As far as economic systems go, capitalism has proven its dominance and claimed the title of most viable and sturdy economic system when compared to socialism. At least so far. Capitalism is excellent for stimulating budding economies of underdeveloped countries by helping allocate resources for goods and services and creating jobs for people. But are there limits to how big an economy can grow under the guiding hand of capitalism? When it comes down to it, capitalism is driven by people’s interest to invest money into more money, exponentially increasing the amount of capital in an economy. But have some wealthy nations grown to the point where more is not necessarily good? Capitalism relies heavily on the attractiveness of material incentives. But as human beings become more conscious of the thin lines between morality and monetary values, theorists around the world start to question whether the drive for material might not be in the best interest of everyone. One such theorist is a man named Robert Skidelsk, who wrote the book The World After Communism. Skidelsk asserts that capitalism instills a certain amount of greed into our culture, shaping our preferences and inclinations. He goes on to say that eventually when a society reaches a point where (mostly) everyone has enough and is well off, leaders should try to more evenly distribute wealth and instill a sense of modesty within the economy. Skidelsk hypothesizes that “perhaps socialism was not an alternative to capitalism, but its heir”. Regardless of whether or not that’s true, I don’t see our country changing a system that has help it make it one of the most powerful nations in the world.
2 comments:
This article is very interesting and thought provoking. I definitely agree with the part about society shaping consumers, which makes the capitalist system a little less individual than it appears. Also, although I agree that capitalism has moral issues, I disagree that it will completely be replaced by something because it takes into account the wants and needs of the consumer, who in effect has control over the market.
Capitalism is based on material incentives and as people's standard of living increases, material becomes less of an incentive. Maslow's hierarchy of needs points out that physiological needs such as food and shelter is the very basic of human needs and it's on the very bottom. Once this need is satisfied, people start to pursue other higher-order needs such as love/belonging, esteem and self-actualization. Therefore, eventually most people will not be satisfied by Gucci bags anymore, they will want something else, something more spiritual. I don't think capitalism will be replaced by something else, but I believe it will undergo some reform to better meet people's needs.
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