Capitalism

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Capitalism stands unrivalled as the most enduring economic system of our times. Since the collapse of the Soviet bloc the world has become a new stage for capital, and yet despite this dominance capitalism is still not widely understood. It remains a subject of enduring interest that is discovered and rediscovered over time by each successive generation of students.

Exploring the life of this world-shaping system and the writings of leading thinkers, this study also now takes into account recent developments, including the impact of the Global Financial Crisis and the complexities of China’s political economy. Paul Bowles addresses these key questions:

- what are the central, unchanging features of capitalism?

- how does capitalism vary from place to place and over time?

- does capitalism improve our lives?

- is capitalism a system which is ‘natural’ and ‘free’? Or is it unjust and unstable?

- what about today’s global capitalism?

- will capitalism destroy or liberate us?

This updated edition of a classic text is now supported by a comprehensive documents section, chronology and who’s who, as well as a new colour plate section. It offers a concise, lucid and thought-provoking introduction for undergraduate students or anyone with an interest in this most pervasive, long lasting and adaptable yet crisis-ridden of economic systems.

Cover 2
Title 5
Copyright 6
Dedication 8
Contents 9
Acknowledgements 13
Chronology 15
Who’s who 17
Glossary 20
PART ONE ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT 27
- 1 HOW TO THINK ABOUT CAPITALISM 29
  - Introduction 29
  - Outline of the book 32
  - The capitalist system: a simple definition and some not-so-simple issues arising from it 34
  - Identifying changes in the capitalist system over time 38

Cover 2
Title 5
Copyright 6
Dedication 8
Contents 9
Acknowledgements 13
Chronology 15
Who’s who 17
Glossary 20
PART ONE ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT 27
- 1 HOW TO THINK ABOUT CAPITALISM 29
  - Introduction 29
  - Outline of the book 32
  - The capitalist system: a simple definition and some not-so-simple issues arising from it 34
  - Identifying changes in the capitalist system over time 38
- 2 CAPITALISM AS A SYSTEM: ‘NATURAL’ AND ‘FREE’ 43
  - Introduction 43
  - Adam Smith: markets are natural for humans . . . but not for dogs 44
  - Milton Friedman on markets, freedom and Alka Seltzer 46
  - More from Adam Smith: markets feed us because of self-interest 47
  - Is private property ‘natural’ as well? 49
  - The state as impartial rule enforcer 50
  - Capitalism is also the most economically productive system 51
  - Some states are better rule enforcers than others – and so sometimes capitalism fails 51
  - Capitalism – the most economically productive system and therefore the ‘end of history’ 53
  - Does capitalism lead to democracy? 56
  - Capitalism as equal and just 60
  - Capitalism as a friend of the environment 61
- 3 CAPITALISM AS A SYSTEM: ‘UNJUST’ AND ‘UNSTABLE’ 64
  - Introduction 64
  - Unjust and unstable: Keynes and reformist critics 64
  - Unjust and unstable: Marx and radical critics 68
  - The importance of labour – or why workers are alienated but apes aren’t 71
  - Capitalism’s contradiction: poverty amidst plenty 73
  - Capitalism and crises 75
  - Capitalism as anti-Nature 75
  - Capitalism and gender inequality 77
  - The capitalist state: to be captured or replaced? 80
  - The capitalist state and education: enforcing the rules of American football or those of the treadmill? 83
- 4 EMPIRE AND CRISES 1870–1945 85
  - Capitalism unfolds 85
  - Overseas expansion as the response to crises 86
  - The curse of capitalism: late nineteenth-century crises 86
  - The curse of capitalism: the Great Depression of the 1930s 91
  - The human cost: riding the rails, searching for work and the crime of vagrancy 92
  - National responses to the Depression: Swedish social democracy, the ‘New Deal’ in the US and the spread of fascism in Europe 93
- 5 POST-1945 CAPITALISM: VARIATIONS ACROSS COUNTRIES 97
  - National capitalisms 97
  - How capitalisms differ: state–capital–labour relations 99
  - The Anglo-American model: decentralized wage bargaining and stock markets 101
  - The northern European or corporatist model: consensus decision-making and a large welfare state 102
  - Japanese (or East Asian) developmental capitalism: guiding the market and controlling labour 103
  - National varieties of capitalism as rivals 105
  - Varieties of capitalism: a matter of choice or history? 106
  - Varieties of capitalism: Asia, China, Russia and Latin America 108
- 6 POST-1945 CAPITALISM: VARIATIONS OVER TIME 112
  - Introduction 112
  - 1945–70: the ‘golden age’ . . . hot economies, warm capital–labour relations, and the Cold War 113
  - The ‘golden age’ in the South: postcolonial capitalist states seek modernity and industrialization 116
  - The 1970s: oil shocks the system . . . and Keynesian policy responses 118
  - A new international division of labour: the lure of cheap labour in the South 119
  - The 1980s and 1990s: the rise of neoliberalism . . . capital strikes back 119
  - Neoliberalism in the South: open those doors, be ‘market friendly’! 126
  - Global turbulence: financial crises in the 1990s 128
  - ‘Crony capitalism’ blamed for the Asian crises 129
  - Lessons not learned: The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 130
- 7 GLOBAL CAPITALISM 132
  - All the world’s a stage . . . 132
  - Are nation states still important actors? 134
  - I. The ‘globalization weakens the nation state’ view 134
  - II. The ‘globaloney’ or ‘states are still powerful’ view 140
  - III. The ‘some states are still powerful’ or ‘new imperialism’ view 141
  - IV. The ‘regionalism is more important’ view 143
  - As the curtain falls: what drama is unfolding on the capitalist world stage? 145
- PART TWO DOCUMENTS 147
  - 2 Friedman on economic freedom and political freedom 148
  - 1 Adam Smith and the invisible hand 148
  - 3 Marx and Engels on capitalism and class conflict 152
  - 4 Capitalism and class conflict in China today 154
  - 5 Keynes on Casino capitalism 157
  - 6 The formation of the Bretton Woods institutions 161
  - 7 The Washington Concensus 163
  - 8 Wolf’s cry for more globalization not less 164
  - 9 World Social Forum Charter of Principles 165
- GUIDE TO FURTHER READING 168
- REFERENCES 175
- INDEX 183
- PLATES 187

Author's affiliation

Paul Bowles: University of Northern British Columbia, Canada

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