Capitalism Expansion Capitalism Can the Current Unprecedented

Capitalism Expansion

Capitalism

Can the Current Unprecedented Global Expansion of Capitalism

be Sustained

The global expansion of capitalism is an ongoing and uneven process. Discuss the similarities and differences between capitalism's historical expansion and current forms of expansion, and whether or not capitalism's expansion can be sustained. What limits are there to its continued expansion and what implications does this have for its, and our, future?

Many societies in the recent past have tried to deny the power of capitalism to their detriment. Communist economic theory may work in a perfect world, but humans will never be perfect. It is not in human nature to work as hard as possible so that someone else can benefit from that work. Of course, people will work hard for their family's benefit, but they often quail at having to work hard and then provide to the community larder. Capitalism, and trade, have worked for centuries as a means of using one's own talents and experience for another's benefit so that they can provide either something equally valuable in trade or a substitute that can then be handed over for the needed article. Capitalism has its downfalls, such as the very real potential for greed, but it has also been the engine by which the structure of the present world is built.

From a historical perspective, capitalism is what allowed people to live together in greater quantities than could be sustained by hunter-gatherer circles. Trade for goods began in ancient times, but it was not until much more recently that this practice was set up into a system that could be called an economic theory. Perelman (2000) traces capitalism back to the early days "sixteenth and seventeenth centuries" (17). He says that at this time people worked six days a week on average, but they were not as productive as people are now. They spent much of their "working" day in leisure. But, this changed slowly over time because the peasants worked lands that belonged to the landed gentry and they began to realize that if the peasants worked more, they would make more money. Perelman (2000) notes that "in southern France, rents appear to have grown from about one-fourth of the yield in 1540 to one-half by 1665" (17). Although this did cause the peasants to labor longer, Perelman reports that they still seemed to enjoy a great deal of leisure time.

So capitalism began due to a push from the landed gentry, but it was the middle class and trade that really opened it up. People realized that there were goods overseas which could be used to create wealth at home. The Dutch East Indies Company and the British expanded their reach beyond Europe and began colonizing the rest of the world and stripping it of its goods. While other nations were colonizing and looking for gold, some were finding gold in trade and capitalistic endeavor. The original expansion of capitalism was dominated by Dutch and English ships which plied the waters of the world looking for goods that could be traded for a profit.

Capitalism has grown through that time to become the preeminent engine of economies in the modern world. It is interesting to people over thirty, that a world which once contained two distinct superpowers marked by completely different political and economic philosophies, now those same countries that disdained capitalism as an economic philosophy of the elite are now embracing it. Perelman (2000) even writes that Marx believed in some of the tenets of capitalism but believed that the worker would have to be freed from the imperialism of the elite and stage a revolution before capitalism could take its true and perfect form (45). The expansion of capitalism has seen countries embrace free markets and economic growth all around the world, but it has not been an even growth.

The reason that capitalistic expansion not balanced is because different countries have different ideas of capitalism and different forms of government. While Britain and the United States believed in the will of the people and government for the people because of the ideas of Locke and others, many countries have always held that the people are to serve the government. So, even if those countries accept some of the tenets of capitalism, they may never change their ideas of government enough to fully embrace the process.

It is also true that in the modern world, capitalism is still about expansion and conquest to a large degree. Whereas capitalism was an exchange of goods between people when it was first envisioned and evolved into the case in which supply and demand were separated into understood properties, it has now become the case that people are valued based on the value they provide as consumers (Bauman, 2007). The expansion of markets has blurred the lines between the government and business according to Bauman (2007) and this state, he believes, is unsustainable. He laments the fact that this is becoming a consumer world where many of the people in the world are following the American idea that consumerism is the height of evolution.

Bauman and Gibson-Graham also seem to believe that the present brand of capitalism cannot succeed because there are too many people left out of it. The present expansion, as mentioned before, favors certain countries and individuals. But, even individuals within those countries are suffering because of the way that markets are conducted in the present world. Roman emperors were noted for their belief that "bread and circuses" would keep the people appeased, and that seems to be the case with the leaders of the market economy today also. The average consumer blindly follows where the marketers lead. Again, it seems to be completely unsustainable.