Great definition of capitalism

DaveDarby

Just read a great definition of capitalism: a system for multiplying capital and dividing people.

Mettodo

I am currently going through the materials of a recent course at Mimbres School, when is capitalism:
In this course, we’ll examine and assess a number of proposed origin stories for the economic, political, and social structure critics call ‘capitalism.’ In the process, we’ll explore various ways in which each answer to the question ‘when is capitalism’ might really be a way of litigating a series of related, but different questions—questions like ‘what is capitalism’ and ‘how does capitalism differ from whatever came before it?’ At stake throughout are questions about money, power, and politics in the present era, as well as narratives of legitimacy, illegitimacy, and historical change

katjad

Mettodo That sounds really interesting, Unai. I had not heard about the Mimbres School before. How far into the course are you? How are you finding it?

dilgreen

Mettodo We like Colin Drumm (@Katja he's the founder of the Mimbres School - people who have read it {Tom W and Matt Slater} like his PhD - Matthew did an audio book of the PhD) - but he is intimidatingly ruthless on Twitter.

How do you find him in teaching mode?

dilgreen

I would say that Capitalism has morphed significantly throughout its history, so that a definition ought to be clear about the period it aims to apply over.

I guess most people will assume 'contemporary', though.

There are also 'layers' of capitalism.

Nitzan and Bichler, in their 'Capital as Power' talk about the capitalist elite as almost having moved beyond 'capital accumulation' - in this view they see capital as primarily a means to increase their control over the future (their own future) - so that they are less interested in absolute numbers of dollars than they are in the relative rate of accumulation vis-a-vis their competitors (for control over the future). So that they might in some case prefer capital destruction, given that their competitors suffer a greater rate of destruction than them.

This a 'top' layer. At the base layer, people seeking to achieve a 'passive income' are relatively simple 'capital accumulation' types, who save to invest, and to reinvest the profits.

Then there is capitalism as a systemic condition - an ecology of different kinds of organisation - governments, banks, corporations, 'Mittelstand' firms, marketplaces, stock exchanges, pension and insurance funds, and so-on and so-on.

I'm not sure a single definition is much use...