Does Capitalism Have A Future Summary

Imagining Post-Capitalism

Will Revolution get it there?

“Does Capitalism Have A Future?” is a scholarly book written by five scholars in an attempt to explore the possibility of a future collapse of global capitalism and proposes a hypothesis for the possibility of post-capitalism. Wallerstein, who is one of the scholars who wrote the book, argues that certain social movements of our contemporaneous days will create a transition to a post-capitalist world. He adds that the world’s contemporary struggle is an indication of the forthcoming new mode of production in the human history, which will most likely be a non-capitalist mode of production. “Does Capitalism Have A Future?” clearly states that there will be a struggle

He states that the world’s scarce resources will eventually limit the capitalist system to few to none options for expansion. There are simply no large new resources to exploit. Secondly, Wallerstein explains the concept of “hegemonic cycles” which he claims is the reason behind the difficultly of establishing a central power in the world to endure capitalism. “What is meant by hegemony in a world-economy is the ability of one state to impose a set of rules in the operation f all other states, such that there is a relative order in the world-system” For instance the US after 1945 was a hegemonic power while Europe suffered serious damage to its industry, therefore the US products were in lead in the European market. Even in case a certain hegemonic power exists, it is becoming increasing difficult for such a system to maintain its dominant position. Wallerstein further claims that new countries, such as India or Brazil, will share dominant positions but these countries will not necessarily become totally hegemonic. Indeed, he claims that Asia, Africa and Latin America are not in crisis. In fact, a certain economic motion seems to be shifting toward these regions, leaving Western economic powers in crisis. But one must ask, will capitalism in these regions go through the same cycle and be doomed to vanish like it

He declares that the increasing cost of wages and capital are also limiting the capitalist systems as more labor unions and international organizations demand that workers rights should be met. Similarly, taxes are becoming more problematic to both individuals and investors. Finally, the environmental awareness is rising among contemporary social movements and the concern about global warming does limit capitalists from expanding their work.

Wallerstein’s theory is, in its core, very Marxist. It does not necessarily propose that capitalism is bad; it just predicts that at some point in time, this system will face a crisis. This theory does not necessarily predict that capitalism as a mode of production can probably survive the crisis even though it can be deeply weakened by it. The Marxist theory explains the potential crisis by announcing the weakness of the capitalist system and stating that only with a revolutionary movement by a united working class will capitalism be