|
Capitalism has been critiqued from many angles in its history. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (700x866, 389 KB)IWW poster printed 1911 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (700x866, 389 KB)IWW poster printed 1911 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Anti-capitalism is any and all opposition to capitalism. ...
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies) is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. ...
1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ...
Capitalism generally refers to an economic system in which the means of production are mostly privately[1] owned and operated for profit, and in which distribution, production and pricing of goods and services are determined in a largely free market. ...
Markets
The "free market" Though many associate the free market concept with capitalism, there are some critics —notably anarchists, mutualists, and free market socialists, who believe that a non-coercive "free market" and capitalism are not only not synonymous, but are often contradictory. They argue that particular aspects of capitalism actually violate the ability of individuals to trade in the absence of coercion. They view capitalist regulations, including the enforcement of property in land and exclusive rights to natural resources, as unjustly enclosing upon what should be owned by all, forcing those without property to sell their labor to capitalists and landlords in a market favorable to the latter, thus forcing them to accept low wages in order to survive. However, if means of production are not allowed to be bought and sold, and are expropriated by the state or any other collective, then capitalist do not consider the market to be "free." A free market is an idealized market, where all economic decisions and actions by individuals regarding transfer of money, goods, and services are voluntary, and are therefore devoid of coercion and theft (some definitions of coercion are inclusive of theft). Colloquially and loosely, a free market economy is an economy...
It has been suggested that Origins of anarchism and History of anarchism be merged into this article or section. ...
Ant-aphid mutualism: the aphids are protected against predators by the ants who cultivate the aphids for their secretions of honeydew, a food source. ...
Market socialism is an economic system in which the means of production are owned by the workers in each company (meaning in general that profits in each company are distributed between them: profit sharing) and the production is not centrally planned but mediated through the market. ...
A free market is an idealized market, where all economic decisions and actions by individuals regarding transfer of money, goods, and services are voluntary, and are therefore devoid of coercion and theft (some definitions of coercion are inclusive of theft). Colloquially and loosely, a free market economy is an economy...
Capitalism generally refers to an economic system in which the means of production are mostly privately[1] owned and operated for profit, and in which distribution, production and pricing of goods and services are determined in a largely free market. ...
Similarly, in recent times, most economies have also extended property rights to include such things as patents and copyrights, which the critics also see as coercive against those with few prior resources. They argue that such regulations discourage the sharing of ideas, and encourage nonproductive rent seeking behavior, both of which enact a huge deadweight loss on the economy, and erect a prohibitive barrier to entry into the market. Dismissing the whole idea of "free markets", they thus claim that capitalist markets are exploitative or coercive in essence. The phenomenon of rent-seeking was first identified in connection with monopolies by Gordon Tullock, in a paper in 1967. ...
In economics, a deadweight loss (also known as excess burden) is a permanent loss of well being to society that can occur when equilibrium for a good or service is not Pareto optimal, (that at least one individual could be made better off without others being made worse off). ...
However, proponents of capitalism respond that decreases in wage rates have the same cause as any other commodity in a market - due to either a lower demand or a larger supply. If enough employers compete for labour, then this will prevent arbitrarily low wages. Furthermore, as worker productivity and GDP per person rise, then competition will force employers wanting employees to pay increasingly higher wages. Regarding intellectual property, not all pro-capitalists support the concept, but those who do argue that a compensation to the creator is necessary as an incentive. Those who do not, argue that if compensation is necessary as an incentive to produce, then there are options other than intellectual property that do not prohibit the sharing of ideas. Regarding socialism in general, they point to the problems discussed in criticisms of socialism. Criticisms of socialism range from disagreements over the efficiency of socialist economic and political models, to condemnation of states described by themselves or others as socialist. ...
Market failures Not everyone believes that a free or even a relatively-free market is a good thing. One reason proffered by many to justify economic intervention by government into what would otherwise be a free market is market failure. A market failure is a case in which a market fails to efficiently provide or allocate goods and services (for example, a failure to allocate goods in ways some see as socially or morally preferable). Some believe that the lack of "perfect information" or "perfect competition" in a free market is grounds for government intervention. Other situations or activities often perceived as problems with a free market may appear, such as monopolies, monopsonies, information inequalities (e.g. insider trading), or price gouging). Thus, also many supporters of capitalism support certain regulations of the market, for example anti-trust legislation. Market failure is a situation in which markets do not efficiently organize production or allocate goods and services to consumers. ...
Market failure is a situation in which markets do not efficiently organize production or allocate goods and services to consumers. ...
Perfect competition is an economic model that describes a hypothetical market form in which no producer or consumer has the market power to influence prices. ...
In economics, a monopoly (from the Latin word monopolium - Greek language monos, one + polein, to sell) is defined as a persistent market situation where there is only one provider of a product or service. ...
In economics, a monopsony is a market form with only one buyer, called monopsonist, facing many sellers. ...
Insider trading is a term often used to refer to a practice, which is illegal in many jurisdictions, in which an investor trades securities of a company (, stocks, bonds or stock options) based on material non-public information which was obtained by an officer, manager, or other corporate insider, during...
Price gouging is a term of variable, but nearly always pejorative, meaning, referring to a sellers asking a price that is much higher than what is seen as fair under the circumstances. ...
Antitrust or competition laws are laws which prohibit anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. ...
Wages determined by a free market mechanism are also commonly seen as a problem by those who would claim that some wages are unjustifiably low or unjustifiably high. Another critique is that free markets usually fail to deal with the problem of externalities, where an action by an agent positively or negatively affects another agent without any compensation taking place. The most widely known externality is pollution. More generally, the free market allocation of resources in areas such as health care, unemployment, wealth inequality, and education are considered market failures by some. In economics, an externality is a cost or benefit from an economic transaction that parties external to the transaction bear. ...
Pollution is the release of environmental contaminants. ...
Also, governments overseeing economies typically labeled as capitalist have been known to set mandatory price floors or price ceilings at times, thereby interfering with the free market mechanism. This usually occurred either in times of crises, or relating to goods and services which were viewed as strategically important. Electricity, for example, is a good that was or is subject to price ceilings in many countries. Some economists have analysed market failures, and see governments as having a legitimate role as mitigators of these failures, for example through regulation and compensation schemes. A Price floor is a government-imposed limit on how low a price can be charged for a product. ...
A Price Ceiling is a government-imposed limit on how high a price can be charged on a product. ...
Lightning strikes during a night-time thunderstorm. ...
However, some economists, such as Bank of Sweden Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman as well as those of the Austrian School, oppose intervention into capitalist markets. They argue that government should limit its involvement in economies to protecting absolute private property rights rather than balancing property rights for the sake of remedying "market failure." They tend to regard the notion of market failure as a misguided contrivance wrongly used to justify government action to further various political agendas, such as egalitarian goals. These economists believe that government action in the market creates more problems than it is supposed to solve - as well-meaning as some of these actions may be. The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences (Swe. ...
Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and public intellectual who made major contributions to the fields of macroeconomics, microeconomics, economic history and statistics while advocating laissez-faire capitalism. ...
The Austrian School, also known as “the Vienna School†and as “the Psychological Schoolâ€, is a school of economic thought that advocates adherence to strict methodological individualism. ...
Egalitarianism is the moral doctrine that equality ought to prevail among some group along some dimension. ...
Laissez-faire advocates do not oppose monopolies unless they maintain their existence through coercion to prevent competition (see coercive monopoly), and often assert that monopolies have historically only developed because of government activity rather than due to a lack of it. They may argue that minimum wage laws cause unnecessary unemployment, that laws against insider trading reduce market efficiency and transparency, or that government-enforced price-ceilings cause shortages. While economists tend to offer pragmatic arguments, some individuals put forth moral justifications for opposing government action in favor of free markets. Laissez-faire is short for laissez faire, laissez passer, a French phrase meaning to let things alone, let them pass. First used by the eighteenth century Physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it is now used as a synonym for strict free market economics. ...
In economics and business ethics, a coercive monopoly is any monopoly maintained by coercion. ...
The minimum wage is the minimum rate a worker can legally be paid (usually per hour) as opposed to wages that are determined by the forces of supply and demand in a free market. ...
Market instability Various critics have argued that capitalism contains contradictions that will lead to its end in the future. Marx and Engels made such a prediction more than 150 years ago. Today it is sometimes argued that a large credit bubble threatens capitalism, at least in the US. One example of such a critic is Ravi Batra, a disciple of P.R. Sarkar. The thesis of his 1984 work, Regular Cycles of Money, Inflation, Regulation and Depression is that growing mal-distribution of wealth engenders a financial speculative mania that can only end in a crash and a drawn-out depression. Ravi Batra is a U.S. economist and professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. ...
Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar was born in Bihar, India on a full moon day in May of 1921 to a family belonging to the intellectual caste of Brahmins. ...
Profit and exploitation Opponents of capitalism often protest that private owners of capital do not remunerate laborers the full value of their production but keep a portion as profit, claiming this to be exploitative.
However, defenders of capitalism argue that when a worker is paid the wage for which he agreed to work, it is not normally exploitative - especially in a competitive free market which puts pressure on employers to meet the demands of employees. Opponents argue that exploitation occurs even if the exploited consents, since the definition of exploitation is independent of consent; and that the employee is usually in an unequal bargaining position to be able to put forward their demands, since they depend on their job for survival, whereas employers don't. Also, they argue, the employees outnumber their employers, so the forces of competition work against them. (Sometimes this is not the case - there have been examples in history where there has been a shortage of labour, with employers unable to attract employees due to rapid economic expansion.) However, defenders of capitalism blame central banks for this instead, as some have been known to intervene in the economy to prevent "full employment" out of fear of driving wages up [1] (which Keynsian economists believe leads to inflation; monetarist economists like Milton Friedman disagree).
Defenders of capitalism also argue that "the full value of a worker's production" is based on his work, not on how much profit is created (which they claim is something that depends almost entirely on factors that are independent of the worker's performance). Opponents argue that profit is a critical measure of how much value is created by the production process, and so any compensation the workers receive in exchange for labour should be based on profit. In general, the economic value of something is how much a product or service is worth to someone relative to other things (often measured in money). ...
Defenders of capitalism argue that private owners are the ones who should decide how much of the profit is to be used to increase the compensation of the workers, since they own the means of production. Opponents argue that ownership of the means of production does not justify owning its derivatives, and that the workers are the ones who do the most.
Planned Obsolescence and Waste Opponents of capitalism argue that the profit motive naturally discourages innovation, and results in stagnation of technological progress. For example: vehicle fuel economy, durability of goods, or bugs in commercial software. Companies often have no interest in improving products, because they stand to make less money in the future if their products are more reliable and/or durable. This can result in immense waste of resources, as it's often cheaper or easier to buy a new product than get the old one fixed or upgraded. This creates a throw-away attitude towards goods and resources. Also, innovations might be offered that have little real value, simply to make a new product line. Opponents of capitalism argue that this problem would be less if the economy was geared more towards minimization of work, energy, and resource use - as opposed to maximization of profit.
Proponents point out that advances science and technology increased dramatically after the industrial revolutions and that most research and development takes place in capitalist nations. They also point out that high quality long lasting products are available to anyone who is willing to spend more money. Most products that may seem to be planned to be obsolete, or to fail, are not actually so. They are just lower quality and therefore a lower price. The fact that the consumer has a choice between high quality/high price and low quality/low price products is seen as benefit of a capitalist system. The consumer ultimately decides which he prefers.
Unequal distribution of wealth and income -
It is reasonable to expect that some disparity in wealth and income among individuals would exist in a capitalist system as this is determined through market forces rather than by centralized governmental authority (though it is fallacious to assume that socialism is state ownership/control of the means of production). Some view a significant disparity and concentration of wealth to be a problem and that such is endemic to capitalism, while others do not have such egalitarian concerns. Some opponents of capitalism assert that there should be no inequality in wealth and earnings among individuals commensurate to their inheritance, skills, abilities or efforts. Defenders of capitalism respond that since free market capitalism distributes wealth and earnings among individuals commensurate to their inheritance, skills, abilities and efforts, it provides inherent incentives for human beings to hone their skills, improve their abilities, and make strong efforts to meet the needs of each other, incentives that are missing or significantly less present in any other type of economic/political system. Differences in national income equality around the world as measured by the national Gini coefficient. ...
Excessive inequality Other critics agree that inequality is necessary but argue that in capitalism, the distribution of wealth and earnings is too unfair, dysfunctional, or immoral. They cite the fact that, in the US, the shares of earnings and wealth of the households in the top 1 percent of the corresponding distributions are 15 percent and 30 percent, respectively [2].
Some critics note that there are very few people who are twice as tall as average, or who can run twice as fast, or have twice as high an IQ. They argue that the fact capitalism doesn't distribute wealth in a similar fashion means that something is fundamentally wrong with the system. Supporters argue that human contributions vary much more than humans vary in height or IQ (as can be illustrated, for example, by comparing the contributions of an arsonist and an inventor/producer of antibiotics). IQ tests are designed to give approximately this Gaussian distribution. ...
Critics also note that there are many people who have no wealth. If wealth followed a bell shaped curve (standard normal distribution), as many other human characteristics and it might be surmised people's ability to be productive, then there should be very few people with no wealth. Supporters might argue that human productivity and especially the tendency to save wealth is not bell-shaped. Probability density function of Gaussian distribution (bell curve). ...
Critics claim that an untamed capitalist system may have inherent biases favoring those who already possess greater resources. For example, they say, rich people can give their children a better education and inherited wealth. They say that this can create or even increase large differences in wealth between people who do not differ in ability or effort. They cite the examples that in the U.S., 43.35% of the people in the Forbes magazine "400 richest individuals" list were already rich enough at birth to qualify [3], or a study that indicates that in the US wealth, race, and schooling are important to the inheritance of economic status, but IQ is not a major contributor and the genetic transmission of IQ is even less important [4]. On the other hand, at least some of the difference in wealth between people of equal ability may be explained by that some people voluntarily, maybe because they see other things as more valuable, make life choices that make them earn or save less than other people with the same ability. Defenders respond that since 30.1% of the individuals on the Forbes list of the 400 richest did not inherit great wealth (meaning they did not inherit at least $1 million in assets) this shows that even such people can gain the very highest level of wealth in capitalist economies. There are also some data indicating that income inequality for the world as a whole is diminishing (for examples see below in "Marxist critique of capitalism"). This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
Supporters argue that a problem with using "distribution of wealth" as a standard to measure economic systems is that such a standard can produce seemingly irrational judgments. Under the "distribution of wealth" standard, a system where everyone has nothing is judged as equal to a system where everyone has enormous wealth since the distribution of wealth in the two systems is equal. The claim is made that capitalist economics are not zero-sum games and that more wealth for most people is actually "created" through innovation, entrepreneurship and risk-taking. Rewards for this may cause a necessary inequality. Regarding the inheritance of wealth, this may be necessary so that the most productive people continue to do productive work and save money when they get older. Thus, people who see uneven wealth distribution as a lesser or unavoidable problem tend to argue that if inequality leads to higher average wealth and higher wealth and income for most people, then wealth inequality may be acceptable. Several peer-reviewed studies show that the relative income share of the poorest do not decrease with higher economic freedom, but their absolute income increases. For example, one study found that the poorest 10% earn $823 per year in the quintile of nations with the lowest economic freedom, but earn $6877 per year in the quintile of nations with the highest economic freedom. [5][6][7][8]. Zero-sum describes a situation in which a participants gain (or loss) is exactly balanced by the losses (or gains) of the other participant(s). ...
Peer review (known as refereeing in some academic fields) is a scholarly process used in the publication of manuscripts and in the awarding of funding for research. ...
Some advocates of capitalism may partly agree with the critics but think that the problem can be resolved with solutions like progressive taxation, wealth tax, and inheritance tax. They note that such taxes are already implemented in modern mixed economies. The best extent of such taxes and how much inequality there should be is much discussed and researched, but these variables can be changed without abandoning capitalism. The American Historian David Hackett Fisher, in his 1996 book The Great Wave argues that some characteristics of society commonly blamed on capitalism may in fact be the indirect result of decades-long inflation. A progressive tax, or graduated tax, is a tax that is larger as a percentage of income for those with larger incomes. ...
Because of the broad term wealth, property tax, capital transfer taxes (inheritance tax, gift tax) and capital gains taxes are sometimes referred to as wealth taxes. // Net worth tax Some countrys governments will require declaration of the tax payers balance sheet (assets and liabilities), and from that ask for...
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...
Other points of view on capitalism's unequal wealth distribution include:
- Anti-Capitalist:
- The capitalists gather their wealth by exploiting employees. An employee is not paid according to the true worth of his labor but according to what the employer is willing to pay him. The employer pays him less than what his labor is worth so that the employer can make a profit when he sells the produce. In this way, the employee's labor is being exploited.
- Wealth and unequal distribution can create social problems (such as higher crime rates). These problems affect both poor and rich.
- Government interference in markets can be skewed to benefit the wealthy. In particular, wealthy people have the financial means and incentives to influence or corrupt government officials and to lobby for favourable legislation.
- Many people have little wealth left over after living expenses, so they can't make it grow quickly. This further deepens the disparity between rich and poor.
- Persistent long-term inequality of wealth undermines the motivation of the poor to improve their stance. This creates not only direct but perpetual sociological inequity.
- Wealthy people save relatively more than poor people. Hence some economists believe that an unequal distribution of wealth undermines an economy's mass buying power, effectively leading to lower aggregate sales, reduced wealth production, unemployment and crises. (see Keynes) Economists, however, argue that saving is also necessary in an economy, since it provides the means for investment into new technologies and processes.
- Wealth is defined and judged incorrectly, in many different ways. In particular, people may attach value to things for seemingly irrational reasons (sentimental value). Some may also value spiritual development more than material wealth. Capitalism's focus on absolute monetary value thus undermines the legitimacy of alternate paradigms.
- The wealthy may not put their wealth to productive use. For example, they may buy land just to deny access to it to others, for personal or environmental reasons. Other critics of capitalism, however, would ask whether or not capitalistic production narrowly-defined is a good thing, especially if it is seen as damaging the environment, and such an action of denial may be seen as the lesser of two evils.
- Pro-Capitalist:
- Robert Nozick has argued that no condition of perfect equality could be maintained for very long. If all agents possess the same amount of wealth, they will immediately begin investing it in different ventures which will pay off to varying degrees. But if voluntary economic exchange is seen as leaving both parties (since both would not be trading unless the outcome of the trade was mutually beneficial), even if the resulting distribution is not even, it is better than if there were no trading.
- Lack of established property rights force the poor to operate in extralegal markets, keeping them from unlocking the capital in their assets. When only the politically privileged can leverage capital, the division between formally and informally owned property is an unbalancing barrier to the benefits of a modern market economy.
- Wealth tends to be directed toward individuals in proportion to how productive they are in terms of creating and providing goods and services that others value, therefore the possibility of becoming wealthier than others can be seen as an incentive to benefit society. A limit on freedom of individuals to reap a disproportionate amount of wealth would dampen incentive. Technological progress would stagnate, and, as a result, the standard of living would suffer.
- The inequality of consumption is far less than the inequality in wealth, since there is no way most of the wealthy could consume all their wealth. To the extent that they consume their wealth, they are redistributing it to others. To the extent that they are not consuming it, they are generally either managing it to create more wealth or giving it away.
- Many rich give significantly to charity (see also philanthropist). Some argue that charity is more efficient than state welfare.
- The economist Thomas Sowell has attributed factors such as geography, climate, culture, and natural resources as contributing factors to inequality inside of and between nations.
- The income share of the poorest 10% do not decrease with higher economic freedom but the absolute income of the 10% poorest, prosperity, economic growth, democracy, and freedom from corruption increase, see Economic freedom index.
The term exploitation may carry two distinct meanings: The act of utilizing something for any purpose. ...
John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes [ˈkeɪns], 1st Baron Keynes of Tilton (June 5, 1883 - April 21, 1946) was an English economist, whose radical ideas had a major impact on modern economic and political thought. ...
Robert Nozick (November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher and Pellegrino University Professor at Harvard University. ...
A charitable organization (also known as a charity) is a trust, company or unincorporated association established for charitable purposes only. ...
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, or reputation to a charitable cause. ...
Thomas Sowell Thomas Sowell (born 30 June 1930), is an American economist, political writer, and commentator. ...
Employment/unemployment Since individuals typically earn their incomes from working for companies whose requirements are constantly changing, it is quite possible that at any given time not all members of a country's potential work force will be able to find an employer that needs their labor. This would be less problematic in an economy in which such individuals had unlimited access to resources such as land in order to provide for themselves, but when the ownership of the bulk of its productive capacity resides in relatively few hands, most individuals will be dependent on employment for their economic well-being. It is typical for capitalist economies to have rates of unemployment that fluctuate between 3% and 15%. Some economists have used the term "natural rate of unemployment" to describe this phenomenon. An 1837 political cartoon about unemployment in the United States. ...
-1...
Depressed or stagnant economies have been known to reach unemployment rates as high as 30%, while events such as military mobilization (a good example is that of World War II) have resulted in just 1-2% unemployment, a level that is often termed "full employment". Typical unemployment rates in Western economies range between 5% and 10%. Some economists consider that a certain level of unemployment is necessary for the proper functioning of capitalist economies. Equally, some politicians have claimed that the "natural rate of unemployment" highlights the inefficiency of a capitalist economy, since not all its resources -- in this case human labor -- are being allocated efficiently. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...
Some libertarian economists, such as Henry Hazlitt, argue that higher unemployment rates are in part the result of minimum wage laws, as well as in part the result of misguided monetary policy, and are not inevitable in a capitalist economy. In Economics in One Lesson, Hazlitt argues that if the value of the work of some potential employees is lower than the minimum wage, it would penalise the employer to employ them. Accordingly, if the value of the productive capacity of a given employee is worth less to the employer than the minimum wage, that person will become unemployed, and therefore unemployment will exist whenever the legal minimum wage exceeds the true economic value of the least productive members of the labor pool. Likewise, if the amount of money a person can obtain on welfare approaches or equals what they could make by working, that person's incentive to work will be reduced. This article is becoming very long. ...
Henry Hazlitt (November 28, 1894 - July 8, 1993) was a libertarian philosopher, economist and journalist for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Newsweek, among other publications. ...
The minimum wage is the minimum rate a worker can legally be paid (usually per hour) as opposed to wages that are determined by the forces of supply and demand in a free market. ...
Monetary policy is the government or central bank process of managing money supply to achieve specific goals—such as constraining inflation, maintaining an exchange rate, achieving full employment or economic growth. ...
Economics in One Lesson is an introduction to free-market economics written by Henry Hazlitt in 1946, based on Frederic Bastiats essay Ce quon voit et ce quon ne voit pas (What is Seen and What is Not Seen). ...
This does not cite its references or sources. ...
Some unemployment is voluntary, such as when a potential job is turned down because the unemployed person is seeking a better job, is voluntarily living on savings, or has a non-wage-earning role, such as in the case of a traditional homemaker. Some measures of employment disregard these categories of unemployment, counting only people who are actively seeking work and have been unable to find any. Two homemakers. ...
Marxist critique of capitalism -
 Karl Marx saw the existence of capital as the source of social ills Marxists define capital as "a social, economic relation" between people (rather than between people and things). In this sense they seek to abolish capital. They believe that private ownership of the means of production enriches capitalists (owners of capital) at the expense of workers ("the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer"). In brief, they argue that the owners of capital do not work and therefore steal from or exploit the workers. Gradually, the capitalists will accumulate more and more capital and make the workers continually poorer, in the end causing a revolution. The private ownership of the means of production is therefore seen as a restriction on freedom. Marxism refers to the philosophy and social theory based on Karl Marxs work on one hand, and the political practice based on Marxist theory on the other hand (namely, parts of the First International during Marxs time, communist parties and later states). ...
This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...
This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...
Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883, London) was a German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ...
Capital has a number of related meanings in economics, finance and accounting. ...
The term exploitation may carry two distinct meanings: The act of utilizing something for any purpose. ...
Supporters of capitalism believe that private ownership is essential to preserving personal freedom as well as enriching society. They also argue that the owners of capital do work, since they have to make often complex decisions regarding how to allocate their capital - poor allocation of capital will mean wasted work and resources.
Marx and his followers have proffered various related lines of argument suggesting that capitalism is a contradiction-laden system characterized by recurring crises having a tendency towards increasing severity. They have claimed that this tendency of the system to unravel combined with a socialization process which links workers in a world-wide market are two major factors that create the objective conditions for revolutionary change. Capitalism is seen as just one stage in the evolution of the economy of a society. Pro-capitalists point out that it is now more than 150 years since Marx's predictions and capitalism is still existing. On the other hand, Immanuel Wallerstein approaching matters from a world-systems perspective, cites the intransigence of rising real wages, rising costs of material inputs, and steadily rising tax rates, along with the rise of popular antisystemic movements as the most important global secular trends creating unprecedented limiting pressures on the accumulation of capital. According to Wallerstein, "the capitalist world-economy has now entered its terminal crisis, a crisis that may last up to fifty years. The real question before us is what will happen during this crisis, this transition from the present world-system to some other kind of historical system or systems." (Wallerstein- The Decline of American Power,66). Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein (born 28 September 1930, New York City) is a U.S. sociologist by credentials, but a historical social scientist, or world-systems analyst by trade. ...
Immanuel Wallerstein (born 1930) is a U.S. sociologist. ...
Supporters of capitalism argue that ownership of productive capacity provides motivation to owners to increase productive capacity and so generally increase the average material wealth ("we all get richer"). Opponents of capitalism counter this by pointing out the unchanged after-tax income of the poorest quintile of the U.S. population during the last two decades. While at the same time the average income and especially the income of the rich have increased. [9]. According to "United for a Fair Economy," in 1982 CEOs of major corporations in the U.S. earned 42 times the annual wages of the average worker; in 2002 the ratio stood at 282:1 [10]. Supporters of capitalism point out that the percentage of people in developing countries living below $1 per day have halved in only twenty years, especially in countries like China that have embraced capitalism [11]. Life expectancy has almost doubled in the developing world since WWII and the gap to the developed world is starting to close [12]. Looking at the world as a whole and not only the U.S. shows that income inequality is in fact diminishing [13].
In mainland China differences in terminology sometimes confuse and complicate discussions of Chinese economic reform. Under Chinese Marxism, which is the official state ideology, capitalism refers to a stage of history in which there is a class system in which the proletariat is exploited by the bourgeoisie. In the official Chinese ideology, China is currently in the primary stage of socialism with Chinese characteristics. However, because of Deng Xiaoping's dictum to seek truth from facts, this view does not prevent China from undertaking policies which in the West would be considered capitalistic including employing wage labor, increasing unemployment to motivate those who are still working, transforming state owned enterprises into joint stock companies, and encouraging the growth of the joint venture and private capitalist sectors. A contrary marxist view would describe China as just another variant of capitalism (state capitalism), much like the former USSR, which was also claiming to be operating on principals of socialism. This is echoed by what Mao Tse-Tung termed "capitalist roaders" who he argued existed within the ruling Party structures and would try to restore the bourgeoisie and thus their class interests to power reflected in new policies, while only keeping the outer appearance of socialism for legitimacy purposes. Deng Xiaoping was idenfitied as one of these "capitalist roaders" during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, when he was placed under house arrest. The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC); however, it excludes the two special administrative regions...
Economic reforms have triggered internal migrations within China. ...
Maoism or Mao Tse-tung Thought (Chinese: 毛泽东æ€æƒ³, pinyin: Máo ZédÅng SÄ«xiÇŽng), is a variant of Marxism-Leninism derived from the teachings of Mao Zedong (1893–1976). ...
This article is about the term itself and its relationships. ...
Deng Xiaoping (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Teng Hsiao-ping; August 22, 1904–February 19, 1997) was a leader in the Communist Party of China (CCP). ...
Seek truth from facts (Chinese: 实事求是, pinyin: shí shì qiú shì) is a slogan in the Peoples Republic of China referring to pragmatism. ...
Imperialism and human rights violations Critics argue that the ills caused by capitalism include imperialism, poverty, oppression, exploitation and abuse of human rights. They point systematic violence against political opponents, participation in coups which have placed dictators in power (for example Pinochet in Chile, Argentina with its dirty war); and large scale democide (like in the Congo Free State). Some argue that capitalism thrives on an uneven and exploitative relationship between wealthy nations (see dependency theory) who force regime or system changes in poor countries which are only beneficial to them, often through exploitative wars (like the Opium wars or the Sino-Japanese War). Although some of these violations occurred during a time period and in states sometimes considered being more capitalist than today since the government share of the economy was much smaller, U.S and European support of multinational-friendly capitalist dictatorships in Latin America and Africa lasted until the mid 1980s. // Cecil Rhodes: Cape-Cairo railway project. ...
A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows his find. ...
Oppression is the negative outcome experienced by people targeted by the cruel exercise of power in a society or social group. ...
The term exploitation may carry two distinct meanings: The act of utilizing something for any purpose. ...
Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ...
General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte1 (born November 25, 1915) was head of the military government that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. ...
Poster by the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo NGO with photos of disappeared. This article especially refers to the Argentine dirty war; however, the term has been used in other contexts, for example in Turkey; see also lead years Dirty War (in Spanish: ) refers to the state-sponsored violence...
Democide is a term created by political scientist R. J. Rummel in order to create a broader concept than the legal definition of genocide. ...
Flag Capital Boma Government Monarchy Ruler and owner Leopold II of Belgium Historical era New Imperialism - Established 1885 - Annexation by Belgium 15 November, 1908 The Congo Free State was a corporate state privately owned by King Leopold II of Belgium (not in his role as monarch) that included the entire...
Main International Relations Theories and derivates Realism & Neorealism Idealism, Liberalism & Neoliberalism Marxism & Dependency theory Functionalism & Neofunctionalism Critical theory & Constructivism Dependency theory is a body of social science theories, both from developed and developing nations, that create a worldview which suggests that poor underdeveloped states of the periphery are exploited by...
The Opium Wars (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), or the Anglo-Chinese Wars were two wars fought in the mid-1800s that were the climax of a long dispute between China and Britain. ...
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a major invasion of eastern China by Japan preceding and during World War II. It ended with the surrender of Japan in 1945. ...
Proponents of capitalism argue that these problems have been widespread through all of human history, including in many states characterized as socialist such as in Cambodia under Pol Pot, the Soviet Union under Stalin, and China under Mao. Some claim that these practices are not consistent with the principles of capitalism even though they have existed in nations or in the colonies of nations (commonly or loosely) labeled as capitalist. They deny that many of the colonies had capitalist economic systems and claim that their economies mostly continued to be feudalistic.
Supporters of capitalism emphasize that it was capitalist states that abolished slavery throughout the world and that it was capitalist states who developed the modern democratic system. Critics reply that the major imperialist powers accumulated huge amounts of capital through slavery before it was abolished. Furthermore, they argue, slavery was only abolished after it became less expensive to pay wages in industries like mining and agriculture in the colonies. The Buxton Memorial Fountain, celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, London. ...
Democracy (literally rule by the people, from the Greek demos, people, and kratos, rule[1]) is a form of government. ...
Marxists, importantly Lenin, criticize capitalism for needing imperialism in order to survive. The unplanned nature of capitalism, they say, inevitably overproduces commodities and overuses resources, which leads it to expand its markets into and drain the resources out of other, less-developed nations. The wealthy nations, they say, must maintain cheap access to third world natural resources and unfree labor, by force if necessary. They argue that the capitalist countries like England initially were helped by the primitive accumulation of capital through the theft of natural resources and exploitation of slave labor from large parts of Asia, Africa and the Americas which spurred the industrial revolution. They see unjust exploitation, militarily (such as India in 19th century) or economically (e.g. through IMF structural adjustment programs during the 1980s), as part of the nature of capitalism. The constant, capitalist drive to expand markets is viewed by many as the primary cause of globalization. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) ( April 22 (April 10 ( O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a...
// Cecil Rhodes: Cape-Cairo railway project. ...
Unfree labour is a generic or collective term for forms of work, especially in modern or early modern history, in which adults and/or children are employed without wages, or for a minimal wage. ...
See primitive accumulation of capital ...
Structural adjustment is a term used to describe the policy changes implemented by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (the Bretton Woods Institutions) in developing countries. ...
A KFC franchise in Kuwait. ...
In his essay, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, Vladimir Lenin advanced the now widespread thesis that the ‘New Imperialism’ of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was an inevitable correlary of monopoly capitalism. According to Lenin, the export of financial capital superseded the export of commodities; banking and industrial capital merged to form large financial cartels and trusts in which production distribution are highly centralized; and monopoly capitalists influenced state policy to carve up the world into spheres of interest (Burnham). These trends led states to defend their capitalist interests abroad through military power. Lenin redirects here. ...
The term New Imperialism refers to the colonial expansion adopted by Europes powers and, later, Japan and the United States, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries; approximately from the Franco-Prussian War to World War I (c. ...
Most capitalists acknowledge that military exploitation should be condemned, but claim that economic globalization and the introduction of capitalist principles to the developing world is improving the living standards worldwide.
Democracy Marxists also often argue that the structure of capitalism necessarily leads to this exploitation of workers, regardless of whether or not the political system is one of a bourgeois democracy. For this reason, Marxists typically emphasise the capitalist economic system of Western countries rather than the democratic political system. A capitalist system is an economic system - although often associated with democratic political systems, they are independent from each other. Capitalist systems have often functioned under unelected governments: the classic case is the United Kingdom, where less than 20% of adult males could vote prior to 1885, and women did not receive the vote until 1918.[14] Some recent examples include Hong Kong, Singapore, and Chile under the rule of General Pinochet. It is also argued by Marxists that governments espousing fascist (or "national socialist") rhetoric do not make substantive changes to the capitalist economies when they assume power. Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ...
General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte1 (born November 25, 1915) was head of the military government that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. ...
Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ...
National Socialism redirects here. ...
However, many communists reject the Communist states for their lack of democracy, despite their central planning and common ownership of the means of production. Similarly, many pro-capitalists reject states having some characteristics of capitalism but lacking democracy.
A common criticism that Marxists make about capitalism is that it is only democratic to the capitalist class, citing examples such as people not being able to criticize one's boss out of risk of getting fired and not being able to express their opinions due to lack of funds to afford access to the media. Pro-capitalists respond that that in a free market one can always change work or start one's own enterprise. If one has an interesting opinion and there is freedom of speech, there will be a profitable market for this. Critics object that in capitalism, most people are too concerned about their own economic welfare that they have no time for this; and that a profitable market in media tends to distort the media to broadcast profitable media rather than truth. Pro-capitalists respond that there is little evidence that speech would be more easily spread in a non-capitalist system, especially political speech, since it would all have to be filtered through the state. But non-capitalism does not imply state-controlled speech.
Latin American intellectuals like Eduardo Galeano argue that capitalist practices do more to damage democracy in peripheral countries than encourage it. He points to democratically elected leaders like João Goulart, Salvador Allende, and Evita Peron who he believes were forced out of office by U.S. and European capitalist interests and replaced with military dictators during the 1960s and 1970s. Eduardo Galeano. ...
João Belchior Marques Goulart (March 1, 1918—December 6, 1976) was the last left-wing president of Brazil (1961–March 31, 1964) The surname Goulart is of Azorean-Flemish origin. ...
Salvador Isabelino del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Allende Gossens[1] (July 26, 1908 – September 11, 1973) was President of Chile from November 1970 until his removal from power and death on September 11, 1973. ...
Evitas image appeared on a wide variety of products, including stamps, coins, postcards and calendars. ...
Defenders of capitalism contend the opposite, arguing that the strong economic growth during capitalism may encourage democratisation, or vice versa. There were very few democracies before the industrial revolution and the rapid economic growth that followed it. There is debate about whether liberal democracy, in the sense of electoral rights and civil liberties, is a consequence of economic growth[15], a cause of it,[16] or completely unrelated to it.[17] These studies tend to indicate that establishing the rule of law in protecting private property and free markets, rather than mere democratization, is what is most instrumental in generating economic growth. Democratization is the transition from authoritarian or semi-authoritarian systems to democratic political systems, where democratic systems are taken to be those approximating to universal suffrage, regular free and fair elections, a civil society, the rule of law, and an independent judiciary. ...
Liberal democracy is a form of government. ...
One of the very few studies simultaneously examining the relationship among economic freedom (see below), economic development (measured with GDP/capita), and political freedom (measured with the Freedom House index) found that high economic freedom increases GDP/capita and a high GDP/capita increases economic freedom. A high GDP/capita also increases political freedom but political freedom did not increase GDP/capita. There was no direct relationship either way between economic freedom and political freedom if keeping GDP/capita constant. [18]It should be emphasized, however, that GDP/capita does little to indicate the amount of poverty in a nation if the Gini coefficient, which measures distribution of income, is not taken into account. Countries with the lowest Gini coefficients tend to be social democracies that do not operate on laissez-faire capitalist principles, like the Netherlands. On the other hand, studies show that increasing growth is essential for reducing poverty.[19] If the economic development of a nation is low enough, there is simply very little to share even if there is equality. This map reflects the findings of Freedom Houses 2006 survey Freedom in the World, concerning the state of world freedom in 2005. ...
Graphical representation of the Gini coefficient The Gini coefficient is a measure of inequality of a distribution. ...
Laissez-faire is short for laissez faire, laissez passer, a French phrase meaning to let things alone, let them pass. First used by the eighteenth century Physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it is now used as a synonym for strict free market economics. ...
There is research suggesting that although economic development itself does not increase the chance for democracy, if a nation becomes democratic, then nations with a higher economic development are more likely to remain democratic - poor and democractic nations have a high chances of returning to dictatorship if they experience a period of declining growth.(Przeworski, Adam (1997). "Modernization: Theories and Facts". World Politics 49 (2): 155 –183. )
Economic freedom There are two Indices of Economic Freedom used in economic research. The publishers are right-wing, business-orientated and funded think tanks. One index is released by the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal, the other by the Fraser Institute. Both attempt to measure of the degree of economic freedom in countries, mostly in regard to rule of law, lack of governmental intervention, private property rights, and free trade. The Index of Economic Freedom defines "economic freedom" [20] as "the absence of government coercion or constraint on the production, distribution, or consumption of goods and services beyond the extent necessary for citizens to protect and maintain liberty itself." (This is otherwise known as laissez-faire). Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1000x728, 350 KB) This is a copyrighted image that has been released by a company or organization to promote their work or product in the media, such as advertising material or a promotional photo in a press kit. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1000x728, 350 KB) This is a copyrighted image that has been released by a company or organization to promote their work or product in the media, such as advertising material or a promotional photo in a press kit. ...
The Heritage Foundation is a public policy research institute based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. ...
Map of Economic Freedom released by the Heritage Foundation. ...
Map of Economic Freedom released by the Heritage Foundation. ...
In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ...
This article is about the institution. ...
The Heritage Foundation is a public policy research institute based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. ...
The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with an average daily circulation of 1,800,607 (2002). ...
The Fraser Institute is a libertarian think tank based in Canada. ...
Laissez-faire is short for laissez faire, laissez passer, a French phrase meaning to let things alone, let them pass. First used by the eighteenth century Physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it is now used as a synonym for strict free market economics. ...
They use statistics from independent organizations like the United Nations to score countries in various categories like the size of government, degree of taxes, security of property rights, degree of free trade and size of market regulations. Many peer-reviewed papers have been published using this material on the relationship between capitalism and for example poverty, mostly by researchers independent from the think tanks.[21] The Fraser Institute argues that more advanced capitalist countries have much higher average income per person, higher income of the poorest 10%, higher life-expectancy, higher literacy, lower infant mortality, higher access to water sources and less corruption. The share of income in percent going to the poorest 10% is the same for both more and less capitalistic countries.[22] Other studies have shown similar results.[23] The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ...
Peer review (known as refereeing in some academic fields) is a scholarly process used in the publication of manuscripts and in the awarding of funding for research. ...
Attempts to decide the importance of the subcomponents of the indices have often yielded contradictory results. Strong property rights may be important - the economist Hernando de Soto has argued that weak property rights, especially for the poor, play a major role in poverty and underdevelopment in developing countries [24] [25]. Many developing countries are now trying to strengthen and simplify their property rights system after the successful application of his ideas in Peru [26]. Others have emphasized the importance of a functioning credit system, especially microcredit. Hernando de Soto (born 1941 in Arequipa) is a Peruvian economist known for his work on the informal economy. ...
Credit as a financial term, used in such terms as credit card, refers to the granting of a loan and the creation of debt. ...
// Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to the unemployed, to poor entrepreneurs and to others living in poverty who are not bankable. ...
Sustainability - See also: Overpopulation
An economic system that produces strong economic growth and requires essentially free trade may have a large effect on the environment. Some question the continued sustainability of this, arguing that many aspects of the environment have been degraded since the industrial revolution. Defenders of capitalism note the many[citation needed] environmental disasters in communist states and point out that there seems to be no viable alernative or intermediate economic system to capitalism or state controlled economy[citation needed]. Map of countries by population density (See List of countries by population density. ...
Sustainability is an attempt to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the indefinite future. ...
One of the main modern criticisms to the sustainability of capitalism is related to the so called commodity chains, or production/consumption chains [27],[28]. These terms refer to the network of transfers of materials and commodities which is currently part of the functioning of the global capitalist system. Examples include high tech commodities produced in countries with low average wages by multinational firms, and then being sold in distant high income countries; materials and resources being extracted in some countries, turned into finished products in some others and sold as commodities in further ones; countries exchanging with each other the same kind of commodities for the sake of consumer's choice (e.g. Europe both exporting and importing cars to and from the U.S.). According to critics such processes, all of which produce pollution and waste of resources, are an integral part of the functioning of capitalism (i.e. its metabolism [29]). Furthermore, it is sometimes argued that such chains, being resistant to change, may be partly responsible for persisting inequalities between different areas of the world. Nonetheless it is possible, although by no means certain, that someday wages reach more or less similar levels worldwide, thus eliminating a major cause which presently makes the environmental costs of commodity exchanges very different from their economic costs, and by consequence producing a more rational structure of production/consumption chains. Also, minimal restrictions on free trade (see Tobin Tax) have been proposed to induce a restructuring of the capitalist network, but such measures are typically rejected by proponents of self regulation of capitalism through free trade. Overview of the citric acid cycle The citric acid cycle, one of the central metabolic pathways in aerobic organisms. ...
A wage is the amount of money paid for some specified quantity of labour. ...
A Tobin tax is the suggested tax on all trade of currency across borders. ...
Some defenders note that many aspects of the environment in developed nations have improved recently, after the dangers of certain pollutants have become known. Examples include greatly reduced emissions of chlorofluorocarbons affecting the ozone layer, removal of lead from gasoline and other products, greatly improved cleaning of emissions from fossil fuel power plants, and much stricter control of emissions into rivers, lakes, and oceans. However, some leading conservation organizations such as the WWF and The United Nations Environment Programme argue that the impact of humanity on Earth is continually increasing. In 2004 they jointly reported that "humanity's Ecological Footprint grew by 150% between 1961 and 2000" and that most of this growth occurred in the 27 wealthiest countries of the world, in other words, the leading capitalist countries [30]. Critics note that the statistical methods used in calculating Ecological Footprint have been criticized and some find the whole concept of counting how much land is used to be flawed, arguing that there is nothing intrinsically negative about using more land to improve living standards. [31][32] For other uses, see CFC (disambiguation). ...
The ozone layer, or ozonosphere layer (very rarely used term), is the part of the Earths atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone (O3). ...
For PB or pb as an abbreviation, see PB. General Name, Symbol, Number lead, Pb, 82 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 14, 6, p Appearance bluish gray Atomic mass 207. ...
The conservation movement is a political and social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including plant and animal species as well as their habitat for the future. ...
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization for the conservation, research and restoration of the natural environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in the United States and Canada. ...
Klaus Töpfer, former UNEP Exec. ...
Supporters of capitalism argue that in many cases environmental problems are greatest when a common exists and there is no clear owner. See Tragedy of the commons, Free market environmentalism, and a proposal to have natural resource wealth owned by all people equally. Defenders of capitalism also note that world population has greatly expanded due to higher living standards since the industrial revolution. However, this growth is declining due to the demographic transition and, according to the United Nations, most likely estimates predict that the world population will stabilize at nine billion in 2075.[33] It has been suggested that Tyranny of the Commons be merged into this article or section. ...
Free market environmentalism is an ideology that argues the free market is the best tool to preserve the health and sustainability of the environment. ...
In demography, the term demographic transition is a theory describing a possible transition from high birth rates and death rates to low birth and death rates as part of the economic development of a country from a pre-industrial to an industrialized economy. ...
Yet many environmentalists have long argued that the real dangers are due to the world's current social institutions that they claim promote environmentally irresponsible consumption and production. Under what they call the "grow or die" imperative of capitalism, they say, there is little reason to expect hazardous consumption and production practices to change in a timely manner. They also claim that markets and states invariably drag their feet on substantive environmental reform, and are notoriously slow to adopt viable sustainable technologies. [34][35]. Immanuel Wallerstein, referring to the externalization of costs as the "dirty secret" of capitalism, claims that there are built-in limits to ecological reform, the costs of doing business in the world capitalist economy are ratcheting upward because of deruralization and democratization, he therefore sees no exit from our dilemmas within the framework of the capitalist world-system.[36] Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein (born 28 September 1930, New York City) is a U.S. sociologist by credentials, but a historical social scientist, or world-systems analyst by trade. ...
Some critics claim that strong economic growth also requires increasingly greater amounts of natural resources and energy and they question whether this can continue in the future. Those arguing for continued growth note that numerous past predictions of shortages have failed since new technology has continuously allowed exploitation of previously unavailable resources. That this continues in the future is considered to be of critical importance, especially for world energy markets, which may face a peak in fossil fuel production. Since 1970, each 1% increase in world GDP has yielded a 0.64% increase in energy consumption. See Future energy development. On the other hand, it is accepted by the oil industry that world production will peak or has already. See peak oil Future energy development faces great challenges due to an increasing world population, demands for higher standards of living, demands for less pollution and a much-discussed end to fossil fuels. ...
The Hubbert peak theory, also known as peak oil, is an influential theory concerning the long-term rate of conventional oil production and depletion. ...
Religious criticism Some religions criticize or outright reject capitalism. For example, Islam strongly forbids usury (lending money at an interest). Christianity has been the source of many other criticisms of capitalism, particularly its materialist aspects. The first socialists drew many of their principles from Christian values (see Christian socialism), against the "bourgeois values" of profiteering, greed, selfishness and hoarding. Many Christians (especially Catholics) do not oppose capitalism entirely but support a mixed economy in order to ensure "decent" labour standards and relations, as well as economic justice. However, the enthusiastic atheism of Soviet Russia and identification of it as "godless communism" repelled many Christians (especially in the United States) away from socialism in general in the early 20th century. Islam (Arabic: ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ...
Of Usury, from Brants Stultifera Navis (the Ship of Fools); woodcut attributed to Albrecht Dürer Usury (//, from the Medieval Latin usuria, interest or excessive interest, from Latin usura interest) was defined originally as charging a fee for the use of money. ...
Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ...
Materialism refers to how a person or group chooses to spend their resources, particularly money and time. ...
Christian socialism generally refers to those on the Christian left whose politics are both Christian and socialist and who see these two things as being interconnected. ...
Bourgeoisie (RP [], GA []) is a classification used in analyzing human societies to describe a class of people who are in the middle class nobility, whose status or power comes from employment, education, and wealth as opposed to aristocratic origin. ...
A mixed economy is an economy that has a mix of economic systems. ...
See also An anti-capitalist poster printed by the Industrial Workers of the World in 1911. ...
Anti-globalization (anti-globalisation) is a political stance of opposition to the perceived negative aspects of globalization. ...
The capitalist mode of production is a concept in Karl Marx’s critique of political economy. ...
Th |
