Late capitalism is a term sometimes used to refer to capitalism of the second half of the 20th century, generally with the implication that it is historically limited, and will eventually end. Jump to: navigation, search In common usage capitalism refers to an economic system in which all or most of the means of production are privately owned and operated and where the investment of capital, and the production, distribution and prices of commodities (goods and services) are determined mainly in a... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

This idea has its origin in Karl Marx's judgement that the capitalist mode of production, like any other mode of production, is in the broad sweep of history a limited and transient phenomenon, rather than being the natural, ever-lasting condition for human life. Thus, it can be periodized in terms of its historical emergence, its heyday, and its subsequent phase of decline and disappearance. Jump to: navigation, search Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883 London, England) was an influential philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary organizer of the International Workingmens Association. ... The capitalist mode of production is a concept in Karl Marx’s critique of political economy. ... In the writings of Karl Marx and the Marxist theory of historical materialism, a mode of production (in German: Produktionsweise, meaning the way of producing) is a specific combination of: productive forces: these include human labor-power, tools, equipment, buildings and technologies, materials, and improved land social and technical relations...

However, the notion of late capitalism is partly an ideological perspective, insofar as we simply do not know now when exactly capitalism will end, or if it will end. That depends on whether masses of people decide to end it, and replace it with another social system. In addition, the global pattern of capitalist development has been extremely uneven; some regions have barely reached the stage of "early capitalism"

In general, Karl Marx seems to have believed - as a generalisation - that no mode of production disappears, until it has developed all the productive forces which it can contain within its social relations of production based on private property. Technologies would ultimately become incompatible with the existing social framework, causing that social framework to break down, and a new social framework to emerge. According to Rosa Luxemburg, that could mean an advance to socialism or a relapse into barbarism. Jump to: navigation, search Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883 London, England) was an influential philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary organizer of the International Workingmens Association. ... In the writings of Karl Marx and the Marxist theory of historical materialism, a mode of production (in German: Produktionsweise, meaning the way of producing) is a specific combination of: productive forces: these include human labor-power, tools, equipment, buildings and technologies, materials, and improved land social and technical relations... Productive forces, productive powers or forces of production [in German, Produktivkrafte] is a central concept in Marxism and historical materialism. ... Jump to: navigation, search Relations of production (German: Produktionsverhaltnisse) is a concept frequently used by Karl Marx in his theory of historical materialism and in Das Kapital. ... Jump to: navigation, search Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg (March 5, 1870 or 1871 - January 15, 1919, in Polish language Róża Luksemburg) was a Polish-born German Marxist political theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary. ... Jump to: navigation, search The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... A barbarism is a word or expression that is not standard in a language. ...

Typically, leftists have considered that capitalism is doomed, and therefore they have been on the look-out for signs of its demise. Yet, capitalism has also proved to be a very flexible and adaptive system, able to bounce back from terrible catastrophes including two world wars and an enormous number of smaller wars - suggesting that doomsayers are at least partly wrong. Lenin opined that there were no absolutely hopeless situations for capitalism; its fate depended on the outcome of class struggle. This, however, does not deter critics of the system, who point to many signs of the system's social decay on a world scale. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин  listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) ( April 22 (April 10 ( O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the founder of the ideology of Leninism. ... Class struggle is class conflict looked at from a Marxist, libertarian socialist, or anarchist perspective. ...

But there are also others who argue that capitalism has already been superseded; in a modern information society the old industrial system is a thing of the past, and the reference to capitalism is an anachronism. An information society is one which the creation, distribution and manipulation of information is becoming a significant economic and cultural activity. ... An anachronism (from Greek ana, back, and chronos, time) is something that is out of its natural time or appears to be. ...

Origin of the term

The term "late capitalism" came into use in Europe towards the end of the 1930s when many economists believed capitalism was doomed (see, for example, Natalia Moszkowska's Zur Dynamik des Spätkapitalismus. Zurich: Verlag Der Aufbruch, 1943) and it was used in the 1960s particularly in Germany and Austria, among others by Marxists writing in the tradition of the Frankfurt School and Austro-Marxism. At the end of the second world war, many economists including Paul K. Samuelson and Joseph Schumpeter believed the end of capitalism could well be nigh, in that the economic problems might be insurmountable. The Frankfurt School is a school of neo-Marxist social theory, social research, and philosophy. ... Austromarxism was the fairly left-wing ideology persued by the Social Democratic Workers Party of Austria during the late decades of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the Austrian First Republic (1918-1934). ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Jump to: navigation, search Joseph Schumpeter Joseph Alois Schumpeter (February 8, 1883 – January 8, 1950) was an Austrian economist (though not an Austrian economist in the sense of being a member of the Austrian School of economics) and a giant in the history of economic thought. ...

According to the Marxist economist Ernest Mandel, who popularised the term with his 1972 Phd dissertation, late-stage capitalism will be dominated by the machinations - or perhaps better, fluidities - of finance capital. Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Jump to: navigation, search Ernest Mandel Ernest Ezra Mandel, also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter etc. ...

In the tradition of the classical Marxists, Mandel tried to characterize the nature of the modern epoch as a whole, with reference to the main laws of motion of capitalism specified by Marx, in order to show how the same forces which boosted profitability after the world war must ultimately turn into their dialectical opposites, and cause its decline. Mandel's aim was to explain the unexpected revival of capitalism after the world war, and a long economic boom which showed the fastest economic growth ever seen in human history.

For Mandel, profitability could be influenced by numerous different factors, and was only the general indicator of the condition of the system as a whole; his critics (such as Paul Mattick) however argued that Mandel is too eclectic, and failed to give an orthodox Marxist explanation of the famous "tendency of the rate of profit to decline". Paul Mattick (1904-1981): Born in Pomerania in 1904 and raised in Berlin by class conscious parents, Mattick was already at the age of 14 a member of the Spartacists Freie Sozialistiche Jugend. ...

Whereas Mandel organised his explanation of the long boom mainly in terms of factors counteracting the falling rate of profit, he did not distinguish clearly between the rate and volume of profit and considered effective demand an important variable. This invited the accusation that Mandel subscribed to a theory ofunderconsumptionism, i.e. attributing crisis phenomena to a lack of buying power by workers. Such an approach, it was argued, is conducive to a reformist redistribution of wealth, rather than total revolution.

Other critics such as the Marxist-Leninists preferred the concept of state monopoly capitalism, or reject any periodisation of capitalism in terms of "early" and "late" stages as unscientific, because we simply do not know where it will all end. Vladimir Lenin in 1920 Leninism is a political and economic theory which builds upon Marxism; it is a branch of Marxism (and it has been the dominant branch of Marxism in the world since the 1920s). ... The theory of State monopoly capitalism (Stamocap or Stamokap theory) was initially a Marxist-Leninist doctrine popularised after world war 2. ...

Characteristics

Among the characteristics of late capitalism (or the 'third age' of capitalism after freely-competitive capitalism and monopoly capitalism) are said to be:

• the hypertrophy of the state, and systematic attempts by the state to moderate economic fluctuations as well as exerting more and more social controls;

• intensified monopolistic and oligopolistic competition for superprofit in world markets;

• the co-optation and integration of trade union and oppositional political movements into the state apparatuses;

• the globalisation of financial capital, commercial capital and production capital;

• a third technological revolution (electronics, synthetics, computerisation, biotechnology) and accelerated technological innovation;

• accelerated turnover of capital and the pressure to engage in comprehensive economic planning of investments;

• An increase in the rate of surplus value attributable mainly to increased productivity of labour;

• a permanent arms economy in which the military industry becomes a significant factor in economic growth;

• permanent currency inflation and growing debt levels;

• the hyper-concentration and centralisation of capital ownership and management on a world scale, in giant industrial and banking corporations;

• neo-colonialism involving unequal exchange and humanitarian imperialism where armed intervention in foreign countries is morally justified by reference to humane concerns;

• the corrosion and breakdown of all traditional social institutions by market forces, leading globally to a succession of continual wars, armed conflicts and unarmed social conflicts;

• (according to Leo Kofler) an optimistic belief in the power of technology to solve all problems, or, alternatively, a cultural pessimism. Some writers like Andre Glucksmann extrapolate this pessimism as a nihilist ideology; others like Elmar Alvater and Tariq Ali have interpreted it as a retreat to fundamentalism; and yet others like Frank Furedi see the pessimism as a cult of human vulnerabilities diminishing human potential and sowing unwarranted anxieties;

• an ever-increasing gap between the rich and the poor, within and between countries, as strong market actors defeat the weaker ones;

• the growth of "excess capital" (overcapitalisation) and "excess capacity", meaning that much additional capital is no longer invested in expanding production, but diverted to trade and capital accumulation based on already existing physical and financial assets - with obvious effects on employment opportunities.

• an ideology of post-modernism which postulates liberal democracy as the end of history, i.e. the summit or horizon of what human life can reach.

Late capitalism is also an important component of Fredric Jameson's influential cultural analysis of postmodernism. A section of Jameson's analysis has been reproduced on the Marxists Internet Archive. Hypertrophy is the increase of the size of an organ. ... Jump to: navigation, search A state is an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an organized government, and possessing internal and external sovereignty. ... This article is about economic monopoly. ... An oligopoly is a market form in which a market is dominated by a small number of sellers (oligopolists). ... Jump to: navigation, search Competition is the act of striving against another force for the purpose of achieving dominance or attaining a reward or goal, or out of a biological imperative such as survival. ... Superprofit (or surplus profit or extra surplus-value; in German: extra-Mehrwert), is a concept in Karl Marxs critique of political economy, subsequently elaborated by Lenin and other Marxist thinkers. ... Jump to: navigation, search This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Turnover is the rate at which an employer gains and loses staff. ... Jump to: navigation, search In politics a capital (also called capital city or political capital — although the latter phrase has an alternative meaning based on an alternative meaning of capital) is the principal city or town associated with its government. ... Surplus value, according to Marxism, is unpaid labour that is extracted from the worker by the capitalist, and serves as the basis for capitalist accumulation. ... Debt is that which is owed. ... Neo Colonialism is the belife that former colonies of European powers have never recieved economic freedom from their former rulers. ... Humanitarianism is the view that all people should be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve as human beings, and that advancing the well-being of humanity is a noble goal. ... Jump to: navigation, search A cartoon portraying the British Empire as an octopus, reaching into foreign lands A cartoon showing the U.S. growing up and growing girth. ... Cultural pessimism is a significant presence in the general outlook of many historical cultures: things are going to the dogs, the Golden age is in the past, and the current generation is fit only for dumbing down and cultural careerism. ... This article is about the Russian cultural and political movement. ... Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (born 1943) is an author, filmmaker, and historian. ... Jump to: navigation, search In comparative religion, fundamentalism has come to refer to several different understandings of religious thought and practice, including literal interpretation of sacred texts such as the Bible or the Quran and sometimes also anti-modernist movements in various religions. ... Frank Furedi is professor of sociology at the University of Kent, UK. Previously, as Frank Richards, he was founder and chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Great Britain, a left-wing political party which was expelled from the International Socialists in the 1970s, styling itself as the Revolutionary Opposition. ... For other uses of the word Vulnerability, please refer to vulnerability (computer science). ... The Human Potential Movement came out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and was formed to promote the cultivation of extraordinary potential believed to be largely untapped in most people. ... Jump to: navigation, search Most generally, the accumulation of capital refers simply to the gathering or amassment of objects of value; the increase in wealth; or the creation of wealth. ... Postmodernism (sometimes abbreviated pomo) is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ... Jump to: navigation, search Liberal democracy is a form of representative democracy where the ability of elected representatives to exercise decision-making power is subject to the rule of law and moderated by a constitution which emphasizes the protection of the rights and freedoms of individuals and minorities (also called... Fredric Jameson (b. ... Jump to: navigation, search This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

The theme of the end of history, recalling an idea from Hegel, was rekindled by A. Kojève in his Introduction to the Reading of Hegel (1980). It is discussed by Francis Fukuyama in a book of the same name, and criticised by Frank Furedi at http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/00000006D8EE.htm. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (August 27, 1770 - November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, Württemberg, in present-day southwest Germany. ... Francis Fukuyama (born October 27, 1952 in Chicago) is an influential American political economist and author. ... Frank Furedi is professor of sociology at the University of Kent, UK. Previously, as Frank Richards, he was founder and chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Great Britain, a left-wing political party which was expelled from the International Socialists in the 1970s, styling itself as the Revolutionary Opposition. ...

A related term is late bourgeois society as contrasted with early bourgeois society in the 17th and 18th century, and classical bourgeois society in the 19th and early 20th century.

See also

periodizations of capitalism and state monopoly capitalism. A periodization of capitalism seeks to distinguish stages of development that help understanding the main features of capitalism through time. ... The theory of State monopoly capitalism (Stamocap or Stamokap theory) was initially a Marxist-Leninist doctrine popularised after world war 2. ...