What Makes Balzac Capitalism

In "Natural Capitalism," Paul Hawkins replaces the world's economy to its respectful position within the larger economy of natural resources and ecosystem services that sustain us. This is done simply by giving value to things not normally found on , from human intelligence and cultures to hydrocarbons, minerals, trees, and microscopic fungi.

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).

Socialism and capitalism are two concepts that are used by governments in respective countries regarding how the economies operate. The two concepts are based on political, economic and social systems. The United States of America is an example of a capitalist country while Sweden is a socialist nation. Apart from the similarity in which the government plays a role in the effectiveness of the two systems, there is no discrimination in both systems regarding race, color or other arbitrary classification. There are notable differences between the two systems based on ownership structure, equity, and employment.

As seen throughout the semester, the debates surrounding capitalism and its role in society are extensive and transcends generations. By virtue of the nature of debates, two broad positions on capitalism evolved in North American Protestantism – one position defends capitalism while the other protests capitalism. The defense of capitalism developed in the 19th century. Being one of the many authors to do so, Charles Sellers attributes the development of capitalism to the Market and Industrial Revolution (Sellers, 21). Consequently, the Second Great Awakening increased religious awareness and significance in the daily lives of Americans (Sellers, 202). Sellers argues it was only through religion that Americans could cope with the stresses of

In a capitalistically inclined economy, the influences of wealth and social esteem are rooted deep within the ideologies of such a system. Value of an entity is prescribed by these facets, those without wealth or esteem are belittled and depreciated, while those that come to acquire said commodities are prioritized above others in societal outlets. This is such that instills a drive within those under the governance of a market economy, the desire for immense affluence, as well as incontestable social influence. Duddy Kravitz in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler, and Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller thoroughly exemplify this drive for excess wealth and power. When analyzing the characters of Duddy Kravitz and Willy Loman, it is made distinctly evident that Duddy Kravitz is successful to a greater degree, when compared to Willy Loman, in achieving the generic and superficial capitalistic views of success.

Capitalism is not a rigid, inflexible economic and political system—there are many forms of capitalism around the world. It is illustrated as being different variations of capitalism outside the United States; there is the Dutch version, the French version, the British version, as well as the American version. American capitalism implements free-market ideology and that makes the U.S. stand out among other nations. Other nations do not dwell on privatization and deregulation nearly as much as the U.S., which is both a major strength and critique of American capitalism. One critique of American capitalism is the Five Internal Contradiction of Capitalism. These contradictions include inevitable growth of monopolies, demand labor saving technology

Wealthy disparity in America is greater than it has ever been, yet nothing seems to be done by the government to fix it. Bridging the wealth gap in America would require government regulation from government, but the American government is controlled by the wealthy. Rich business owners give large sums of money towards political campaigns, thus gaining them political favor. Along with a corrupted government, large corporations have taken up almost all market share in their respective industries, not allowing for small business to thrive. And, low-level workers at said corporations are treated unfairly and not allowed to unionize. With the wealthy controlling the government, big businesses dominating the economy, and workings being denied their rights, the American capitalist economic system makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for the impoverished to escape poverty.

The exact origin of capitalism is unknown and to precisely trace its inception is, as Joyce Appleby says, a conundrum in itself. However, speculation negating the inevitability of capitalism is an even greater feat and rather fruitless. Appleby’s research and evidence thus far, support a great part of her assumptions retracing the colorful history of capitalism, though her case against its inevitability falls short. The question at hand is whether she provides a compelling case, the answer is yes. However, compelling is not convincing and one must be convinced to provide legitimate support of their argument. Human nature is ingrained within us all and its traits inevitably materialize during the course of our growth as we mature, increase

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.

To close, in addition to granting the fundamental rights to citizens and facilitating change and progress, a constitutional democratic republic also allows for more economic innovation and motivation. As previously mentioned capitalism influences nations in a constructive manner that encourages hard work and individuality. Capitalism is the economic center of a constitutional democratic republic. Its progressive power and economic potential can be seen through China’s economic boost in the late ‘90s to the present day as they began to adopt a capitalist mindset (Coase). Capitalism also embodies the concern for an apathetic citizen population, specifically in the workforce. This issue is the driving concern for socialism in the United States

Throughout the history of the United States’ economy, there has been both push and pull of capitalistic and socialistic ideas that have been argued to best suit the economy of the United States. On the side of capitalism, the overall aspect and function that centers around this economic system is freedom. Socialism rests upon the idea of governmental control over the majority of a country's resource supply, as well as the public control over means of production and land. In my opinion, I believe the United States will continue to ride on a mainly capitalistic track.

The top ten percent of the US’s population make over a half of all of the US’s income. With that leaves a large chunk of the population earning money that can hardly sustain a family. The reason leaving 45 million Americans struggling to make a living results from the flaws of capitalism. Capitalism dominates other economic systems because it allows private owners to own production and distribution. Items that get traded, in markets go to the owner. Philosopher Adam Smith (1723-1790) proposed the theory and in a matter of centuries flooded all over the world. With freedom of the economy, corporate owners tend to have and make the majority of the country’s income. With the bourgeoisie, the capitalist class who owns most of the economy, making

Capitalism is a beautiful thing, we live in a country where anything is possible. A person can come from humble beginnings and build a million dollar business. It would not come easy, but it definitely is possible in the United States of America. America is truly the land of opportunity where everyone has a chance to become great. Capitalism comes at a cost. Not everyone has the same opportunity due to social capital and low economic status. When companies get so large they knock out the competition that cannot compete. Large organizations like Walmart find every way to innovate to stay in front of their competition. As a result of the interconnected economy that we are a part of today corporations outsource a lot of their operations in an attempt to cut costs and out perform the competition. I think we forced this upon ourselves. Human beings are innovative by nature and always find solutions to problems.

Throughout history, it has been tough and at times extremely difficult to change social classes. Those born into poverty tend to remain in the lower class as peasants, and the elite or upper class managed to stay in the hands wealthy. However, there have always been special individuals that overcame this anonymity rose to fame. In Balzac’s novel, Pere Goriot, Eugene Rasignac uses the pursuit of wealth and the upper class to show how the wealthier characters become the harsher they treat other people through his journey of trying to become a wealthy elite in the city Paris.

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