In the post-Civil War United States, corporations grew significantly in number, size and influence. During this time period, big business impacted the economy politically, economically and the way Americans responded changed over time. As business started to grow, some companies monopolized other companies while some companies also started to lose their business. Furthermore, people started to have more leisure time and business played a role in providing entertainment for its people. These changes over the past thirty years were molded by the actions and development of big business.
The current issues of Capitalism in America is a grave concern to Americans. There is even a declared democratic socialist running for the Democrat nomination right now and garnering a lot of support. Specific issues this candidate is discussing that are facing Americans are issues of income inequality where the top .01 percent makes an average of 27 million per household whereas the bottom 90 percent makes an average of 31,000 a year, free college, and relations with harmful countries. This could all be related to the ideas of Karl Marx in the communist manifesto like a class struggle, or whom should own means of production, or relations with horrid countries.
The Industrial Revolution began spreading to America in the early to mid 1800s and industries began to develop, which changed the path of our country forever. William Kelly and Henry Bessemer created the Bessemer steel process in the 1850s and it cut the price of steel dramatically. John D. Rockefeller became a captain of industry in the oil industry with his Standard Oil Trust corporation that became a monopoly. Rockefeller was considered a robber baron because he used dishonest methods to become rich. Andrew Carnegie was a captain of industry in the steel industry. Carnegie tried to make his company the best by making the
Although socialism may have better benefits, capitalism has it perks as well. Such as producers and consumers being able to own their own business. The upside of this is that no one other than the government can take the business away from the owner. This results in more rights for the owner. An example of improved rights of the owner could include the owner making their own regulations, deciding wages for employees, choosing how to insure their business, etc. Now the big picture that this focuses greater upon is that it greatly promotes self-interest, rather than government control.
Due to the lack of motivation in socialism, people’s desire to be excellent and efficiently working employees decreases tremendously. This is because people will see no reason to work hard if they will not receive any more or less for their efforts or the lack thereof (“Socialism”). Therefore, a capitalist economic system is far superior to a socialist economic system in the sense that it offers rewards for effort whereas socialism does not. Although the capitalist economic system is a great motivator, it also enables an economy where businesses and people can compete against each other in attempt to be more successful than others.
Throughout our Communication Studies, we have examined the capitalist economy through a critical lens and as a result, corporations always appear at the forefront of debate, blame, and power. From a neo-liberalist economic standpoint, the typical “prosumer” is encouraged to create consumer-generated content, but what happens when you put your creative labour to the test? York University consistently advocates, “this is your time”; in other words, students are responsible for their own success and are held liable for any failures or mishaps they may endure. While contemporary technologies have multiplied and democratized opportunities for musical creativity, intellectual property law has been used to repress our right to free speech, which is guaranteed under the first amendment (Demers 2006). Therefore, the industry’s effort at convincing people that file-sharing is equivalent to thievery have turned an increasing number of artists into intellectual property activists.
(2) There also exist opportunities for private wealth and ownership. Essentially, socialism is a less extreme version of communism. In the 2016 presidential race, the nation responded with shock and heated discourse over the candidate Bernie Sanders, an admitted democratic socialist. But this concept is not new to America, in fact it has been present since the early 20th century. We even have socialist programs existing today such as Medicare and Social Security. Those who support this ideology argue that a government of the people must provide basic necessities as well as equitable opportunities such as higher education, healthcare, and child care to its citizens. These all seem like fair and beneficial requests of citizens for their government. However, it still receives high criticisms and objections amongst Americans. That is because capitalism is considered a staple of the U.S. We value our individuality, our free market, and our opportunities for social mobility. That, after all, is the very idea of the American dream. Unfortunately, that dream is often crushed by the harsh realities of inequality, discrimination, and social class. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening rapidly, with 51.4% of income earned annually going to the richest 20% (3). The middle class is disappearing, the poor are getting poorer, and the rich are profiting. This leads many to the conclusion that a new political and economic system is the answer
Our economy is a mixture of capitalism, communism, and socialism. This is a good thing because they help balance each other out. Capitalism helps our businesses earn money. This is vital to our economy. The more our businesses prosper, the more jobs are available to the public. It will inspire other businesses to build in the same area, thus creating competition between them. With this competition, more jobs will be created. We need communism in order for our country to grow and maintain its middle class. This will help close the gap between the rich and the poor. in our past, the American people believed that the gap
In a Capitalistic economic system, a country’s industry and trade are controlled by private owners instead of the state. It allows consumer’s choice in which goods and services are produced based on demand. A Capitalist system gives all its members a chance to become great business owners. No matter where you start in life or what your gender, race, and political views are; Capitalism gives everyone an opportunity to make it big. The United State’s economy became predominately capitalist by the 19th century after the death of Feudalism. The second half of the 19th century marks the fastest economic growth in American history. There was a rapid rise of production, wages, and personal health. By the 20th century America became a thriving superpower whose industrial and manufacturing economy even rivaled those of the European great powers. America’s economic growth and innovation was facilitated by capitalism, which allows you to keep the fruits of your hard labor. In contrast, a socialistic economic system seeks to redistribute the wealth more equitably by social ownership of industries and natural resources. Socialist believe in nationalizing monopolies; however, small, nonessential businesses would remain privately owned. The direct control and management of the industries and social services will be by the workers through a democratic government. In a socialist system everyone equally shares the workload, everyone is given the same benefits and prospers equally. Therefore,
Capitalism is a social system based on individual rights. No country is 100 percent capitalist, but the closest one would be the United States of America. The idea is to have the freedom to work for what you want. Capitalism is based on the idea where people are responsible for their own businesses rather than the government being in charge of the people’s businesses. If done correctly, capitalism is the best social system in my opinion. Freedom allows people to work hard and earn a good lifestyle, and it allows people to not work if they do not want to. The social systems, such as communism, do not give people the opportunities that capitalism does. Basically, no other social system is based on the idea of freedom for the people. Most social
Concept of capitalism can be difficult to understand. It is commonly identified by economist and political philosophers as a system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated in the free market in exchange for a profit (Galbraith, 1952). The economical/social system determines the structure of production, the allocation of inputs and outputs, and consumption of goods. Capitalism remains popular in America because it values freedom, much like the people in our country. This is true because it allows individuals to set their own plans and pursue their own goals; in addition, one can decide what career they would enjoy most, thus creating an incentive and reward for achieving ones ambitions. In a free market, everyone
looking at capitalism from the economy point of view, with all the deregulations and freedom that allows for private ownership, it’s obvious to see the benefits it has on economic growth, but does it out weight the inevitable social costs that comes along with it. When the people in power becomes so selfish and based their actions on the sole purpose to attain more wealth and power without considering the affects it has on others, people suffer. People who are non-white or people whose lives are viewed as less or no value suffer, as mentioned in the journal, Flint, Environmental Racism, and Racial Capitalism, Laura Pulido described that some people’s lives are “so devalued that their “premature deaths” simply did not matter” to the capitalists. These negative affects not only exist in the form of racism but also in the form of sexism. When the
Capitalism, an economic system in which most of the country’s trade and industry is controlled and owned by the private sector of the economy rather than the state , has encouraged businesses to compete in a more efficient manner. Businesses try to introduce new ideas and apply unique business models to distinguish their products and business methods from that of their competitors. One such unique business model is the One for One model.
The Industrial Revolution in Western Europe provided the context for economists and political writers of the nineteenth century to promote three different economic plans designed to meet the needs of workers and entrepreneurs. Capitalism was first proposed by Adam Smith as a reform plan for the existing economic system of mercantilism. The major tenets of capitalism included: free enterprise, competition at every level, and private property. Although there were many advantages including new inventions and rewarding excellence there were also disadvantages including how harsh people were treated where they worked and people making up others privileges. The economic system of capitalism was implemented in India with the British East India Company during the seventeen and eighteen hundreds. It was unsuccessful because it became corrupt, abusive of workers, and was ultimately replaced because of revolts. The economic system of capitalism did not address the needs of both entrepreneurs and workers because the workers didn’t ask to be abused like they were and the entrepreneurs sort of did because they got to run their business how they wanted to.
Capitalist structures were thought to be ‘double hermeneutic’ by Weber. A double hermeneutic is “a theory, expounded by sociologist Anthony Giddens, that everyday “lay” concepts and those from social sciences have a two-way relationship. A common example is the idea of social class; a social-scientific category that has perpetuated into wider use in society” (WIKIPEDIA, 2017). These people were a group of religious scholars, who believed that the truth that is included within the text, is wider than the words on the page. Through these religious scholars and their beliefs eventually led to the evolution from a religious society to a capitalist society. The capitalist society that we live in today, created a market system used from religious beliefs, presenting the payments for sins committed by an individual in the future and for not confessing the sins committed in the present. Modern capitalism still refers to Weber’s theory today, showing interest of how each individual has their own path chosen, depending on the amount of money they own, organising ourselves into different organisations as well as, the different societies we join within the hierarchy. Through the different societies of our day-to-day lives we see each of them joining together as one, expressing ideas and thoughts to create the markets systems we see in this century.