Capitalism is an economic system in which private individuals or businesses own capital goods. The production of goods and services is based on supply and demand in the general market— known as a market economy—rather than through central planning—known as a planned economy or command economy.
Capitalism originated in 16th century England, in the agriculture sector. it was different from the agricultural system during the time of the feudal era in which agricultural produce was appropriated or taken away through taxation or by force of coercion by the feudal class. in the way of the agricultural production system, the capitalist class took to land on rent, purchase the land from the market and sold the agricultural produce at a profit. This way of extraction of surplus labor in form of profit was not by force or coercion rather it was by economic means. this was the beginning of classical capitalism. thereafter, capitalism evolved and spread across the globe in different modes and different forms.
Capitalism's supporters believe in several key points: Economic freedom leads to political freedom and having a state-owned means of production can lead to federal overreach and authoritarianism. They view it as the only sensible way to organize a society, insisting that alternatives like socialism, communism, or anarchism are doomed to fail. As former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, whose pro-capitalism stance is said to have devastated the British working class, once put it, "There is no alternative."
How Capitalism has impacted the world
The kind of impact that capitalism has on your life depends on whether you're a worker or a boss. For someone who owns a company and employs other workers, capitalism may make sense: The more profits your company brings in, the more resources you have to share with your workers, which theoretically improves everyone's standard of living. It's all based on the principle of supply and demand, and in capitalism, consumption is king. The problem is that many capitalist bosses aren't great at sharing wealth, which is why one of the major critiques of capitalism is that it is a huge driver of inequality, both social and economic.
Capitalism takes the position that "greed is good," which its supporters say is a positive thing — greed drives profits and profits drive innovation and product development, which means there are more choices available for those who can afford them. Its opponents say that capitalism is, by nature, exploitative, and leads to a brutally divided society that tramples the working classes in favor of fattening the rich's wallets. The Occupy Wall Street movement, for example, began as an anti-capitalist protest against "the 1%" — the richest of the rich of the capitalist class — and asked why they are allowed to grow fat and happy while 20% of all American children live in poverty.
Even Karl Marx, the father of capitalism has emphasized on the system's capacity to dehumanize workers, writing those capitalist methods of productivity "mutilate the laborer into a fragment of a man, degrade him to the level of an appendage of a machine, destroy every remnant of charm in his work and turn it into a hated toil." As the looming threat of automation and erosion of public health care puts more pressure on the working class, its opponents worry that capitalism's thirst for profit over everything else means that those who sell their labor will be worked to death.
Written By - Shivam Jha
Edited By - Tushna Choksey
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