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Capitalism and its effects on society
Capitalism and its effects on society
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Modern life is a life of constant attack. Organizations are continually trying to make their message heard, and sometimes by any means necessary. Marketers, corporations, etc. want the consumer to keep on buying and possessing more objects, and that having ownership of products will complete them. However, even though they promote their products or services to better your life, are they really? Religions, spiritualists, etc believe that life’s happiness is only found from within, an inner peace that satisfies. Though that seems like the logical route to happiness, they have a nemesis named capitalism. This essay will explore the having orientation, the being orientation, and a critique of capitalism in its relationship to having through my interpretation of Erich Fromm’s To Have or to Be.
The Having Orientation
It could be assumed that having is the normal orientation in which people live their life by in the modern societies of Europe or North America. Erich Fromm stated, "To acquire, to own, and to make a profit are the sacred and unalienable rights of the individual in the industrial society" (From 1976:57). Fromm is clearly explaining that to have and to own is the dominant norm and having is related to an individual. Being individualistic is inherent to having because only one can have ownership. If having is shared, it loses its individualistic characteristic. The having orientation is the belief that to be fulfilled in life is sole ownership over a physical object(s) or in-tangibles such as ideas, thoughts or in some cases people. To further explain, the having orientation of physical property, ownership over objects is the ability to hold, possess, and be in control of. Ownership of intangibles is more an abs...
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...iolation of capitalistic having. The system of having is controlling our mind and way of life. If we as a capitalistic society were truly concerned about cost, we would give being more focus. Being is free and takes practice, but it saves a lot of money.
In ending this essay, having and being are states of mind, and having is associate with physical tangible ownership. Having is selfish, while being is unselfish and cheap. Being mindful of capitalistic having brings awareness of its destructiveness, and sheds light on what we have become. Defining ourselves with our career title instead of who we really are as people shows the degradation of our society. We desire to possess, but always seem to forget that even the richest people in the world cannot take with them their things.
References
Fromm, E. (1976). To have or to be? New York, NY: Continuum.
In the essay The Chosen People, Stewart Ewen, discusses his perspective of middle class America. Specifically, he explores the idea that the middle class is suffering from an identity crisis. According to Ewen’s theory, “the notion of personal distinction [in America] is leading to an identity crisis” of the non-upper class. (185) The source of this identity crisis is mass consumerism. As a result of the Industrial Revolution and mass production, products became cheaper and therefore more available to the non-elite classes. “Mass production was investing individuals with tools of identity, marks of personhood.” (Ewen 187) Through advertising, junk mail and style industries, the middle class is always striving for “a stylistic affinity to wealth,” finding “delight in the unreal,” and obsessed with “cheap luxury items.” (Ewen 185-6) In other words, instead of defining themselves based on who they are on the inside, the people of middle class America define themselves in terms of external image and material possessions.
Capitalism as an economic system has not been around for a very long time. Stanford indicates that this economic system began in the mid-1700s in Europe . For a considerably young system, it almost seems impossible to imagine a different way of living. Capitalism has become deeply embedded in our social structures; it is naturalized as a way of doing day to day things. If this is the case, then we as humans have a long way to go if we are to achieve social and economic justice. The question I aim to explore is whether capitalism is capable of achieving socio-economic justice. I am arguing that it cannot achieve justice because there is too much focus on profit rather than people and it dislocates the consumers from the modes of production which indirectly promotes social inequality. Our current economic system which I will be interchangeably using as capitalism throughout the paper will examine why the focus on profit is detrimental to the social well-being of people and explain how capitalism is divisive and why this can pose negative outcomes for individuals and communities. It is with these arguments that outline the need for a fundamental change to how our economy is structured and managed.
A large part of this problem is that many Americans buy into the ploys of capitalism, sacrificing happiness for material gain. “Americans have voluntarily created, and voluntarily maintained, a society which increasingly frustrates and aggravates” them (8). Society’s uncontrolled development results in an artificial sense of scarcity which ensures “a steady flow of output” (78).
Capitalism, by definition is known as “a way of organizing an economy so hat the things that are used to make and transport products are owned by individual people and companies rather than by the government”(Marxism). To some, this is the correct way of handling the economic situation in one’s country. But to others, such as Karl Marx and Adam Smith, there are other systems that would be more adequate. Is capitalism really the best way to go? What are the other options that could be better than capitalism? We must see which would be the best for society. If one were to negatively affect it, then it is not an option that should be taken. So, we must see the pros and cons for capitalism and how it can affect the economy and our society.
Divisions within the social stratum is a characteristic of societies in various cultures and has been present throughout history. During the middle ages, the medieval feudal system prevailed, characterized by kings and queens reigning over the peasantry. Similarly, in today’s society, corporate feudalism, otherwise known as Capitalism, consists of wealthy elites dominating over the working poor. Class divisions became most evident during America’s Gilded Age and Progressive era, a period in time in which the rich became richer via exploitation of the fruits of labor that the poor persistently toiled to earn. As a result, many Americans grew compelled to ask the question on everyone’s mind: what do the rich owe the poor? According to wealthy
society. Much of the world today is based on materialism and the worth of one’s
Every business can operate because of five essential parts; Product creation, Marketing, Sales, Finance, and Delivery of your Product. Throughout this essay we will be juxtaposing the different aspects of the parts above and showing how each of them relate to capitalism and communism and how each of the essential parts can be shown differently through both capitalism and communism. Business varies extremely when in different environments and these two environments are drastically different and the most different environments that are possible. This essay will help understand how drastic the differences really are between the two markets.
Capitalism controls or enslaves the laborer by making his existence dependent on the process of production instead of the production of the labor for himself. The laborer is historically different in a capitalist society because he is separated from production. He no longer produces for himself but instead for the general wealth, or the wealth of the capitalist. Capitalism controls even the capitalist himself by turning him into a mechanism which acts as the driving force of capitalism. As a consequence, the capitalist creates a society which is alienating and brutal for the laborer. However, the domination of the capitalist system leads to the creation of a collective working group that can become a form for human development and the creation of new radical social changes.
Erich Fromm was an influential German psychoanalyst and philosopher in the 20th Century. One of his most important works is the text, “To Have or to Be?” This book highlights Fromm’s opinion of the difference of “having” and “being” and why they are both important aspects to one’s life. The two different concepts have been widely debated between philosophers and analysts throughout the years. The term “having” seems to be the easier mode to define, while “being” becomes more complicated to outline.
Capitalism, the foundation of the American economy, is a system characterized by the privatization of the means of production. This system includes wage labor, competitive market, private sector employment, and the overall goal of gaining a profit. Capitalism, though relatively normalized and seen as the standard practice in the economic systems of the world, is a system that gives power to the wealthy and strips away at the proletariat class’ ability to rise in the social and economic hierarchy. It offers wealth and opportunity for those at the highest rung, in hopes that their filled pockets would put money and jobs back into the economy to raise efficiency and production, all while accumulating profit. Karl Marx’s theory of labor exploitation
Capitalism is the economic system in which production, distribution and, exchange of goods takes place for profit by people's own interest. In capitalism, private owners control over industry or market with none or very low interference by government. Capitalism provides right to express their freedom by making decision about their goods and labor. It gives right or freedom to choose what to produce, how to produce and, price of that product. Producer will decide that for how much he or she wants to sell his or her product. These, exchange of goods, all mainly depend on the laws of supply and demandl If there is no demand for a specific product, that producer won't be able to sell his/her product with profit. In contrast, on high' demand of a product, producer can sell and make a lot of profit. The main principle of the capitalism is to give freedom to the individual for their ability to produce something based on consumer demand and, interest in exchange of goods by means of profit and need. In sHort, people get freedom to run the market based on their ability and interest. In an ideal world, it supposed to benefit everyone, producers and consumers, because producer wilf produce and make profit from what people want and consumer will pay what they think the product is worth for. In Capitalism, private owner's make profit over labor. In-real world, labor get less money for their work on which owner make profit. Capitalism provides us freedom of individual, but it neglects the stability of the society.
This is a thought-provoking book about the pursuit of material goods. Kasser is not a preacher, but a scientist. He presents his evidence carefully, and concludes that materialism is a game not worth playing even on its own terms of promoting human happiness.
Michael Novak once said, "Capitalism must be infused by that humble gift of love called caritas". Historically, capitalism has been criticized a lot. Some criticize capitalism for religious reasons; others criticize it for its lack of justice. Money is a dominant factor in most people's lives in this day and age, no matter where they come from. Should money and materialistic amenities really hold such a big place in our hearts and lives? This is what Hanif Kureishi portrays in his short story “The Decline of the West”, which deals with the ethic aspects of capitalism.
“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 to determine the structure of a post-capitalist system and it also states that this change will happen soon, specifically in the next 3 or 4 decades. “What we need to analyze are the probable organizational strategies on each side in this struggle that started more or less in the 1970s and will continue in all probability to circa 2040 or 2050” .
It is this notion which gives the capitalists the opportunity and the means to exploit people in the society, through their wants and needs for an easy, nonchalant lifestyle. The problem arises when we start seeing these capitalists as saviors - as rescuers, and sometimes even incarnations of God - who save the people under them, from the hardened, miserable, and volatile life which they may have lead otherwise. It is at this moment where we commit our biggest mistake: put in our trust, faith and our life in the hands of these capitalists. They hardwire such people - make them feel like a prince, where in reality all they are, are peasants being manipulated and controlled to fulfill the personal objectives of these capitalists. It is in moments like these, where a person must realize, that all these comforts - these resources, these status privileges, the capitalists trust in them - are all but ‘baits’, intricately thought of and designed to ‘lure’ an individual into the trap from which - despite tremendous efforts - if caught, it is extremely difficult to escape from. It is, in moments like these, where one must develop and possess the mental