...Capitalism and Its Effects “As a result of capitalism, we are increasingly unhappy and dissatisfied, and only by turning against capitalism will we be able to move on.” Peter Saunders cites by Clive Hamilton in his book “Why Capitalism Is Good for the Soul” (8). Capitalism dates back to industrial age. After the industrial revolution, the traditional trade has evolved to a new global platform and some of economic system like capitalism came into prominence. According to Cambridge Dictionary, capitalism is a political and economic system in which a country’s trade is controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. With this system, the numbers of producer increased because of the private owners. Until the last few decades, it seems beneficial and useful breakthrough for humanity but today, increasingly people criticize this system. While Peter Saunders in his article “Why Capitalism Is Good for the Soul” defends that capitalism provide a profitable result for us; Clive Hamilton in his books “Grown Fetish” and “Affluenza”, Annie Leonard in her video “The Story of Stuff” and Tim Kasser in his book “The High Price of Capitalism” claim that capitalism has damaged people in some ways. Although some people argue consumerism provides an easy life and a better world; it actually makes people materialistic and dissatisfied with life, kills people’s free time and damages the plane. With capitalism, people become materialistic and dissatisfied with life. They become...
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...Capitalism vs. Communism Throughout history, there have been many systems developed in order to have a better society. Two of the most analyzed, and debated systems that have tired to change an economy for the best are communism, and capitalism. Communism, and capitalism have been compared on many levels, such as why they will or will not work, and which one works better. Throughout this essay I will concentrate on the differences, and similarities of how each operates, along with the benefits, and problems that each of them produces. Both of these economic systems theories came about around the same time, in the late 17th to mid18th centuries. One of the main contributor for capitalism was Adam Smith, writing The Wealth of a Nation in 1776, and Karl Marx for communism publishing the Communist Manifesto in 1848. These both were looked as a manual or guide for achieving such advancements. Communism called for the people to not be selfish and work for the benefits of the community rather for their well being. It asks them to see that what benefits the whole, benefits themselves. Capitalism on the other hand is focused on working for individual growth, and personal ownership to provide wealth for one's self. Communism plans to have a higher power or government control the economy to create a better way of living, by which all goods are equally distributed. As capitalism wants the government to not play a big role in the system, but instead wants it to be up to private ownership...
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...those decisions. Capitalism is the economic system agreed upon in the United States of America. In the recent discussions of the efficacity of...
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...Communism versus Capitalism A capitalist government is better than a communist government for many reasons. The basic concepts of communism and capitalism contrast quite sharply. In communism, everyone is equal; therefore everyone receives the same amount of income. Communist societies are made up of one large state instead of many different states. All means of production and property are owned by the large state. The basic concepts of capitalism are quite different. There are many social classes, therefore not everyone is equal. People earn different amounts of income based on their job. People are allowed to own land and the means of production are not controlled by the government. Companies are able to raise or lower prices of items depending on whether they are high in demand as well. Communist societies have many strengths. They have a very strong army, there is free health care for everyone when it is needed, and there is no poverty. Everyone also has a job, food, a house, and an education. Jobs are administered to people based on their skill and the government makes decisions that are beneficial to the state. Although communist societies have many strengths, capitalist societies have many strengths that communist societies do not obtain. Anybody is able to be an owner of their own business and is able to become wealthy. Capitalist societies have freedom of choice which allows them to be different. People can think what they want to think instead of being forced...
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...Thesis Capitalism has been the subject of ethical criticism since it was first introduced into society. I defend the morality of capitalism because it gives people incentive to work, establishes a web of trust between them, satisfies their material well-being, and generates a wide spectrum of prosperity. Exposition As citizens of the United States, we are members of the leading capitalist economy in the world. Our production and distribution is mostly done privately and we operate in a “profit” or “market” system. The capitalist system has been a target for criticism throughout the last three hundred years and is being discussed now more than ever due to the recent recession and financial crisis (Shaw and Barry n.d., 1). Its effects, structure, varieties, and possibilities provide for a large field of study and writers from several different disciplines have provided their input to the debate. Most fundamental is the question of whether our capitalist system is a morally justifiable one. This question can’t be answered by reviewing the efficiency and productivity capitalism provides, but instead requires a thorough analysis of ethics. A capitalist society is characterized by the private ownership of property and a free market that grants citizens the right to use their resources for their own benefit. Private property is the ownership of productive resources like companies, stocks, and bonds and should not be confused with personal property. Personal property consists...
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...Kevin A Capitalism in United States What Kind of Capitalism does Americans want? First of all, I am going to show a quick overview of the unfolding of capitalism since the Great Depression, which I believe is vital in order to understand the capitalism that exists in the United States today and some of the problems to it. Then I will look at four different complex areas of free market capitalism in America compared with the Scandinavian government control capitalism. I will then talk about what kind of capitalism we want: We being different interest groups, such as the shareholders, the C.E.O.'s, the average worker and the poor. Finally I will talk about what values might be at stake in capitalism. In the United States, the 1930s Great Depression threatened to knock out the capitalism that had been gradually developing for the past 400 years and this led to abandoning the laissez faire capitalism and instead embracing the New Deal concept of government managed capitalism in order to control money supply and government expenditure, and in order to limit the increasing gap of inequality of income. The 1950s and 1960s were decades of equality, but the energy crises of the 1970s forced the government to kick start the economy imposing new taxation benefiting the rich and once again causing widening inequality. Today, capitalism is the most important economic system of the Western world, in its however various forms: In the United States a more free-market capitalism exists and...
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...TS ISSUE #01 – Can Capitalism Lead to Human Happiness? 1. What is the rationale of capitalism according to Adam Smith? It is portrayed as an unintended coordination of self-interested actions into the production of greatest welfare of the whole. 2. What happens if we leave self-interested people to seek their own advantage? Adam Smith argues the result, unintended by any one of them, will be the greater advantage of all. No government interference is necessary to protect the general welfare. 3. Does Karl Marx agree? No, leave people to their own self-interested devices, and those who by luck and inheritance own the means of production will rapidly reduce everyone else to virtual poverty. The few will be fabulously happy, but all others will live in misery. 4. Why will this happen? What will take place if this unintended coordination of self-interested actions takes place, are those who by luck and inheritance own the means of production will rapidly reduce everyone else to virtual slavery. The few may be fabulously happy, but all others will live in misery. 5. Adam Smith and Karl Marx are products of their age. What were world economic/ social conditions like when they were expressing their philosophies? a. 18th Century (Smith) was the rise of Mercantilism, and most of the economy was agriculture. Peasants, growth of colonies, great rivalry. b. 19th Century (Marx) saw a rapidly expansion of manufacturing. Workers in...
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...Urbanization is the increase of the number of people who migrate from rural areas to the city. With the constant influx of people who moved to the city the problems of overcrowding and sanitation arose. With the lure of factory jobs and a better lifestyle the people who once lived out in rural areas were persuaded that there could be a better life in the city. One of the problems that were not anticipated was one of proper sanitation. With more people the problem of crowed conditions apply with more garbage, more sewage and more contamination. Another social consequence is that of mechanization. Mechanization is the process of removing people and animals from their jobs and replacing them with machines. Machines may offer the luxury of mass production but it is at the cost of human workers being unemployed. So like a domino effect, all the people who moved to the city for work in factories are now being replaced by machines. In turn you have overcrowded cities with a large number of unemployed, hungry and desperate people. Now these people can barely afford to live, eat or even take care of their animals, the same animals that were replaced by machines. The first Industrial Revolution contributed to the rise of capitalism because of the increase of factories and the mass production of materials. With the advent of machines to mass produce things such as cotton material, the owners of the companies were soon enticed by the profit that could be made. The...
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...story of a young and hardworking man, Jurgis Rudkus, and his family’s struggles in the American economic system of the early twentieth century. Coming from Lithuania with the hopes of a better life, Jurgis’ family lands in Chicago with the pursuit to prosper in the new and exciting land. From the start, the family encounters trouble: scammers in both Lithuania and America deplete the family’s savings, the saloon-keeper at Jurgis and Ona’s wedding overprices them for the amount of alcohol guests have consumed, and the conditions of Packingtown are not what they expected. In the ensuing chapters, the family’s luck changes from bad to worse when a multitude of family members die and jobs are repeatedly taken away from many of the group. Sinclair demonstrates through the optimistic and naive Rudkus-Lukoszaite family that American capitalism is destructive to the common worker and the immigrant class. In the proclaimed “wage slavery,” Sinclair describes how the immigrant population was "dependent for its opportunities of life, upon the whim of men every bit as brutal and unscrupulous as the old-time slave drivers” (Sinclair 126). In Chicago, the immigrant...
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...Women’s social status has been steadily increasing within the last fifty years. Due to capitalism, education opportunities, and what Kristof and WuDunn call the “girl effect,” women’s positions in society have been elevating. In short, the “girl effect” allows women to have the same opportunities in education, jobs, and other aspects. Women are given opportunities to work more help benefit the family and community, but most importantly, it benefits women themselves. Because women are able to work outside the home, women’s gender roles are changing financially, and giving more independence. However, the unequal treatment between men and women still exists: women who work in the same position as the men may not earn as much. In “From the Frying Pan into the Fire,” Hochschild argues that the work requirements under capitalism change people’s thought and behaviors. Due to capitalism, women are jumping in the working field, and there exists a continuing competition between the home and the workplace. “The Girl Effect” shows how capitalism changes women’s gender roles,...
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...Capitalist and Free Trade Name: University: Instructor: Course: Date: Capitalist and Free Trade “The primary reason that nearly 1 billion people have been taken out of extreme poverty in the past 20 years has been capitalism and free trade” This is according to an Economist article “Towards the End of Poverty” (June 1st 2013) which claimed that the global poverty has gone down due to economic growth that has been seen certain nations. Nations like China and India are a good example, their standards of living has developed tremendously as well as the conditions of people in those countries. The article is of the belief that Africa should be the next region to experience growth and good standards of living (Singh, 2009, 874). Nations like Nigeria, and Ghana are examples of countries in Africa with good standards of living which is attributed to trade and investment. Similarly, the countries are putting much effort in doing away with social issues that connected to below par education, health and communications (Gibbs, and Leech, 2009, 186). The article goes on to state that in the year 2050, ‘extreme poverty’ would be something that is non-existent. The article goes to discourage anti-capitalists from complaining regarding the negative issues arising from free trade and markets. They called upon to allow capitalist to grow as it has been noticed as a success in the 21st century. With no regard accorded to the massive contrast of wealth in today’s world, the millions...
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...existence without capitalism; individuals consume without a thought when we buy the latest cell phone or a new pair of hundred dollar designer jeans. It is clear that most of the world supports some form of capitalism and therefore, at least for now, capitalism has won the struggle between economic systems. Capitalism began in 1200 CE with rug merchants. Just like many traders, today, the rug merchants had to borrow money to buy their wares in order to then resell them for profit, but they had to pay back the money borrowed—usually with interest. This was called mercantile capitalism and it was a global phenomenon, from the Indian and Chinese Ocean trade to Muslim merchants who funded trade caravanserai across the Sahara. Later, merchants in Britain had expanded capitalism by developing stock companies which financed even bigger trade missions. Increased wealth of course resulted by the increased investment, but it only affected as small percentage of the population and did not create cultural influence from capitalism. Mercantile capitalism only affected a small percentage of the population, whereas industrial capitalism impacted majority of the population. Industrial capitalism was something altogether different, both in practice and scale. According to Joyce Appleby’s definition of industrial capitalism: “An economic system that relies on investment of capital in machines and technology that are used to increase production of marketable goods.” Capitalism reached its peak...
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...general a better life for themselves. America’s economy is based around the system known as capitalism. Capitalism is a system where means of production is privately ran. Meaning the government does not have control over corporations, or prices of goods. Any American can earn money as they see fit. You can start a business selling books, out of your garage, which may turn into the biggest online retailer in existence. Or you could work in a factory, earning a living with your hands. In many ways capitalism is seen as a great system. The people who work hard, usually reap the rewards of their labor. In the novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair we follow the story of a Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis, and his family, on their struggles in the early nineteenth century America. Jurgis starts to feel like an outcast in this strange new place. The economic system of capitalism makes Jurgis feel...
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...Genre of Capitalism Vs Communism Capitalism and Communism are two totally different economic systems. Capitalism is a much better economic system than Communism. Capitalism is an economic system characterized by freedom of the market and is the economic system where you do not have freedom because the government will make most of your decisions for you. Capitalism has many pros to go along with its economy. The government will change gradually, but is able to adjust to it with ease. Each person also has individual freedom with lack of government interference. We also have the freedom to choose what we want and when we want it. On the other hand, not everybody will have a job, and the government will not help him or her find one. If you do have a job, everyone will be getting paid the same amount of money as you do. It all depends on what you do, whom you work for, and how long you decide to work. Communism has many drastic chances at one time, but adjusting could be simple for most. The bad things about communism is that everybody has a job, but no matter how much you work or whom you work for, you will always be getting paid the same amount of money as everyone else. Another bad thing about communism is that consumers will not always get what they want because the government decides on what you sell; and what you purchase. As a Capitalist, when you go to the store to shop, you have a choice of what you want to buy. If you are communist, the government decides for you. Because...
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...Assignment On Capitalism Program: M.com (2)years Smester: 3rd (Evening) TABLE OF CONTENTS · Introduction Of Capitalism. · Capitalism vs Socialism. · Capitalism vs Communism. · Types Of Capitalism. · Advantages Of Capitalism. · Disadvantages Of Capitalism. · Criticism On Capitalism. CAPITALISM An economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth. It is easy to forget that capitalism was coined not so long ago, in the mid-19th century, when the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, and individual entrepreneurs were creating new industries and amassing wealth. Terms for the other two major competing economic systems of the past two centuries— socialism and communism—were also coined around the same time. Also, about the same time it became common to designate all such coinages as “isms”: terms formed by adding the suffix -ism to a root word in order to expand its meaning to encompass a related system, theory, or practice. Thus from a fairly old word, capital, the relatively newer word, capitalism, was formed to describe the then emerging economies of the West. On the surface, the meaning of capitalism seems straightforward, referring to an economic system in which private individuals, rather than governments...
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