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Portal:Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and its use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically in several stages, and is defined by a number of constituent elements: private property, profit motive, capital accumulation, competitive markets, commodification, wage labor, and an emphasis on innovation and economic growth. Capitalist economies may experience business cycles of economic expansion followed by recessions.

Economists, historians, political economists, and sociologists have adopted different perspectives in their analyses of capitalism and have recognized various forms of it in practice. These include laissez-faire or free-market capitalism, state capitalism, and welfare capitalism. Different forms of capitalism feature varying degrees of free markets, public ownership, obstacles to free competition, and state-sanctioned social policies. The degree of competition in markets and the role of intervention and regulation, as well as the scope of state ownership, vary across different models of capitalism. The extent to which different markets are free and the rules defining private property are matters of politics and policy. Most of the existing capitalist economies are mixed economies that combine elements of free markets with state intervention and in some cases economic planning.

Capitalism in its modern form emerged from agrarianism in England, as well as mercantilist practices by European countries between the 16th and 18th centuries. The Industrial Revolution of the 18th century established capitalism as a dominant mode of production, characterized by factory work, and a complex division of labor. Through the process of globalization, capitalism spread across the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially before World War I and again after the end of the Cold War. During the 19th century, capitalism was largely unregulated by the state, but became more regulated in the post–World War II period through Keynesianism, followed by a return of more unregulated capitalism termed neoliberalism, starting in the 1980s. (Full article...)

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Norwich Market (also known as Norwich Provision Market) is an outdoor market consisting of around 200 stalls in central Norwich, England. Founded in the latter part of the 11th century to supply Norman merchants and settlers moving to the area following the Norman conquest of England, it replaced an earlier market a short distance away. It has been in operation on the present site for over 900 years.

By the 14th century, Norwich was one of the largest and most prosperous cities in England, and Norwich Market was a major trading hub. Control of, and income from, the market was ceded by the monarchy to the city of Norwich in 1341, from which time it provided a significant source of income for the local council. Freed from royal control, the market was reorganised to benefit the city as much as possible. Norwich and the surrounding region were devastated by plague and famine in the latter half of the 14th century, with the population falling by over 50%. Following the plague years, Norwich came under the control of local merchants and the economy was rebuilt. In the early 15th century, a Guildhall was built next to the market to serve as a centre for local government and law enforcement. The largest surviving mediaeval civic building in Britain outside London, it remained the seat of local government until 1938 and in use as a law court until 1985. (Full article...)

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Andrew Carnegie (November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century. He built a leadership role as a philanthropist for the United States and the British Empire. During the last 18 years of his life, he gave away to charities, foundations, and universities about $350 million (in 2015 share of GDP, $78.6 billion) – almost 90 percent of his fortune. His 1889 article proclaiming "The Gospel of Wealth" called on the rich to use their wealth to improve society, and it stimulated a wave of philanthropy.

Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, and emigrated to the United States with his very poor parents in 1848. Carnegie started work as a telegrapher and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges and oil derricks. He accumulated further wealth as a bond salesman raising money for American enterprise in Europe. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J.P. Morgan in 1901 for $480 million (2015 per share of GDP, $370 billion), creating the U.S. Steel Corporation. Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education and scientific research. With the fortune he made from business, he built Carnegie Hall and he founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, among others. (Full article...)

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Again, in proportion to the increasing mass of the means of production, now no longer the property of the labourer, but of the capitalist, the necessity increases for some effective control over the proper application of those means. Moreover, the co-operation of wage labourers is entirely brought about by the capital that employs them. Their union into one single productive body and the establishment of a connexion between their individual functions, are matters foreign and external to them, are not their own act, but the act of the capital that brings and keeps them together. Hence the connexion existing between their various labours appears to them, ideally, in the shape of a preconceived plan of the capitalist, and practically in the shape of the authority of the same capitalist, in the shape of the powerful will of another, who subjects their activity to his aims. If, then, the control of the capitalist is in substance twofold by reason of the twofold nature of the process of production itself,—which, on the one hand, is a social process for producing use-values, on the other, a process for creating surplus-value—in form that control is despotic. As co-operation extends its scale, this despotism takes forms peculiar to itself. Just as at first the capitalist is relieved from actual labour so soon as his capital has reached that minimum amount with which capitalist production, as such begins, so now, he hands over the work of direct and constant supervision of the individual workmen, and groups of workmen, to a special kind of wage labourer. An industrial army of workmen, under the command of a capitalist, requires, like a real army, officers (managers), and sergeants (foremen, overlookers), who, while the work is being done, command in the name of the capitalist. The work of supervision becomes their established and exclusive function. When comparing the mode of production of isolated peasants and artisans with production by slave labour the political economist counts this labour of superintendence among the faux frais of production. But, when considering the capitalist mode of production, he, on the contrary, treats the work of control made necessary by the co-operative character of the labour process as identical with the different work of control, necessitated by the capitalist character of that process and the antagonism of interests between capitalist and labourer. It is not because he is a leader of industry that a man is a capitalist; on the contrary, he is a leader of industry because he is a capitalist. The leadership of industry is an attribute of capital, just as in feudal times the functions of general and judge were attributes of landed property.

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— Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)
Das Kapital , 1867

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General images

The following are images from various capitalism-related articles on Wikipedia.

👁 Image 1The Spinning mule, built by the inventor Samuel Crompton (from History of capitalism)

Image 1The Spinning mule, built by the inventor Samuel Crompton (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 2The gold standard formed the financial basis of the international economy from 1870 to 1914. (from Capitalism)

Image 2The gold standard formed the financial basis of the international economy from 1870 to 1914. (from Capitalism)
👁 Image 319th-century Great Britain become the first global economic superpower, because of superior manufacturing technology and improved global communications such as steamships and railroads. (from History of capitalism)

Image 319th-century Great Britain become the first global economic superpower, because of superior manufacturing technology and improved global communications such as steamships and railroads. (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 4The Industrial Workers of the World poster "Pyramid of Capitalist System" (1911) (from Capitalism)

Image 4The Industrial Workers of the World poster "Pyramid of Capitalist System" (1911) (from Capitalism)
👁 Image 5The gold standard formed the financial basis of the international economy from 1870 to 1914. (from History of capitalism)

Image 5The gold standard formed the financial basis of the international economy from 1870 to 1914. (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 6A painting of a French seaport from 1638 at the height of mercantilism (from Capitalism)

Image 6A painting of a French seaport from 1638 at the height of mercantilism (from Capitalism)
👁 Image 7The Anglo-Dutch Wars were fought between the English and the Dutch for control over the seas and trade routes. (from History of capitalism)

Image 7The Anglo-Dutch Wars were fought between the English and the Dutch for control over the seas and trade routes. (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 8The subscription room at Lloyd's of London in the early 19th century (from Capitalism)

Image 8The subscription room at Lloyd's of London in the early 19th century (from Capitalism)
👁 Image 9The New York stock exchange traders' floor (1963) (from History of capitalism)

Image 9The New York stock exchange traders' floor (1963) (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 10Augsburg, the centre of early capitalism (from Capitalism)

Image 10Augsburg, the centre of early capitalism (from Capitalism)
👁 Image 11Map of a medieval manor. Notice the large commons area and the division of land into small strips. The mustard-colored areas are part of the demesne, the hatched areas part of the glebe. William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas, 01923 (from History of capitalism)

Image 11Map of a medieval manor. Notice the large commons area and the division of land into small strips. The mustard-colored areas are part of the demesne, the hatched areas part of the glebe.
William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas, 01923 (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 12An industrial worker among heavy steel machine parts (Kinex Bearings, Bytča, Slovakia, c. 1995–2000) (from Capitalism)

Image 12An industrial worker among heavy steel machine parts (Kinex Bearings, Bytča, Slovakia, c. 1995–2000) (from Capitalism)
👁 Image 13Cosimo de' Medici (pictured in a 16th-century portrait by Pontormo) built an international financial empire and was one of the first Medici bankers. (from Capitalism)

Image 13Cosimo de' Medici (pictured in a 16th-century portrait by Pontormo) built an international financial empire and was one of the first Medici bankers. (from Capitalism)
👁 Image 14A caricature inspired by the myth of Sisyphus to denounce child labor in capitalism, c. 1913 (from Capitalism)

Image 14A caricature inspired by the myth of Sisyphus to denounce child labor in capitalism, c. 1913 (from Capitalism)
👁 Image 15Decaying hedges mark the lines of the straight field boundaries created by an inclosure act. (from History of capitalism)

Image 15Decaying hedges mark the lines of the straight field boundaries created by an inclosure act. (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 16The Watt steam engine, fuelled primarily by coal, propelled the Industrial Revolution in Britain. (from Capitalism)

Image 16The Watt steam engine, fuelled primarily by coal, propelled the Industrial Revolution in Britain. (from Capitalism)
👁 Image 17The Rothschild family revolutionised international finance. The Frankfurt terminus of the Taunus Railway was financed by the Rothschilds and opened in 1840 as one of Germany's first railways. (from History of capitalism)

Image 17The Rothschild family revolutionised international finance. The Frankfurt terminus of the Taunus Railway was financed by the Rothschilds and opened in 1840 as one of Germany's first railways. (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 18The New York stock exchange traders' floor (1963) (from Capitalism)

Image 18The New York stock exchange traders' floor (1963) (from Capitalism)
👁 Image 19Gustave Doré's 19th-century engraving depicted the dirty, overcrowded slums where the industrial workers of London lived. (from History of capitalism)

Image 19Gustave Doré's 19th-century engraving depicted the dirty, overcrowded slums where the industrial workers of London lived. (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 20Portrait of traders at the Børsen, Copenhagen (Peder Severin Krøyer, 1895) (from History of capitalism)

Image 20Portrait of traders at the Børsen, Copenhagen (Peder Severin Krøyer, 1895) (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 21Sir Josiah Child, an influential proponent of mercantilism. Painting attributed to John Riley. (from History of capitalism)

Image 21Sir Josiah Child, an influential proponent of mercantilism. Painting attributed to John Riley. (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 22The New York Stock Exchange (from History of capitalism)

Image 22The New York Stock Exchange (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 23The city of Genoa, one of the birthplaces of capitalism (from History of capitalism)

Image 23The city of Genoa, one of the birthplaces of capitalism (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 24Adam Smith (from Capitalism)

Image 24Adam Smith (from Capitalism)
👁 Image 25British East India Company 1801 (from History of capitalism)

Image 25British East India Company 1801 (from History of capitalism)
👁 Image 26The economic model of supply and demand states that the price P of a product is determined by a balance between production at each price (supply S) and the desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand D): the diagram shows a positive shift in demand from D1 to D2, resulting in an increase in price (P) and quantity sold (Q) of the product. (from Capitalism)

Image 26The economic model of supply and demand states that the price P of a product is determined by a balance between production at each price (supply S) and the desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand D): the diagram shows a positive shift in demand from D₁ to D₂, resulting in an increase in price (P) and quantity sold (Q) of the product. (from Capitalism)
👁 Image 27Robert Clive with the Nawabs of Bengal after the Battle of Plassey which began the British rule in Bengal (from Capitalism)

Image 27Robert Clive with the Nawabs of Bengal after the Battle of Plassey which began the British rule in Bengal (from Capitalism)

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Did you know

... that rational egoism is the idea that it is always in accordance with reason to pursue one's own interest, used by Ayn Rand as the rationale behind objectivism?
... that in the 16th century people convicted of sedition had their ears nailed to the pillory in Norwich Market, and when their pillory time was completed their ears were cut off?
... that the economy of Tolkien's Middle-earth has been described as a mix of feudalism and capitalism, with one scholar even suggesting it had communist elements?

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Capitalism topics

Capitalism .. Private property .. Economic freedom .. Laissez-faire .. British Agricultural Revolution .. Industrial Revolution .. Klondike Gold Rush .. Marketplace .. Prices .. Money .. Wage .. Taxes .. Patent .. Capitalist mode of production .. Criticisms of socialism .. Adam Smith .. Milton Friedman .. Ludwig Von Mises .. Murray N. Rothbard .. The Wealth of Nations .. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism .. Capital and Interest .. Capitalism and Freedom .. American capitalism .. Corporate capitalism .. Democratic capitalism .. Anarcho-capitalism .. State capitalism .. Welfare capitalism .. Ronald Reagan

v t e Capitalism
Aspects and perspectives
General	Anarchy of production Business cycle Centralization Competition Competition law Depression definitions of capitalism Deregulation Economic bubble Economic development Economic liberalism Economic planning Entrepreneurship Ecopreneurship Externality Financial crisis Financial Revolution Globalization Global labor arbitrage History of capitalist theory Industrial Revolution Invention Market economy Market failure Merchantilism Meritocracy Multinational corporation Nationalization Oligopoly Perspectives on capitalism by school of thought Privatization Profit Property rights Recession Regulation Wage labour Wealth
Ideology	Anglo-Saxon Authoritarian Conservative Corporate Democratic Dirigist Free-market Humanistic Laissez-faire Liberal Libertarian Market Mercantilist Mixed Monopoly National Neo Neoliberal Private Raw Regulated market Regulatory Rhine Social State State-sponsored Welfare
Cultural aspects	Advertising American Dream Black Friday Consumerism Decentralization Economic freedom Economic mobility Individualism Liberalism Liberty Mainstream Philanthropy Private foundation Private property Rule of law Social alienation Spontaneous order
Social aspects	Corporatism Criticism of welfare Economic inequality Employment Freedom of association Labour market flexibility Labour supply Productivity Prosperity Syndicate Social venture capital Unemployment
Criticism	Anti-capitalism Capitalist propaganda Critique of political economy Critique of work Market fundamentalism Marxism Wage slavery
Antithesis	Anarchism Anarcho-communism Anarcho-primitivism Anarcho-syndicalism Collectivist anarchism Communalism Communism Democratic socialism Economic democracy Eco-socialism Free-market socialism Green anarchism Individualist anarchism Libertarian socialism Market anarchism Market socialism Mutualism Post-capitalism Post-scarcity economy Sharing economy Social anarchism Social democracy Socialism Syndicalism