Conscious Capitalism Analysis

Capitalism is a system where the sole goal is for private owners to gain profit. In the 1930s’ Dust Bowl, private owners, such as farm owners did not pay laborers enough money. In addition, minimum wage laws did not begin until 1938. Wages dropped so low because of the contradicting owner and laborer goals. Moreover, the stock market crash caused demand to drop and jobs to disappear. Overproduction also contributed to elimination of jobs. The wage gap between the wealthy and poverty further increased over time. Despite, the huge elimination of many jobs during the stock market crash, the changing seasons created some cotton and fruit picking jobs because certain plants are ripe for a certain period. However, laborers had to travel to other states or even countries to look for jobs only to face ostracization from the natives. In pursuit of capitalistic goals, the government promoted harmful DDT chemicals and nuclear weapons to keep the chemical and weapons industry alive.

Evolution is a natural process of the world. Dinosaurs are no longer in existence, and the giant pandas are not too far behind. Yet when it comes to humans, people have trouble acknowledging that the human race, too, will have to come to an end; or as Kurzweil predicts, will have to adapt into something better in terms of evolution. However, the current state of society, in which everyone is strung on a hierarchy until the day he dies, the singularity will produce a less that favorable result. Though “inevitable and imminent,” the singularity will make people increasingly unhappy by enhancing the socially constructed hierarchies that separate us from free will (Singularity).

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.

John Mackey, Cofounder and Co-CEO of Whole Market, Believes in "Conscious Capitalism" (pp. 29 & 30)

In Chapter 6, Mohanty starts by discussing how power is controlled through capitalism. Therefore, capitalism uses power to produce a system of inequality throughout the Global North and Global South in both private and public spheres. She explains how patriarchal ideologies were introduced during the colonization of many countries and the Americas. Colonization has had a lasting impact and still leaves women at a position that is against men and viewed as less powerful then men in their community and inside their households. Consequently, this patriarch ideology from the Global North interjects the images and ideas of the Third World women as the oppressed and always the worker.

Capitalism and Communism are both economic systems, adopted by different regions, which has played a major role in how society has been shaped in the 20th century. Capitalism, is simply an economic system where things like property and/or businesses are owned and controlled by individuals instead of the government. The United States was one of the first majorly developed regions to adopt this philosophy and it has had a huge impact on the global economy by allowing free market competition and by promoting the culture of work. Communism, is an economic system in which things like businesses and property are own and controlled by the government. Communism was adopted by the Soviet Union and played a critical role in global politics and social classes.

By definition, Capitalism is an economic system controlled chiefly by individuals and private companies instead of by the government. In this system, individuals and companies own and direct most of the resources used to produce goods and services, including land and other natural resources labor, and "capital". "Capital" includes factories and equipment and sometimes the money used in businesses (Friedman, 5).

Not Business As Usual is a documentary that explores the beginnings of “conscious capitalism” and its unintentional price of success. The film offers an alternative view of businesses by tracking the movement of a few entrepreneurs that aspire to include social and environmental considerations in addition to seeking profit in their businesses. A free market for goods and services, capitalism is substantial. It drives innovation, progress, and prosperity. However, should “profit” be the only metric to measure success?

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.

Milton Friedman’s Capitalism & Freedom is one of the most important books regarding economics of the 20th century. His thoughts laid the groundwork for the emerging modern conservative movement, which was an evolution of the 19th century beliefs surrounding liberalism. Friedman’s major themes of his most famous work consist of the roles of competitive capitalism, as well as the role that government should play in a society “dedicated to freedom and relying primarily on the market to organize economic activity.” The book touches on a multitude of other economic issues; however, his first two chapters regarding the major themes of the book are most

Capitalism started up as a system of investing and sharing money in order to increase the value of resources in the future. Capitalism was just an economic system, but then soon turned into a complex system of ethical practices. Harari defines capitalism as, “a set of teachings about how people should behave, educate their children and even think” (Harari 314). This economic system evolved along with the people that were endorsing it. Capitalism enables the rich to get richer, while the poor continue to get poorer. There are many benefits to capitalism, but there are downfalls as well, and these downfalls tend to be masked because of the rapid speed capitalists grow at. Harari first presents a definition for capitalism, and soon goes into great detail on why capitalism, while fast paced and unforgiving, is able to stand unwavered while other productions fail.

The word ‘capitalism’ can be defined in our modern society as large businesses and factories that control their rate of production and the way that profits are distributed throughout employees of the company. Being in control means that a company has the ability to know at all times where its money is and what said money is being used for. By doing this, they can earn as much money as possible. However, capitalism was not always centered around businesses and factories. In fact, the concept itself dates back to the Protestant Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries. In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, author Max Weber discusses the origins of capitalism as we know it today. He argues that modern, 21st century capitalism

John Bogle, in his article Democracy in corporate America, defines capitalism in two different ways, owner’s capitalism and manager’s capitalism. According to Bogle, owner’s capitalism is defined with the idea that purpose of a business or corporation is to make a profit. Manager’s capitalism, Bogle notes, is defined by William Pfaff with the idea that “the corporation came to be run to profit its managers, in complicity if not conspiracy with accountants and the managers of other corporations” (Bogle, p. 26). These two definitions of owner’s capitalism and manager’s capitalism provide great insight about today’s corporate America.

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.

Due to the rapid process of globalization, the issue of whether socio-economic institutions and policies are converging or diverging across different nations has become controversial. Various literatures on comparative institutional studies has been developed, in which the Varieties of Capitalism approach by Hall and Soskice (2001) is one of the most significant concepts that is being widely discussed. According to Hall and Thelen (2005), the ‘varieties of capitalism’ is a firm-centered approach where firm is placed as a key actor and is being considered relational. It emphasizes the concept of institutional complementarities, which ‘…one set of institutions is complementary to another when its presence raises the returns