all. 

Taken together, such matters should be of special concern to members of the business elite for three reasons. First, and most straightforwardly, public-policy decisions that affect how exactly our economic system works will directly shape the scope, practice, and viability of all business endeavors. Secondly, simply by virtue of their chosen vocation, business professionals, and especially graduates of superior MBA programs, are the face of capitalism, and they will not only be looked to for well-developed opinions on these issues; their actions and behavior will serve to advise others on the faith warranted in capitalism. 

Recommended Reading A (Financial) Crisis of Faith

How collapse and recession have shaken young people’s faith in capitalism.

• CBR - Behavioral Science

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, unless the pendulum of practicable economics swings in the direction of a different system entirely, considerable disparities of wealth, an essential condition of capitalist advancement, will remain, and those who will continue to occupy the favorable end of this bell curve will be business professionals. They will be rich in a time when the instrumental role of riches will be suspect and the respectability of great wealth doubtful. They will not be able to justify to others, and perhaps even to juries of conscience, that material success is a moral justification unto itself, that simply by doing the best for themselves, they have already done the best they might do for others. Unlike for those who preceded them, this ideological assumption, so tempting and convenient, will no longer be available to them. Great wealth will not be its own justification. It will need to be vindicated by the power it confers. 

Such an undertaking calls for a reengagement with debates over the responsibilities of citizenship, one that involves visiting anew questions of liberty, justice, equality, wealth, power, and tradition. It also requires a willingness to use power, in both the private and public spheres, less as a club to clear the way for commercial activity than as an implement of some higher aim, undertaken in a spirit of great responsibility and obligation.

Such an approach is hardly foreign to the business community. Indeed, such aspirations were a common language for the commercial elect in the decades after World War II, and they still fill the charters of public companies, professional associations, and major business schools alike. If, today, they seem the stuff of boilerplate, a few scattered phrases that are little more than an empty nod to etiquette, that’s more a reflection of our own civic disengagement than the dead letter of misbegotten ambition.

John Paul Rollert  is adjunct assistant professor of behavioral science at Chicago Booth.

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1 What’s Wrong with Capitalism?

• Published: August 2015
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Capitalism as a system for economic organization and resource allocation is suffering a worldwide crisis of confidence, with growing inequality, financial crises, and a structural unemployment that affects youth disproportionally. Since the Cold War western capitalism has been treated as the only acceptable form of economic system, andthe public or political realm has itself come to be dominated by the money of special-interest groups. This has in turn led to mass protest movements across the developed and developing worlds, and a weakening of the political center in favor of more extreme political currents. Fissures have been widening between the investor class enjoying growing returns on capital and the wage-earning class suffering declining returns from their labor. And increased financialization of the economy means the traditional economic theories based on production in a classical sense are increasingly irrelevant to the modern economy. Above all a sense of unfairness and decades of growing inequality risk the stability and sustainability of the system and its acceptance, and an erosion in societal trust and the very institutions needed to sustain the system.

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The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

By max weber, the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism essay questions.

Why is it so unexpected that Protestants would be more economically successful than Catholics, in Weber’s time?

Weber points out that this trend does not seem to make sense based on historical or national explanations. He explains that, historically, Protestants have more accumulated wealth. However, how this began in the first place is difficult to explain, because one would expect that stricter religion would mean less participation in economic pursuits. Instead, Weber will go on to show that, actually, stronger piety is correlated with stronger economic performance, as well.

How does Benjamin Franklin’s treatise differ from an encouragement of hedonism?

Weber explains that Franklin’s text does not actually encourage hedonism, although it does support the accumulation of wealth as an end in itself. Because Franklin views this accumulation of wealth as a duty, however, he does not intend it to encourage people to pursue only their pleasure. Rather, he transforms the idea of making money into something that is not necessarily pleasurable, but simply a necessity. Thus, his philosophy is not a hedonistic one.

Why is Luther not a direct inventor of the capitalist spirit?

Luther contributed to the early development of the capitalist spirit by encouraging the idea of labor as a duty. However, he also believed that this duty was passed on by God, and not something that was chosen by men or done for their own sake. In his model, people should follow their calling according to the station of life into which they were born. This does not allow for social mobility, and thus is not an exact reflection of the capitalist spirit as Weber defines it.

According to Weber, what is a primary difference between the Catholic and Protestant attitude toward sin and salvation?

Weber points out that Catholics tend to treat sin as something to be atoned for by the individual after the fact. For Catholics, repenting by doing good deeds that are supposed to make up for their past bad deeds is a central part of their approach to the relationship with God. Weber explains that Catholics tend to believe that by completing enough positive actions to outweigh their bad ones, they can be forgiven and go to heaven. Protestants, on the other hand—especially Calvinists—are more continuous in their striving to do good. They do not complete good deeds in order to make up for bad ones and be forgiven by an outside source, but rather constantly check in with themselves to make sure they are contributing positively to the world around them. In this way, they are more individualist in their approach to sin and salvation.

Why does Weber consider different religious denominations when trying to determine the origins of the spirit of capitalism?

At the end of the third section of the first part of the text, Weber explains to readers that he will be moving into a more specific analysis of different religious denominations in order to explore the development of the spirit of capitalism. Thus far in the text, he has spoken mainly in general terms about the Reformation and its impact on developing a more individualist approach to religion that emphasizes the importance of a “calling.” However, he believes that the Reformation is not actually a direct link to the spirit of capitalism—it may have contributed in part to this spirit, but cannot fully explain it. Thus, he moves into a more specific discussion of different religious denominations in order to determine the ways in which these religious beliefs contributed, to some degree, to the capitalist spirit. It is important to note that he intends only to draw loose connections between these beliefs and this spirit.

What does Weber believe Calvinists contributed to the capitalist spirit, thanks to their emphasis on predestination?

Weber believes that Calvinism played a large part in introducing a more negative form of individualism. Calvinists believe that one’s salvation is determined beforehand by God, and cannot be affected by one’s deeds on earth. Weber claims that this kind of attitude led Calvinists to develop a certain sense of loneliness, since no one can help them with their eternal salvation—not even their Church. This loneliness in turn is connected to a certain kind of individualism unique to Calvinists. More specifically, they tend to be mistrustful of others and focused only on their own good deeds, since they believe that no one else can help them but themselves.

How does Weber present the differences across Protestant denominations to his readers?

Weber begins his section on these different denominations by clarifying that they are actually quite similar. Although they may have developed differing ideas about salvation and the exact relationship between men and God, Weber claims they all share common roots and often intermingled their ideas. This means that, although they can and should be considered individually, it is also important to keep in mind that they all ultimately fall under the umbrella of “Protestantism.”

How does Weber believe the relationship between Protestantism and the spirit of capitalism developed?

Weber is careful to specify that he does not believe Protestants ever consciously considered their connection to capitalism. In fact, he states that most Protestants would likely reject the concept of capitalism in the first place. Luther, for example, would not support the idea of making a profit because he believed only in working to do good for society and to get by in life. However, Weber believes that Protestants incidentally and indirectly contributed to the spirit of capitalism through certain tenants of their religious beliefs.

What is Weber’s criticism of Methodism and Pietism?

For both Methodism and Pietism, Weber warns against too much reliance on emotions and not enough consistency in application. Pietists emphasize the possibility of experiencing the bliss of a connection with God even in this life on earth, and Methodists emphasize that one can demonstrate salvation simply by strongly believing that one has been chosen for salvation. Thus, both Methodists and Pietists focus more on the importance of thinking, believing, and feeling in their religion than do Calvinists, for whom only actions are important. Weber tends to support this Calvinist approach because it is more consistent and easier to follow than one based in feelings, which are changeable.

What warning does Weber provide as he concludes his text?

Weber warns readers against assuming that he intends his text to replace a materialist interpretation of history with a spiritual one. He does not want to argue that the spiritual explanation is the only valid contribution to tracing the development of capitalism and modern society. Instead, he only wants to argue that it should have more of a place in theory than it did at his time. He defends the validity of the spiritual explanation and encourages further analysis in order to trace more ways in which it shaped our modern society.

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism study guide contains a biography of Max Weber, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
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Essays for The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber.

• The interpretation of The Spirit of Capitalism in Nickel and Dimed

Wikipedia Entries for The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

• Introduction

Capitalism vs Socialism

Use this player and a teacher will talk you through this page..., to understand priestley’s political views, it is important to understand two of the major “wings” of the political spectrum: capitalism (right wing) and socialism (left wing.), understanding the difference between the two means understanding the difference between the inspector (socialist / left wing) and mr birling (capitalist / right wing.), society should work together to support each other, we should take responsibility for those less fortunate than us, wealth should be shared so that everyone has opportunities, people often earn more money because they were born into privilege and this stops some great people from being able to achieve, people who are successful are not always deserving, cooperation will help society advance, society should only reward those who have done well, we should take responsibility for ourselves (and our families), wealth should be kept by the people who've earned it, because wealth is earned, privilege is deserved. society shouldn't stop people from being privileged - in fact we should encourage it, people who are less successful are less deserving, competition between people will help society advance, what are capitalism and socialism, capitalism: capitalis ts argue that businesses should be free to comp ete, the rich should be free to keep what they've earned and the government should just stay out of it. power should be held by the rich - after all, they've earned the money and proven themselves to be the most worthy people in society. to some extent, capitalists argue that capitalism is the best form of democracy , except that you don’t vote, you buy., however, within capitalism in its pure form there would be no free education, no minimum wage, no social health care, no welfare state – you’re on your own. a proper capitalist would argue that the b enefits system just makes people lazy , while the fear of failure drives people to succeed. if you take away the fear of poverty, what reason have people go to succeed, capitalists believe that the government should just protect society from revolution and enforce the most basic laws. in some ways capit alism is a form of social darwinism – where the strongest should be encouraged to survive, while the weakest should be trimmed to ensure they do not drag society backward., socialism: socialists argue that essential indus try and public serves should be communally owned and managed to ensure that the products and benefits are shared equally amongst society., socialists argue that competition doesn’t work because people have advantages that come with their position at birth. rich kids will more often go on to succeed more easily, not because they're more able but be cause they had better opportunities ; poor children will be less successful , not because they're less able but because they had fewer advantages . socialists argue that capitalism is inherently unfair and this unfairness inevitably makes society unstable. many would also argue that the great achievements of human history were no born from competition, but cooperation; we didn't build society out of people fighting, we built it by teaching people not to fight., under socialism individuals can own their own goods (social ism is not communism) but electricity companies, social networks, train companies, schools, hospitals, prisons, etc… should all be owned and managed by the state, for the people – not for profit. also, thin gs like the minimum wage, free education and free healthcare allow people to become productive members of society, they don't drag society backwards., how do they appear in the play, capitalism: george birling perfectly summarises the capitalist ideology, and he has a number of quotes throughout the opening pages that support this. fundamentally, he believes that people who are poorer are worse off because they’re irresponsible, incapable, less developed, or less deserving of better conditions. he believes that people should earn their way to the top, in the same way he did - and if he can do it, anyone ca n ., also, t hough he never says it, i could imagine him arguing that you don’t see a lion giving an injured gazelle a head start life is tough and the fittest should be allowed to rise to the top without being sh ackled by socialism society is fair, it just doesn’t seem way to the unskilled, alcoholic layabouts who can’t get themselves a decent job he believes that he pays them enough to feed them, and from there: they’re on their own, socialism: the inspector is a kind of socialist pin-up; a hero of the left wing. he uses his position to educate the characters in the play and make some of them – the young (who even he admits are more prone to socialism than the older generation) – believe in his socialist agenda., he believes that we are all here together, and that, regardless of your beliefs about why poor people are poor, he argues that they deserve help. he would argue that a young single mother, even one who got herself pregnant irresponsibly, needs our support because without it her child will grow up to become just as irresponsible as she was., he believes that we need to see society as a mass of people who work together: “ and i tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish .”, key quotes & references, “ but the way some of these cranks talk and write now, you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up, together like bees in a hive – community and all that nonsense .” – mr birling (act 1) he’s calling socialists cranks - a kind of patronising term for mad people - and denounces the very ideas of socialism, by saying that the entire system is weak, annoying and subhuman (insect like, like bees.) capitalists also attack socialism as they say it degrades human individuality, suggesting that socialists require us all to live like one enormous machine with no individual rights. mr birling’s comparison to bees supports this - he’s saying that if we were to live collectively, as the inspector wants, we’d be no better than a hive of insects., “ but take my word for it, you youngsters – and i’ve learnt in the good hard school of experience – that a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own – and – “ – mr birling (act 1) this again shows how he thinks he knows it all, as he thinks of himself as an elder teaching the younger generation which will succeed his, evident by his use of the term ‘youngsters’, and portrays his arrogance and capitalist views, and he’s cut off right after by the sharp ring of the doorbell. this is inspector goole, who, like the doorbell, cuts off the assertions of birling like a sharp ring, implying that it may somehow cause pain – to the edwardian hubris, and is used by priestly to show that mr birling is disreputable, as it abruptly cuts him off., “a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own – and…” we hear the sharp ring of a front doorbell mr birling perfectly summarises his capitalist sentiment when he tells gerald and eric that “a man has to mind his own business .” here, he is instilling in gerald a set of masculine values that are, basically, just about being selfish. by adding the phrase “his own” he attempts to make it seem less selfish by bringing a family into it, but, fundamentally: he’s telling his son and soon to be son-in-law to look after themselves. it is at this point when the stage directions announce the arrival of the inspector with a “ sharp ring of a front doorbell” – the sharpness bringing about the man who will now correct mr birling’s attitudes. it’s also worth noting that the inspector is described as imposing and powerful and that these are things that masculinity would have traditionally valued so it’s fair to say that the inspector, despite his care and compassion, is no less ‘traditionally masculine’ than mr birling, “well, it’s my duty to keep labour costs down” – mr birling (act 1) he makes it seem as if he has a moral obligation to be rich, and stay upper class, as if capitalism, or his purist view on it, is what keeps society together. this is a common view of capitalists, and right wing people in general: that they have a responsibility to work for their own ends; that it is their duty to compete for the best, as it is through competition that society advances. socialists think progress is achieved through cooperation, capitalists believe that progress is achieved through competition., “look, inspector – i’d give thousands – yes, thousands-” – mr birling (act 3) still as capitalist as he was before, as he thinks money can cover for a dead girl. he, like scrooge, only sees things in terms of their material worth. also, depending on how this line is delivered it could be seen as a bribe to the inspector, the inspector, (massively) “public men, mr birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges.” – inspector goole (act 2) inspector goole is saying that ‘public men’, such as mr birling, who has societal responsibilities, have great responsibilities, due to their great power. this attitude could also be applied to celebrities today – they earn a lot of money and have a place in the public eye, but doesn’t that mean they also have a responsibility to behave in a socially responsible way, “don’t stammer and yammer at me again .” – inspector goole (act 2) this is demonstrative of the fact that the inspector is unconventional for the edwardian era, as he doesn’t care about class differences. he's using direct, imperative language to mr birling, but also colloquialisms like "yammer" which emphasise how much the inspector insists on remaining his own man., “you see, we have to share something. if there’s nothing else, we’ll have to share our guilt” – inspector goole (act 2) the inspector is highlighting how the birlings share nothing, but if they should share something, it should be their guilt over their actions, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to cope with it. he’s saying that the responsibility is not hers alone., inspector’s closing speech: this is the key moment for the ins pector and socialism in general “but just remember this. one eva smith has gone – but there are millions and millions and millions of eva smiths and john smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, and what we think and say and do. we don't live alone. we are members of one body. we are responsible for each other. and i tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they well be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. good night.”, the inspector’s final speech opens with a long, complex sentence that reminds us of all the “eva smiths and john smiths” there are in the world, and which emphasises the extent to which the themes of the play are not specifically about this situation. also, the warning travels across time – from 1912 to 1945 – and it is increasingly true again today after a decade of austerity has left the use of food banks and zero-hours-contracts rising. the use of emotive language “hopes and fears … suffering … chance of happiness” all twig at the audience’s heart strings while the use of polysyndeton – the repetition of “and” in the phrase “think and say and do” – allows the actor to emphasise the key point: that our thoughts and actions and words all help to create the world we share., priestley follows this with three simple sentences, which summarise his lesson. the use of the simple imperatives breaks up his main point and makes his lesson clear and concise – “we do not live alone… we are members of one body” – so that with the right delivery it seems too obvious to argue with. it also allows an actor to break between each point which would allow them to add gravitas to the performance – perhaps even looking out across the auditorium to remind the audience of their involvement in this sham., the inspector goes on to make a prediction about what will happen if “men will not learn that lesson.” (here, we have to assume that he is referring to “mankind” and not just “men,” though it’s worth noting the irony of the fact that the character in the play who learns the lesson most successfully is actually a woman.) but, he claims that if the lesson is not learnt then we will learn it in “fire and blood and anguish.” this is a reference to the decades of war that would be fought in the years between when the play was set and when the first performance occurred. in this respect, priestley is using quite a cheeky strategy: he’s making the inspector prophetic – almost divine – in 1912, but only because priestley knew what went on to happen. it’s also interesting, however, that priestley is suggesting that disaster is inevitable if humans don’t change the way we behave. in this respect he is similar to karl marx, the founder of communism and a key socialist thinker, who argued that it the poor would inevitably rise up against the rich if equality wasn’t pursued. both thinkers, marx and priestley, claim that change must happen or disaster will inevitably strike. for the audience the dramatic irony of the inspector’s prophecy would have been very powerful, while his use second use of polysyndeton makes the list seem longer and emphasises the extra item: “anguish.”, after this, almost as a joke, the inspector leaves with a courteous “good night,” which could be seen as the edwardian equivalent of a mic drop., how are socialism and capitalism presented today, capitalism: the western world today is primarily run with a capitalist agenda. big businesses exert more power than they have ever done before. today, the richest 26 people have more money than the poorest 3.5 billion – half the world’s population., in 2019, t he combined wealth of the ten richest people in the world is greater than the entire worth of countries like saudi arabia, switzerland or turkey . and s ince the lockdown began, the richest of them (jeff bezos) has seen his wo rth almost double. at the moment it would seem that the richest individuals are more powerful than many governments, which is why we are, primarily, a capitalist society. in america socialism is seen as a toxic philosophy, and many people use the word as an insult., capitalism has many benefits, however: although it is unfair, capitalism is allowing humans to develop new technologies at an astonishing rate. some would argue that because humanity is facing catastrophic ecological disaster we need to concentrate wealth into small areas to allow those people to develop the technologies needed to escape., for example, elon musk (age: 45; wealth: $ 87bn ; primary source of wealth: paypal) is currently investing a lot of his money developing electric cars, which will help reduce carbon emissions and could slow global warming. he is also developing spacex which is looking to start mining asteroids to extract natural resources that may allow us to live more successfully on earth, or to develop colonies on other planets should earth become uninhabitable. capitalists would argue that musk is doing a better job at managing a large fortune than many governments., socialism: the western world today is primarily capitalist. at the moment, the rich are getting richer at a frightening rate. at the same time, ecological disaster looms. socialists would argue that, regardless of our wealth, we all contribute to global warming and deforestation; we are consuming the planet at a terrifying rate and this even more true for the richest parts of the world., some socialists may argue that it doesn’t really matter how many electric cars we have, or how successful our genetically modified crops are; it doesn’t matter how much we reduce, reuse or recycle; the bitter truth is that our planet cannot cope with 7 bn people. and the only proven way of managing population growth is to equalise wealth and opportunity. poorer families tend to have more child ren, and so it makes sense that we equalise wealth and opportunity to bring population down., in short, a socialist would argue that capitalism – which has consumption at its core – has gone far enough; we can’t carry on consuming in the way we are doing. the rich are rich enough, and wealth doesn’t fairly reflect contributions to society – some of the richest people on earth are oil barons, who contribute to the global warming which threatens all our lives., socialists argue that the time has now come when we need to work together to support one another and work towards a better future. if we don’t do this, then we a re all – rich and poor alike – doomed..

Oxford Debating Society: Does Socialism Work?

This is strictly for those interested in the themes beyond the play..., below are two videos from the oxford university debating society, in which john redwood (a tory politician) attacks socialism, while jeremy corbyn supports it. though the two speeches are full of waffle, it is interesting to see just how much the two sides struggle to find any common ground. it's as though a lot of the debate these days has ceased to be intelligent, insightful or about actual ideology and has become a sparring match where only one side or the other can be right., throughout his speech, corbyn is far more sincere and angry - i think he sounds a bit like the inspector - while redwood jokes around about socialist ideals, ridiculing them in a way that really does make him sound a little like birling is it fair to say that birling & redwood have the luxury of treating social issues as though they're jokes because they're privileged; while the inspector & corbyn's sincere anger - which can come across as being a little pompous - comes from an understanding of the suffering of the poor, a few notes:, - john redwood calls it socialism vs freedom, as he sees socialism as a thing that oppresses us while, he says, capitalism offers anyone the chance to achieve, - he talks about how capitalism has been responsible for creating the huge range of products and opportunities that we enjoy in the west, - he talks about socialism as being like a traffic light, that just stops everyone, regardless of whether people are waiting; while capitalism (or freedom as he calls it) is like a roundabout that allows people to go when they're ready, - corbyn's big change comes at 1:28, after he's responded to redwood, and then he really goes for the heartstrings, - there is a common attack against socialism which is based on the idea that it doesn't work - in its purest form (which is communism) it hasn't worked in russia, venezuela, china and a number of other countries - but it is worth saying that this was almost always communism and not socialism. and it's always worth remembering that socialism is a spectrum, which means that there are all kinds of levels of it. in extremis it might not work, in moderation it certainly does: free education is the perfect example. really, the question isn't socialism or capitalism, it's how much of either capitalism or socialism is the right amount, it's also worth reading some of the comments underneath each video if you really want to understand the depth of anger that exists between capitalists and socialists in today's world..

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Grade 9 Model Essay: Capitalism In An Inspector Calls

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

8 August 2023

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Description: Explore the portrayal of capitalism in J.B. Priestley’s “An Inspector Calls” and its profound insights into the play’s critique of social structures. This resource provides an in-depth examination of capitalism’s implications within the play.

• Introduction to Capitalism in the Play: Overview of how the play addresses capitalism through the Birling family and the Inspector’s contrasting morals.
• Detailed Analysis of Key Ideas: Examining the Birlings as symbols of capitalism, Arthur Birling’s views, the Inspector’s stance on social responsibility, and more.
• Grade 9 Model Essay: In-depth exploration of capitalism’s depiction, its impacts on different classes, and Priestley’s advocacy for socialism.

Intended Users:

• Teachers: Can be used to guide classroom discussions, provide examples of essay writing, or as a foundational text for lesson plans focused on the theme of capitalism in “An Inspector Calls”.
• Students: This resource offers insights that can assist in essay writing, revision, and understanding the play’s deeper societal critiques.

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Presenting the moral case for capitalism

There is a widespread perception that capitalism is a system designed to encourage greed, envy, selfishness, and other moral failings to flourish. Popular writing on capitalism, notably Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged,” recognizes the importance of addressing the moral case for capitalism. No economic system, no matter how efficient and productive, can flourish if it is widely regarded as the root of all evil. Given that the science of economics is value free and does not address questions of morality, this misconception about capitalism often festers and propagates with little demur.

The assumption of many capitalists is that the demonstrable benefits of capitalism ought to speak for themselves – people will enjoy the material comforts that only capitalism can produce, and that will suffice to make the case for capitalism. Add to that the fact that socialism is invariably accompanied by tyranny, deprivation, and ultimately death, and it is reasonable to suppose that there is no need for debates about morality – the facts will speak for themselves.

While the facts to a large extent speak for themselves, socialists who cling to their ideological interpretations with a cult-like devotion have now achieved dominance in most schools and institutions of higher learning. They offer an interpretation of history that seems superficially attractive – the rich are rich because the poor are poor, wealth comes from theft and exploitation, those who oppose wealth redistribution are motivated by hate, socialism only fails because the wrong people are put in charge, and the like.

These arguments are central to the “decolonize the curriculum” movement that has swept universities in the last few years. Underpinning this ideology is a commitment to egalitarianism, and the belief that inequality of income, wealth, or circumstance is wrong. The notion that inequality is presumptively evil, and that capitalism is therefore immoral because it produces inequality, persists. As Michael Tanner argues in his critique of Thomas Piketty’s “Capitalism”:

“Piketty takes the evilness of inequality as a given, ignoring the broader question of whether the same conditions that lead to growing wealth at the top of the pyramid also improve material well-being for those at the bottom.”

One of the challenges in making the moral case for capitalism is that the inequality debates have spawned their own use of terminology, in which liberal means egalitarian and capitalism means exploitation. Thus, the first step in defending capitalism is definitional. For example, in South Africa the term “capitalism” was historically seen as indelibly linked to imperialism, conquest, and racial segregation. Walter Williams’ book “South Africa’s War Against Capitalism” addresses this issue, aiming to clarify the importance of freedom of association and contractual freedom to capitalism. Williams was concerned that apartheid was seen as “a tool of capitalist enrichment”:

“The dominant black opinion in South Africa is that apartheid is an outgrowth of capitalism. Businesspeople are often seen as evil forces seeking racially discriminatory laws as a means to higher profits through the economic exploitation of non-Europeans. Therefore, in the eyes of many black Africans and their benefactors in Europe, the United States and elsewhere, a large part of the solution is seen as being – inter alia – in the promotion of socialist goals, such as state ownership and income redistribution, as a means to bring about a more just society.”

This explains why many Africans consider communism an attractive ideology – they regard communism as “antiracist” and are enthusiastically encouraged in this belief by Western communists.

The need to address these misconceptions by offering a moral defense of capitalism shows the importance of Murray Rothbard’s “The Ethics of Liberty.” Understanding the ethics of liberty is important in defending liberty and private property, and beyond that it is also important as the foundation of a moral defense of capitalism.

In our book, “Redressing Historical Injustice,” David Gordon and I ground our moral defense of capitalism on the ethical standards set out by Rothbard. We argue that capitalism, in itself, is neither moral nor immoral. It is a system of free market exchange based on private property, and in our view “it is no more reasonable to seek a moral standard within the processes of free market exchange than it would be to seek a moral standard in hills or forests or other natural features.” We argue that “instead, the tenets of capitalism ought to be evaluated according to an independent moral standard, namely the ethics of liberty.”

We therefore defend the morality of capitalism by highlighting the importance of capitalism for liberty, and in turn emphasizing the importance of liberty for justice and peace. We argue that whether people have the same amount of wealth or different amounts of wealth is neither moral nor immoral. The moral debate concerns neither equality nor inequality, but people’s natural right to live in peace and liberty. Liberty is the foundation of morality and justice.

We defend capitalism not because we think systems of free exchange are inherently moral, but because we understand free exchange as an attribute of self-ownership and property rights. In a wider context different foundations for morality and justice may be held by different people, based on moral philosophy or religion, for example, but such foundations would not be objective or universal. Self-ownership and property rights are the only moral foundation of justice in an objective and universal sense.

Those who see capitalism as immoral essentially depict free exchange, freedom of association and contractual freedom as “evil” because liberty cannot guarantee wealth equality – liberty is indeed bound to produce unequal wealth distribution. However, as Amartya Sen points out, it is odd to see free exchange or economic liberty as “immoral”: “To be generically against markets would be almost as odd as being generically against conversations between people.” It is clear that a moral defense of freedom of expression and freedom of association, or “conversations between people,” does not depend on whether the experience or outcomes of such interactions is equal. A moral defense of capitalism is therefore premised on our inherent and inalienable right to life, liberty, and property.

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. 

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

Published August 01, 2024

Announcing the 2024-2025 Common Application for NYU

Billy Sichel

Assistant Vice President of Undergraduate Admissions

It’s August 1st and that means the application at NYU has officially opened. This year, we’ve made some pretty big changes to NYU’s Common Application to simplify the process for our applicants, and to help us learn a little more about you!

When you start NYU’s member questions on the Common App, you’ll see 6 sections that you’ll need to complete. We give you a little bit of a head start by checking off the “Writing” section. This section is optional – but also new and exciting! More on that later.

The General Information Section

In the “General” section, you’ll be asked a few questions about how you want us to handle your application – Early Decision I, Early Decision II, or Regular Decision? – and which campus you want to apply to. As you (hopefully!) already know, NYU has three degree-granting campuses: in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai. Our Common App will let you apply to any combination of our campuses.

Once you make your campus selections, an additional set of questions will show up that are specific to your campus(es) of interest. Nothing too tricky here! You’ll be able to tell us about your academic area of interest for each campus, and a few other quick-and-easy questions about program eligibility, housing preferences, etc. so that we’re ready for you if you are ultimately admitted.

The Academics Section

Once you have those sections squared away, you’ll move on to the Academics section. This section will walk you through the information we’ll need you to submit outside of the Common App itself. Nothing to do here, except confirm that you’re clear on the next steps and additional requirements.

The Optional Supplemental Question

Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for: The optional, pre-checked-off Writing section. Last year, we made the decision to update our supplemental question. However, what we heard from our applicants was that people really wanted to tell us more! But the thing is…we already know why NYU is a great place to spend your 4 years, so we thought: if you want to tell us more about your passion for NYU, let’s make the question about you .

The new writing question says:

“In a world where disconnection seems to often prevail, we are looking for students who embody the qualities of bridge builders—students who can connect people, groups, and ideas to span divides, foster understanding, and promote collaboration within a dynamic, interconnected, and vibrant global academic community. We are eager to understand how your experiences have prepared you to build the bridges of the future. Please consider one or more of the following questions  in your  essay :

What personal experiences or challenges have shaped you as a bridge builder?

How have you been a bridge builder in your school, community, or personal life?

What specific actions have you taken to build bridges between diverse groups, ideas, or cultures?

How do you envision being a bridge builder during your time at our university and beyond?”

So, if it feels right for you to tell us a little more about yourself in the application, we want to know where you will turn to for inspiration, and what experiences have shaped you and resonate with you. Four years at NYU will propel you into a future you might not even be able to imagine yet, but take a minute (if you want – it really is optional!) to tell us about the ideas that have gotten you to this point, and those that might shape you into the person you’re about to become.

These are just a few of the changes we have made this year, so make sure to carefully read each question carefully before you answer them. If you ever have any questions for us about our questions, we are always here to help . We wish you the best of luck this application season, and can’t wait to learn more about you!

More from Billy:

How to Approach the Common Application

There’s no wrong way to approach the Common Application, but here’s two different strategies you might want to choose from when you apply to NYU.

Submitting a Transfer Application to NYU

Everything you need and everything you need to know about the transfer process.

Why You Should Start Your Common Application Early

There are many benefits to getting an early start on your Common Application to NYU.

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What’s So New About the ‘New Right’?

JD Vance and his allies represent a mind-set that dates back to the McCarthy era and the dawn of the Cold War.

Credit... Photo illustration by Matt Chase

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By Clay Risen

• Aug. 10, 2024

Over the last few years, a loose coalition of conservative thinkers, journalists, publications and think tanks have emerged under the banner of the New Right. With Senator JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, as its flag-bearer, this still-disparate group has been hailed as the intellectual heft behind the MAGA movement, and even as the future of American conservatism. Its very name declares a radical break with the Republican past — “very nascent, very bleeding edge,” is how Vivek Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate, described it . But how new is the New Right?

It is risky to ascribe coherence to a grouping like this, especially when its ranks range from the relatively buttoned-up Vance and his Senate colleague Josh Hawley to a ragtag assortment of self-described neo-monarchists, techno-libertarians and right-wing Marxists.

Still, there are some unifying features. At the heart of the New Right is a belief that most of what ails America can be blamed on a liberal elite that has burrowed into the federal government, the news media, Hollywood, big business and higher education — what Vance calls “the regime,” and Curtis Yarvin, one of his New Right influences, calls “the Cathedral.”

The New Right’s position goes beyond rhetorical populism about out-of-touch bureaucrats: To them, liberalism is actively hurting the country, funneling fortunes from hard-working Americans into Washington and Wall Street and then casting any criticism as racist or fascist.

In contrast, the New Right posits a nationalistic nostalgia for a small-town America of decentralized government — a “ front porch republic, ” in the words of another Vance influence, Patrick Deneen of the University of Notre Dame — in which “good” jobs are available to all and faith is the cornerstone of society.

“If conservatives care about healthy towns and schools and churches, as they always say they do, they should support the kind of work and wages that nourish those institutions and make them possible,” Hawley wrote earlier this year in Compact , a leading New Right outlet.

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• How the mad, bad Maduro regime clings to power

Behind-the-scenes negotiations seek to ease him out of office

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F or a man who supposedly won an election, Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro , looks worried. The gaudy tracksuit he sported during much of the campaign has been swapped for a solemn business suit. He seems irritable and exhausted in the repeated television rants in which he rails against “fascist” enemies. Days after a rigged election, it remains unclear whether he can remain in power.

Mr Maduro’s problem is that he has been busted. Everyone, from the army to his erstwhile left-wing Latin American allies, now knows just how unpopular he is. An overwhelming majority of Venezuelans voted against him on July 28th. Even though he barred the most popular opposition leader, María Corina Machado, from running, he still lost by a landslide. A little-known former diplomat, Edmundo González , stood in for Ms Machado. The two are working closely together.

Whether Mr Maduro concedes defeat depends on three interconnected factors. The first is domestic unrest. The second concerns attempts by Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to jointly mediate a solution between the opposition and the regime. ( The Economist spoke to several diplomats with knowledge of the negotiations, who asked to remain anonymous.) The willingness of the regime to take part in talks hinges on a third factor: the loyalty of the armed forces.

Start with the demonstrators. The opposition has sought to prove that the election was stolen by collecting actas , the individual receipts that every voting machine prints out. Despite concerted efforts to stop them, volunteers smuggled actas out, in some cases by stuffing them into their underpants. All told, the opposition collected four-fifths of the print-outs and put them online. They show that Mr González received over 7m votes to Mr Maduro’s paltry 3m (see map).

When Mr Maduro was declared the winner by the electoral council, which he controls, protests erupted. At least 24 people were killed. Mr Maduro boasts that over 2,200 have been arrested. He says he cannot produce tally sheets because the electoral computer system was subjected to a “criminal cyber coup d’état” involving Elon Musk, the owner of X, formerly Twitter. The regime is betting that the protesters will not stand the repression for long.

So far, the opposition remains astonishingly brave. Under threat of arrest, Ms Machado has gone into hiding. Yet at a rally in the capital on August 3rd a figure cloaked in a white hood clambered up onto a truck, suddenly unveiling herself. “Venezuela will be free soon!” proclaimed Ms Machado to a crowd of tens of thousands. After the speech she melted into the traffic on the back of a motorbike.

Outside powers, meanwhile, are trying to maintain pressure. In the months leading up to the election the United States eased sanctions on Venezuela, in effect giving the vote its endorsement. Its overt role is now limited. It has recognised Mr González as the winner, though it has not gone as far as to acknowledge him as president-elect. It could fully reinstate sanctions again, but these have been ineffective in eliciting regime change in Venezuela.

An alternative source of pressure could come from the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. The left-wing leaders of all three countries have had cosy ties with Mr Maduro. The hope is that this gives them more sway. They are pushing a two-pronged strategy: getting the regime to publish detailed voting results and setting up direct discussions between the opposition and Mr Maduro. The presidents of the three countries have called for “impartial verification” of the results, though what counts as impartial is unclear.

Their task is fiendishly difficult, not least because the strategy has holes and the trio is less united than it seems. For one thing, no deadline has been set for the regime to produce evidence on voting counts. Delay works in the regime’s favour as it waits for the opposition’s momentum to flag. In theory the next president will be inaugurated on January 10th.

There is also little progress on talks. “María Corina has told us clearly: ‘Why am I going to negotiate electoral results when the Venezuelan people have already decided?’” says a foreign official involved in the negotiations. The regime is also not keen. One idea is for Ms Machado to be excluded from discussions on the basis that Mr González is more palatable to the government. Yet that is “close to a last-ditch effort”, admits another observer.

Even if a meeting between the rival camps is arranged, the objectives remain unclear. One source claims that the United States has said that if Mr Maduro steps down “we will give him whatever he wants”, including a promise not to demand his extradition. Nonetheless, the source concedes, Mr Maduro is unlikely to resign unless he is pushed. Others suggest that the parties may have to try power-sharing for a while and then hold new elections. The opposition would rightly balk at this.

It is not even clear whether Brazil’s and Mexico’s leaders believe that Mr Maduro lost. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, known as Lula, has expressed confidence in the ability of Venezuela’s courts, which are stacked with regime cronies, to verify the results and described the election as “normal”. Mexico’s government seems even more reluctant to condemn the fraud. Fractures among outside powers contrast with Mr Maduro’s government, which is “very united at the moment”, according to the official in the talks.

The two countries’ indulgence of Mr Maduro may reflect domestic pressures. The Landless Workers’ Movement in Brazil, part of Lula’s base, was quick to congratulate Mr Maduro and denounce the opposition as “fascist”. A wing of Morena, Mexico’s ruling party, wants to congratulate Mr Maduro, too. A former Mexican diplomat says that their country’s ambassador in Caracas is a Maduro sympathiser. He is “a very leftist activist”, they add.

Domestic pressures also weigh on Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro. Colombia already hosts 2.9m of the nearly 8m Venezuelan migrants who have fled tyranny and collapse; Mr Petro is negotiating peace with guerrilla groups that receive safe haven in Venezuela. If the regime hangs on, it could scupper talks and prompt more migration. Yet prolonged instability could do the same. One Colombian official says the government will not break diplomatic relations with its neighbour, even if Mr Maduro stays.

Amid all the manoeuvring, a crucial question is how the army’s calculations will change. So far, its leadership has fiercely defended Mr Maduro. On August 5th Mr González and Ms Machado published a letter asking the army rank and file to “stand by the people” and promised that an opposition government would offer “guarantees to those who complete their constitutional duties”. In response, Venezuela’s attorney-general opened a criminal investigation into both of them. Since the election the regime has promoted soldiers wounded in the protests and released a social-media campaign that depicts the Venezuelan National Guard under the slogan: “To doubt is treason.”

For now, army defections are unlikely. The two foreign powers that have most influence over Venezuela’s armed forces are Russia, which provides it with weapons, and Cuba, which helps run its intelligence. Both are staunch regime allies. The bloated military leadership profits from Mr Maduro’s crony capitalism. He has repeatedly warned the army that it has much to lose if it abandons him. Venezuela’s future turns on whether the soldiers believe him. ■

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This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “The mad, bad Maduro regime clings on”

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