Capitalism- a socio-economic formation based on private ownership of the means of production and exploitation of wage labor by capital, replaces feudalism and precedes the first phase.

Etymology

Term capitalist in meaning capital owner appeared earlier than the term capitalism, back in the middle of the 17th century. Term capitalism first used in 1854 in the novel The Newcomes. They first began to use the term in its modern meaning. In Karl Marx's work "Capital" the word is used only twice; instead, Marx uses the terms "capitalist system", "capitalist mode of production", "capitalist", which appear in the text more than 2600 times.

The essence of capitalism

Main features of capitalism

• The dominance of commodity-money relations and private ownership of the means of production;
• The presence of a developed social division of labor, the growth of socialization of production, the transformation of labor into goods;
• Exploitation of wage workers by capitalists.

The main contradiction of capitalism

The goal of capitalist production is to appropriate the surplus value created by the labor of wage workers. As relations of capitalist exploitation become the dominant type of production relations and bourgeois political, legal, ideological and other social institutions replace pre-capitalist forms of the superstructure, capitalism turns into a socio-economic formation that includes the capitalist mode of production and the corresponding superstructure. In its development, capitalism goes through several stages, but its most characteristic features remain essentially unchanged. Capitalism is characterized by antagonistic contradictions. The main contradiction of capitalism between the social nature of production and the private capitalist form of appropriation of its results gives rise to anarchy of production, unemployment, economic crises, an irreconcilable struggle between the main classes of capitalist society - and the bourgeoisie - and determines the historical doom of the capitalist system.

The emergence of capitalism

The emergence of capitalism was prepared by the social division of labor and the development of a commodity economy within the depths of feudalism. In the process of the emergence of capitalism, at one pole of society a class of capitalists was formed, concentrating money capital and the means of production in their hands, and at the other - a mass of people deprived of the means of production and therefore forced to sell their labor power to the capitalists.

Stages of development of pre-monopoly capitalism

Initial accumulation of capital

Developed capitalism was preceded by a period of so-called primitive accumulation of capital, the essence of which was the robbery of peasants, small artisans and the seizure of colonies. The transformation of labor power into goods and the means of production into capital meant the transition from simple commodity production to capitalist production. The initial accumulation of capital was simultaneously a process of rapid expansion of the domestic market. Peasants and artisans, who previously subsisted on their own farms, turned into hired workers and were forced to live by selling their labor power and buying necessary consumer goods. The means of production, which were concentrated in the hands of a minority, were converted into capital. An internal market for the means of production necessary for the resumption and expansion of production was created. Great geographical discoveries and the seizure of colonies provided the nascent European bourgeoisie with new sources of capital accumulation and led to the growth of international economic ties. The development of commodity production and exchange, accompanied by the differentiation of commodity producers, served as the basis for the further development of capitalism. Fragmented commodity production could no longer satisfy the growing demand for goods.

Simple capitalist cooperation

The starting point of capitalist production was simple capitalist cooperation, that is, the joint labor of many people performing individual production operations under the control of the capitalist. The source of cheap labor for the first capitalist entrepreneurs was the massive ruin of artisans and peasants as a result of property differentiation, as well as the “fencing” of land, the adoption of poor laws, ruinous taxes and other measures of non-economic coercion. The gradual strengthening of the economic and political positions of the bourgeoisie prepared the conditions for bourgeois revolutions in a number of Western European countries: in the Netherlands at the end of the 16th century, in Great Britain in the mid-17th century, in France at the end of the 18th century, in a number of other European countries in the mid-19th century. Bourgeois revolutions, having carried out a revolution in the political superstructure, accelerated the process of replacing feudal production relations with capitalist ones, cleared the way for the capitalist system that had matured in the depths of feudalism, for the replacement of feudal property with capitalist property.

Manufacturing production. Capitalist factory

A major step in the development of the productive forces of bourgeois society was made with the advent of manufacture in the mid-16th century. However, by the middle of the 18th century, the further development of capitalism in the advanced bourgeois countries of Western Europe encountered the narrowness of its technical base. The need has become ripe for a transition to large-scale factory production using machines. The transition from manufacture to the factory system was carried out during the industrial revolution, which began in Great Britain in the 2nd half of the 18th century and was completed by the mid-19th century. The invention of the steam engine led to the appearance of a number of machines. The growing need for machines and mechanisms led to a change in the technical basis of mechanical engineering and the transition to the production of machines by machines. The emergence of the factory system meant the establishment of capitalism as the dominant mode of production and the creation of a corresponding material and technical base. The transition to the machine stage of production contributed to the development of productive forces, the emergence of new industries and the involvement of new resources in economic circulation, the rapid growth of urban populations and the intensification of foreign economic relations. It was accompanied by a further intensification of the exploitation of wage workers: the wider use of female and child labor, the lengthening of the working day, the intensification of labor, the transformation of the worker into an appendage of the machine, the growth of unemployment, the deepening of the opposition between mental and physical labor and the opposition between city and countryside. The basic patterns of development of capitalism are characteristic of all countries. However, different countries had their own characteristics of its genesis, which were determined by the specific historical conditions of each of these countries.

Development of capitalism in individual countries

Great Britain

The classic path of development of capitalism - initial accumulation of capital, simple cooperation, manufacturing, capitalist factory - is characteristic of a small number of Western European countries, mainly Great Britain and the Netherlands. In Great Britain, earlier than in other countries, the industrial revolution was completed, the factory system of industry arose, and the advantages and contradictions of the new, capitalist mode of production were fully revealed. The extremely rapid growth of industrial production compared to other European countries was accompanied by the proletarianization of a significant part of the population, the deepening of social conflicts, and cyclical crises of overproduction that regularly repeated since 1825. Great Britain has become a classic country of bourgeois parliamentarism and at the same time the birthplace of the modern labor movement. By the mid-19th century, it had achieved world industrial, commercial and financial hegemony and was the country where capitalism reached its greatest development. It is no coincidence that the theoretical analysis of the capitalist mode of production given was based mainly on English material. noted that the most important distinctive features of English capitalism of the 2nd half of the 19th century. there were “huge colonial possessions and a monopoly position on the world market”

France

The formation of capitalist relations in France - the largest Western European power of the era of absolutism - occurred more slowly than in Great Britain and the Netherlands. This was explained mainly by the stability of the absolutist state and the relative strength of the social positions of the nobility and small peasant farming. The dispossession of peasants did not occur through “fencing,” but through the tax system. A major role in the formation of the bourgeois class was played by the system of buying out taxes and public debts, and later by the government’s protectionist policy towards the nascent manufacturing industry. The bourgeois revolution occurred in France almost a century and a half later than in Great Britain, and the process of primitive accumulation lasted for three centuries. The Great French Revolution, having radically eliminated the feudal absolutist system that hindered the growth of capitalism, simultaneously led to the emergence of a stable system of small peasant land ownership, which left its mark on the entire further development of capitalist production relations in the country. The widespread introduction of machines began in France only in the 30s of the 19th century. In the 50-60s it turned into an industrialized state. The main feature of French capitalism in those years was its usurious nature. The growth of loan capital, based on the exploitation of the colonies and profitable credit transactions abroad, turned France into a rentier country.

USA

The USA entered the path of capitalist development later than Great Britain, but by the end of the 19th century it became one of the advanced capitalist countries. Feudalism did not exist in the United States as an all-encompassing economic system. A major role in the development of American capitalism was played by the displacement of the indigenous population onto reservations and the development of vacated lands by farmers in the west of the country. This process determined the so-called American path of development of capitalism in agriculture, the basis of which was the growth of capitalist farming. The rapid development of American capitalism after the Civil War of 1861-65 led to the fact that by 1894 the United States took first place in the world in terms of industrial output.

Germany

In Germany, the abolition of the system of serfdom was carried out “from above.” The redemption of feudal dues, on the one hand, led to the mass proletarianization of the population, and on the other hand, it gave the landowners the capital necessary to transform the cadet estates into large capitalist farms using hired labor. Thus, the preconditions were created for the so-called Prussian path of development of capitalism in agriculture. The unification of the German states into a single customs union and the bourgeois Revolution of 1848-49 accelerated the development of industrial capital. Railways played an exceptional role in the industrial boom in the mid-19th century in Germany, which contributed to the economic and political unification of the country and the rapid growth of heavy industry. The political unification of Germany and the military indemnity it received after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 became a powerful stimulus for the further development of capitalism. In the 70s of the 19th century, there was a process of rapid creation of new industries and re-equipment of old ones based on the latest achievements of science and technology. Taking advantage of the technical achievements of Great Britain and other countries, Germany was able to catch up with France in terms of economic development by 1870, and by the end of the 19th century to approach Great Britain.

In the East

In the East, capitalism received its greatest development in Japan, where, as in Western European countries, it arose on the basis of the decomposition of feudalism. Within three decades after the bourgeois revolution of 1867-68, Japan became one of the industrial capitalist powers.

Pre-monopoly capitalism

A comprehensive analysis of capitalism and the specific forms of its economic structure at the pre-monopoly stage was given by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in a number of works and, above all, in Capital, where the economic law of movement of capitalism was revealed. The doctrine of surplus value - the cornerstone of Marxist political economy - revealed the secret of capitalist exploitation. The appropriation of surplus value by capitalists occurs due to the fact that the means of production and means of subsistence are owned by a small class of capitalists. The worker, in order to live, is forced to sell his labor power. With his labor he creates more value than his labor costs. Surplus value is appropriated by capitalists and serves as a source of their enrichment and further growth of capital. The reproduction of capital is at the same time the reproduction of capitalist production relations based on the exploitation of other people's labor.

The pursuit of profit, which is a modified form of surplus value, determines the entire movement of the capitalist mode of production, including the expansion of production, the development of technology, and the increased exploitation of workers. At the stage of pre-monopoly capitalism, competition between non-cooperative fragmented commodity producers is replaced by capitalist competition, which leads to the formation of an average rate of profit, that is, equal profit on equal capital. The cost of goods produced takes the modified form of production price, which includes production costs and average profit. The process of profit averaging is carried out in the course of intra-industry and inter-industry competition, through the mechanism of market prices and the transfer of capital from one industry to another, through the intensification of competition between capitalists.

By improving technology at individual enterprises, using the achievements of science, developing means of transport and communication, improving the organization of production and commodity exchange, capitalists spontaneously develop social productive forces. The concentration and centralization of capital contribute to the emergence of large enterprises, where thousands of workers are concentrated, and lead to the growing socialization of production. However, enormous, ever-increasing wealth is appropriated by individual capitalists, which leads to a deepening of the main contradiction of capitalism. The deeper the process of capitalist socialization, the wider the gap between direct producers and the means of production that are in private capitalist ownership. The contradiction between the social character of production and capitalist appropriation takes the form of antagonism between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. It also manifests itself in the contradiction between production and consumption. The contradictions of the capitalist mode of production are most acutely manifested in periodically recurring economic crises. There are two interpretations of their cause. One is related to the general one. There is also the opposite opinion, that the capitalist's profits are so high that the workers do not have enough purchasing power to buy all the goods. Being an objective form of violent overcoming of the contradictions of capitalism, economic crises do not resolve them, but lead to further deepening and aggravation, which indicates the inevitability of the death of capitalism. Thus, capitalism itself creates the objective prerequisites for a new system based on public ownership of the means of production.

Antagonistic contradictions and the historical doom of capitalism are reflected in the sphere of the superstructure of bourgeois society. The bourgeois state, no matter in what form it exists, always remains an instrument of class rule of the bourgeoisie, an organ of suppression of the working masses. Bourgeois democracy is limited and formal. In addition to the two main classes of bourgeois society (bourgeoisie and), under capitalism, classes inherited from feudalism are preserved: the peasantry and landowners. With the development of industry, science and technology, and culture, the social stratum of the intelligentsia - people of mental labor - is growing in a capitalist society. The main trend in the development of the class structure of capitalist society is the polarization of society into two main classes as a result of the erosion of the peasantry and intermediate strata. The main class contradiction of capitalism is the contradiction between the workers and the bourgeoisie, expressed in an acute class struggle between them. In the course of this struggle, a revolutionary ideology is developed, political parties of the working class are created, and the subjective prerequisites for a socialist revolution are prepared.

Monopoly capitalism. Imperialism

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, capitalism entered the highest and final stage of its development - imperialism, monopoly capitalism. Free competition at a certain stage led to such a high level of concentration and centralization of capital, which naturally led to the emergence of monopolies. They define the essence of imperialism. Denying free competition in certain industries, monopolies do not eliminate competition as such, “... but exist above it and next to it, thereby giving rise to a number of particularly acute and steep contradictions, frictions, and conflicts.” The scientific theory of monopoly capitalism was developed by V.I. Lenin in his work “Imperialism, as the highest stage of capitalism.” He defined imperialism as “... capitalism at that stage of development when the dominance of monopolies and finance capital has emerged, the export of capital has acquired outstanding importance, the division of the world by international trusts has begun and the division of the entire territory of the earth by the largest capitalist countries has ended.” At the monopoly stage of capitalism, the exploitation of labor by financial capital leads to the redistribution in favor of monopolies of part of the total surplus value attributable to the non-monopoly bourgeoisie and the necessary product of wage workers through the mechanism of monopoly prices. Certain shifts are taking place in the class structure of society. The dominance of financial capital is personified in the financial oligarchy - the large monopoly bourgeoisie, which brings under its control the overwhelming majority of the national wealth of capitalist countries. Under the conditions of state-monopoly capitalism, the top of the big bourgeoisie is significantly strengthened, which has a decisive influence on the economic policy of the bourgeois state. The economic and political weight of the non-monopoly middle and petty bourgeoisie is decreasing. Significant changes are taking place in the composition and size of the working class. In all developed capitalist countries, with the total amateur population growing by 91% over the 70 years of the 20th century, the number of employed people increased almost 3 times, and their share in the total number of employed increased over the same period from 53.3 to 79.5%. In the conditions of modern technical progress, with the expansion of the service sector and the growth of the bureaucratic state apparatus, the number and proportion of employees, whose social status is similar to the industrial proletariat, have increased. Under the leadership of the working class, the most revolutionary forces of capitalist society, all working classes and social strata, are fighting against the oppression of monopolies.

State-monopoly capitalism

In the process of its development, monopoly capitalism develops into state-monopoly capitalism, characterized by the merging of the financial oligarchy with the bureaucratic elite, the strengthening of the role of the state in all areas of public life, the growth of the public sector in the economy and the intensification of policies aimed at mitigating the socio-economic contradictions of capitalism. Imperialism, especially at the state-monopoly stage, means a deep crisis of bourgeois democracy, the strengthening of reactionary tendencies and the role of violence in domestic and foreign policy. It is inseparable from the growth of militarism and military spending, the arms race and the tendency to unleash wars of aggression.

Imperialism extremely aggravates the basic contradiction of capitalism and all the contradictions of the bourgeois system based on it, which can only be resolved by a socialist revolution. V.I. Lenin gave a deep analysis of the law of uneven economic and political development of capitalism in the era of imperialism and came to the conclusion that the victory of the socialist revolution was possible initially in one single capitalist country.

Historical significance of capitalism

As a natural stage in the historical development of society, capitalism played a progressive role in its time. He destroyed patriarchal and feudal relations between people, based on personal dependence, and replaced them with monetary relations. Capitalism created large cities, sharply increased the urban population at the expense of the rural population, destroyed feudal fragmentation, which led to the formation of bourgeois nations and centralized states, and raised the productivity of social labor to a higher level. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote:

“The bourgeoisie, in less than a hundred years of its class rule, has created more numerous and more ambitious productive forces than all previous generations combined. The conquest of the forces of nature, machine production, the use of chemistry in industry and agriculture, shipping, railways, the electric telegraph, the development of entire parts of the world for agriculture, the adaptation of rivers for navigation, entire masses of population, as if summoned from underground - which of the previous centuries could suspect that such productive forces lie dormant in the depths of social labor!

Since then, the development of productive forces, despite unevenness and periodic crises, has continued at an even more accelerated pace. Capitalism of the 20th century was able to put into its service many of the achievements of the modern scientific and technological revolution: atomic energy, electronics, automation, jet technology, chemical synthesis, and so on. But social progress under capitalism is carried out at the cost of a sharp aggravation of social contradictions, waste of productive forces, and suffering of the masses of the entire globe. The era of primitive accumulation and capitalist “development” of the outskirts of the world was accompanied by the destruction of entire tribes and nationalities. Colonialism, which served as a source of enrichment for the imperialist bourgeoisie and the so-called labor aristocracy in the metropolises, led to a long stagnation of productive forces in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and contributed to the preservation of pre-capitalist production relations in them. Capitalism has used the progress of science and technology to create destructive means of mass destruction. He is responsible for enormous human and material losses in the increasingly frequent and destructive wars. In just the two world wars unleashed by imperialism, over 60 million people died and 110 million were wounded or disabled. At the stage of imperialism, economic crises became even more acute.

Capitalism cannot cope with the productive forces it has created, which have outgrown capitalist relations of production, which have become fetters for their further unhindered growth. In the depths of bourgeois society, in the process of development of capitalist production, objective material prerequisites for the transition to socialism have been created. Under capitalism, the working class grows, unites and organizes, which, in alliance with the peasantry, at the head of all working people, constitutes a powerful social force capable of overthrowing the outdated capitalist system and replacing it with socialism.

Bourgeois ideologists, with the help of apologetic theories, try to argue that modern capitalism is a system devoid of class antagonisms, that in highly developed capitalist countries there are supposedly no factors that give rise to social revolution. However, reality shatters such theories, increasingly revealing the irreconcilable contradictions of capitalism.

Its characteristics are of great importance for understanding a particular phenomenon of social life. Capitalism is a system of economic relations based on the dominance of private ownership, freedom of enterprise and profit-oriented. It should be noted right away that this concept is the name of only an ideal model, since such a structure does not exist in its pure form in any state in the world.

The emergence of the concept

Its characteristics help to analyze the features of the economic development of countries in a historical perspective. Capitalism is a term that has been actively used since the second half of the 19th century. It was first used in France, then German and English authors introduced it into scientific circulation.

An interesting fact is that at first it had a negative meaning. Scientists and writers put into this word a negative attitude towards the dominance of finance, which was observed in developed European countries in the middle of this century. Representatives of socialism (Marx, Lenin and others) used this concept especially actively.

Market theory and class conflict

Their characteristics help to characterize the features of economic and trade development. Capitalism is a system based on the free functioning of the market, which serves as an arena of confrontation between the working class and the owners. The first seek to sell their power at a higher price, the second - to buy it cheaper. In addition, the market is the main condition for trade, without which it is impossible to imagine the existence of the capitalist system. The second important feature of the system is the concentration of the means of production in the hands of the upper classes and the retention of labor power by the proletariat.

There is a constant struggle between these groups for labor and pay. This leads to class struggle, which in a number of states led to revolutions. However, practice shows that the capitalist structure is most acceptable for the normal functioning of states, and therefore, from the beginning of its emergence, it quickly spread throughout the world, capturing almost all spheres of social life, including politics and culture. The above features of the system were highlighted by the famous scientist Marx, who devoted one of his most fundamental monographs to this issue.

Protestant ethic concept

Its signs help us understand the reasons for the emergence of this new way of life for Western European history. Capitalism is not only a special but also a specific way of organizing society. This is exactly how the famous German scientist and sociologist Weber viewed this stage of economic history.

Unlike Marx, he believed that this system is inherent only in Western European countries. In his opinion, it arose in those states where Protestantism established itself, which developed in society a cult of labor discipline, a high degree of social organization, as well as the desire to make profit and income. He identified the following signs of the development of capitalism: competition among producers, the presence of a dynamic market, active use of capital in business activities, and the desire to obtain maximum profit. And if Marx believed that this structure not only influences, but also determines the policies of countries, then Weber contrasted these two social spheres, although he recognized that they were closely related to each other.

About innovation

The main features of capitalism became the object of study by the famous political scientist and sociologist Schumpeter. He identified the following features of this system: a dynamic market, entrepreneurship and the dominance of private property. However, unlike these authors, the economist identified such an important component of capitalist production as the introduction of innovation. In his opinion, it is the introduction of innovations that stimulates the rapid development of countries' economies.

At the same time, Schumpeter attached great importance to lending, which provides entrepreneurs with the opportunity to introduce modern technologies and thereby increase production efficiency. The scientist believed that this way of life ensured the material well-being of society and the personal freedom of citizens, but he saw the future of the system in a pessimistic light, believing that over time it would exhaust itself.

The emergence of manufactories

One of the main prerequisites for the transition from the feudal mode of production to the capitalist one was the departure from the old guild system and the transition to the division of labor. It is in this important change that one should look for the answer to the question of why the emergence of manufactures is considered a sign of the birth of capitalism.

After all, the main condition for the existence and normal functioning of the market is the widespread use of hired labor. In the 14th century, in many European cities, manufacturers abandoned the traditional recruitment of apprentices and began to attract people who specialized in one craft or another to their workshops. Thus arose what, according to Marx’s definition, is the main feature of the capitalist structure.

Types of enterprises

In Western European countries there were various types of manufactories, which indicates the rapid development and introduction of a new method of production. Analysis of the problem under consideration (why the emergence of manufactories is considered a sign of the birth of capitalism) allows us to understand the ways of economic development. The owners of scattered enterprises distributed the raw materials to workers at home, then, already processed, it went to a professional artisan, who, having made yarn, gave the material to the next manufacturer. So the work was carried out by a number of workers who transferred the goods produced along the chain. In a centralized factory, people worked in one room using technology. These different types of enterprises prove the high rate of development of capitalist production on the mainland.

Scientific revolutions

Signs of the emergence of capitalism are associated with the characteristics of the European economy, where the transition to trade began very early thanks to the development of cities and the formation of markets. A new impetus for the development of the capitalist mode of production was the introduction of new technologies. This brought the economy to a fundamentally new level. The use of machines in factories allowed entrepreneurs to increase the volume of product sales. Advances in the field of science led to the fact that the creation of gross product became cheaper, since machines were now used in enterprises instead of workers.

The invention of the steam engine, electricity, and the construction of railways were of great importance. The discovery and development of new mineral deposits led to the rapid development of heavy industry and metallurgy. These changes completely changed the urban appearance of Western European countries, as well as Russia, where, after the abolition of serfdom, rapid development of industry began. So, the signs of capitalism in the 19th century were determined by the introduction of scientific achievements into production.

The emergence of monopolies

During the first stage of development of capitalism, production organizations were single and medium in size. The scale of their production was not wide, and therefore entrepreneurs could individually run their own business. In the 19th century, the system entered a new phase of development. The volume of production increased sharply, factories expanded, which led to the need to combine the efforts of entrepreneurs. Based on the above, we can identify the signs of monopoly capitalism: concentration of production, reduction in the number of factories, the emergence of large, capital-intensive enterprises.

At the turn of the century, heavy industry played a major role: mechanical engineering, metalworking, oil production and others. As a rule, consolidation took place within a single industry, in which associations such as cartels and syndicates arose. The first concept should be understood as an agreement between several independent enterprises that agree on the price of goods, sales markets and quotas. The second term means a higher degree of monopolization, in which firms, while maintaining legal and economic independence, organize a single office for the sale of their products.

Large forms of enterprises

The signs of monopoly capitalism make it possible to understand what the features of the new stage of development of this system were. Trusts and concerns are considered the highest form of association of plants, factories and firms. The first organizations jointly carry out not only sales, but also production, and are also subject to a single management, but at the same time retain financial independence. Trusts are created in any one industry and immediately occupy a leading position. Concerns are considered the most developed form of association. They are formed in related industries and have common finances.

The merger of capitals ensures faster and more efficient integration, in contrast to the above forms. The signs of capitalism in the 20th century indicate the development of this system due to its entry into a new, higher phase of its development, which gave scientists the opportunity to talk about the onset of the phase of imperialism, which is characterized by the merger of banks and production.

Capitalism is an economic productive order of division, created on private property, legal equality and independence of entrepreneurship. The most important criterion for accepting economic issues is the desire to increase capital and make a profit.

Something passed into capitalism from previous eras of feudalism, and some of the restrictions originated in “capitalism” itself.

The Birth of Capitalism

In today's world, the word "capitalism" is used quite often. This word obliges the unified social system in which we currently live. In addition, many do not even realize that “capitalism” is A relatively new concept of social systems in the modern world and literally just a couple of centuries ago, the world history of mankind was formed differently.

Capitalism is not only an economic system, but also a form of society that combines morality and standards of life.

Capitalism, which arose in the process of evolution, offers:

1. private property and equal rights to resource ownership;
2. trading system, capital market, land of labor, technology;
3. freedom of enterprise, and market competitiveness.

Capitalism as a social the system on which most countries of the world live, according to the laws of this system for productivity and division of trade turnover, refers to a small percentage of the population, in other words, specifically defined people and they belong to the “capitalist class”.

The basis of economical capitalism is the production of trade turnover and the provision of services, commercial activities, the bulk of goods are produced solely for sale and capital accumulation.

The bulk of the population sells their physical or mental labor in exchange for wages or any other incentive; representatives of this segment of the population belong to the “working class” group. This proletarian class needs to produce goods or provide other services, which are later sold with the direct goal of enriching income, in this manner the working layers of the population are exploited by mutually beneficial, mutual agreement.

The means of production can be at the disposal of private individuals; costs in the process of producing a particular product also fall on private individuals.

Capitalist social activity arises spontaneously, individuals can make decisions themselves at their own discretion and also take risks.

The configuration of economic development, which is characterized by the following main features:

• the means of production become the property of comparatively small groups, the owners of the capitalists;
• production acquires a commercial character, everything produced is sent to the sales market;
• the section of the labor process using machines and the conveyor process is gaining a high degree of development;
• money takes on meaning and is the main stimulating tool;
• The regulator of production is the market with its demand for a particular product.

The modern Capitalist system can be viewed as a combination of private entrepreneurs and state control, but capitalism at such an ideal level cannot be found in any country in the world, There will always be free competition.

So why does capitalism exist in every country in the world?

In our modern world, there is a clear division by class.

This statement is easily explained by the reality of the world in which we live: there will be an exploiter, there will also be a hired one - this is called capitalism and this is its essential feature.

Some may say that the modern world is divided into a lot of classes, for example, the middle class, but in fact this is not true at all! There is a chain in the key to understanding capitalism. This is when there is a boss and a subordinate and it doesn’t matter how many classes there are. By definition, the result is the same - everyone will be subordinate to a superior, and this is the very small percentage of the population “capitalist class”

Capitalism and its prospects in the modern world

As practice shows, capitalism does not have the right to solve certain problems of humanity, it does not solve the problem of inequality, poverty in general, racism and much more, but the free market gives a chance to win the biggest prize, albeit for a small number of players.

type of society based on private property and a market economy. In various currents of social thought it is defined as a system of free enterprise, a stage of development of an industrial society, and the modern stage of capitalism is defined as a “mixed economy”, “post-industrial society”, “information society”, etc.; in Marxism, capitalism is a socio-economic formation based on private ownership of the means of production and exploitation of wage labor by capital.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

CAPITALISM

from lat. capitale - interest-bearing money) is a type of society based on private property and a market economy.

The word “capitalism” was introduced into the public consciousness by K. Marx, the author of the famous “Capital”. Marxists define capitalism as a socio-economic formation that, upon reaching maturity, will create the preconditions for the emergence of communism. M. Weber sees in capitalism the embodiment in practice of the ethical ideas of German and English Protestants. Many researchers characterize capitalism as “open society”, “industrial society”, “post-industrial”, “information”, “post-information”...

If for communists capitalism is just the prehistory of humanity, then for the liberal F. Fukuyama it is its end. In the countries of the “third world”, living under completely capitalist economic laws, capitalism, however, is perceived as an absolute evil and synonymous with neocolonialism. There is still debate about what capitalism actually is? A society of class inequality and merciless exploitation or, on the contrary, a society of general prosperity and equal opportunities? A historically passing stage in world history or simply a way of thinking (“capitalist spirit”) and living?

The variety of points of view on the nature of this specific model of the world order does not negate what is its generic feature: capitalism is total commodity production, where a commodity is defined as a product of labor produced not for one’s own consumption, but for sale. This determines all the other attributes and characteristics of capitalism: the dominance of private property (and its sacralization), and the mechanism for obtaining surplus value described in detail by K. Marx in Capital, and the exploitation of hired labor, and the associated alienation of a person from the results of his labor , and a democratic state that consolidates this order, and an ideology that justifies the existing state of affairs.

The production of goods and making profit is the main goal of a capitalist economy, the raison d'être of its existence. Under capitalism, literally everything is a commodity - right down to those who produce them and who consumes them: people, ideas, social institutions, and moral principles. Even the religious canons that had developed over thousands of years, long before the emergence of the bourgeois world order, in a market society were auctioned off and “capitalized” - as, for example, Protestants did. Their relationship with God (as, indeed, the Jews) is formalized in the form of a trade agreement, where the parties bear mutual obligations.

This nature of capitalism was convincingly revealed by K. Marx and F. Engels: “The need for ever-increasing sales of products drives the bourgeoisie around the globe. It must penetrate everywhere, establish itself everywhere, establish connections everywhere.” Nowhere before the emergence of capitalism - neither in ancient times, nor in the Middle Ages in Europe, nor in the economies of eastern civilizations (India, China, the Islamic world) - was production of an exclusively commodity nature, characteristic of capitalism. And it manifested itself from the moment of the birth of the new economic structure, when in the XIII-XIV centuries. In the city-communes of Northern Italy (Lombardy - hence the name of the now widespread financial institution), the first institutions of a market economy arose - the prototypes of modern banks.

Due to the riskiness of their trade, numerous merchants had a need for other methods of payment when conducting trade operations than in cash or through barter in kind (goods for goods). In those days, a wide variety of coins were in circulation, and without a special class of people who could quickly navigate the exchange rate, trading operations would have been simply impossible.

It was the money changers and moneylenders, who lent funds to merchants to purchase goods, who became the first bankers. They not only issued loans, but also took money for safekeeping and transferred client funds to other cities and countries through their agents. Then written debt obligations - bills of exchange - appeared, and a kind of securities market arose.

All this was of enormous importance for the development of the economy. Firstly, the creation of a financial structure based on non-cash payments significantly reduced the risks of merchants and made them less dependent on the arbitrariness of kings, feudal lords, robbers and pirates. This naturally contributed to the expansion of the geography of trade. Secondly, money itself began to gradually turn into a commodity, and finance became a special, independent type of economic activity.

Many merchants, money changers, and moneylenders accumulated significant funds, which, in modern terms, were invested in production. But the guild system that existed at that time, with its strict regulation, was clearly not adapted to this. It came into conflict with the interests of the growing financial and usurious capital and was actually doomed.

Enterprising businessmen bought raw materials from peasants and distributed them to artisans for processing. This was how the foundations of the future manufactory were laid, which at the first stage of its formation was dispersed in nature: manufacturers lived in different cities and villages, and the owner had to travel and collect the products produced. This method of cooperation did not yet have the character of mass production characteristic of capitalism, since there was no division of labor. But a start had been made: artisans gradually began to turn into hired workers, which required the abolition of serfdom and other forms of feudal dependence.

The merchant class itself has changed significantly. The economic interests of the class also required new forms of self-organization. Guilds, built on a guild principle, gave way to trading companies. Initially they were few in number and often consisted exclusively of relatives.

But with the beginning of the era of great geographical discoveries, the situation changed radically, and the role of trading companies increased sharply. They became the main engine of world trade and, in turn, initiated the process of discovery of new lands and financed expeditions to the New World, Africa, South and Southeast Asia. It is no coincidence that it was in England, where starting from the 16th century. The largest and richest companies operated - the East India, Guinea, Levantine, Moscow - capitalism began to develop rapidly. These companies provided ideal conditions for the export of British goods around the world, which provided a powerful incentive for the development of industrial production in the country.

The archaic workshop structure was not able to provide sufficient volume for export supplies. Manufacture appears, the main feature of which is the division of labor. Now each hired worker was no longer involved in the production of a product from start to finish, but performed part of the work or only one labor operation. This dramatically increased labor productivity. The products of individual artisans were of higher quality and bore the imprint of the individual skill of the master. But, naturally, more expensive, because their production required a lot of time. Manufacturing production made it possible to produce goods, albeit of lower quality, but much cheaper and, most importantly, in large quantities to satisfy growing demand. But it was not able to meet the ever-increasing needs of the external and internal markets, since the same primitive technical means from the times of the workshops were used.

Truly revolutionary changes began with the beginning of the industrial revolution in the 18th century. A number of inventions: the creation of a steam engine, combing and multi-spindle spinning machines, as well as the use of coal instead of charcoal in metallurgy, the emergence of new vehicles - a steam engine, a steamship, etc., made it possible to significantly increase production efficiency. It was at this time that the foundations of the economic and social structure were formed, which, with significant changes, still exists in a modified form, determining the development of the entire world economy.

The Industrial Revolution, which completed the formation of the capitalist system, led to serious changes not only in the economy, but also in the social and class structure of society. The bourgeoisie has finally taken shape, clearly aware of its interests and defending them in the fight against the nobility. A class of hired workers also emerged. Its formation in the country of classical capitalism - England - proceeded dramatically.

The final formation of capitalism was preceded by a period of primitive accumulation of capital. After all, in order to organize machine production, it is necessary, in addition to significant material resources (the English bourgeoisie, who got rich from trading with the colonies, had them) and the presence of free hands.

In the XVI–XVII centuries. In England, landowners everywhere drove peasant tenants off their land. It became more profitable for landlords to raise sheep there, because the demand for wool for textile factories increased sharply. Homeless, landless, possessing nothing but their own hands, yesterday's peasants went to manufactories and factories, turning into proletarians.

In the era of early capitalism, they, just like ancient slaves or serfs, were subjected to merciless exploitation, and their standard of living was just as low.

The bourgeois state defended with all its might the “freedom” of even the least tramp and enshrined it in laws; it is ready to defend the rights and freedoms of all citizens without exception by any means, even to fight for them. Because only a free man can freely sell his labor power. The owner and the worker are equally equal and free. But the latter cannot offer any other product on the market other than his labor. And since the worker does not have the means of production - machinery, equipment, his labor itself is too cheap to feed him. He can live only by offering his labor to the owner of the tools. Naturally, the terms of the deal are dictated to him by the capitalist. The worker can accept them or not - he is a free person. The same as the owner, who has the right to purchase his services or refuse them.

The difference between the proletarian and the slave is that, as F. Engels wrote, “the slave is sold once and for all, the proletarian must sell himself daily and hourly. Each individual slave is the property of a certain master, and, due to the latter’s interest, the existence of the slave is ensured, no matter how pitiful it may be. The individual proletarian is the property of the entire bourgeois class. The slave stands outside competition, the proletarian is in conditions of competition and feels all its fluctuations.”

In modern conditions, of course, the main dichotomy of the era of classical capitalism “bourgeoisie - proletariat” no longer exists. Current capitalism in its post-industrial, information version has blurred the boundaries separating classes and strata and changed the contours of social space. Today, workers in developed countries are co-owners of the enterprises in which they work, and bear little resemblance to the dispossessed proletarians of the 19th century. In terms of income, they are included in the “middle class” and do not think about any class struggle to destroy the source of exploitation - private property. But neither the property relations themselves (in the economies of Western states there is a powerful state, “socialist” sector), nor the degree of development of democratic institutions are capable of changing the capitalist character of the current world order - a society of total commodity production.

Due to globalization and the international division of labor, developed countries have become the concentration of the bourgeoisie and highly qualified personnel, while the proletariat has moved to China, Latin America, Africa, and India. Thanks to another institution of capitalism - the stock market, workers in developed countries themselves became owners of shares in enterprises, while in third world countries the conditions of existence of workers are reminiscent of the dawn of capitalism.

Modern capitalism is characterized by the growing role of transnational corporations (TNCs), globalization and internationalization of economic life, and interstate regulation of the economy. This was reflected in the emergence of special organizations: the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, etc.

In Russia, after 70 years of dominance of socialist economic methods, the return to capitalism began during the era of perestroika and continued in the 1990s. “Building a fair capitalist society,” that is, a return to the methods of management of a century ago, was accompanied by predatory privatization, a bloody redistribution of property, complete lawlessness and arbitrariness.

There is a lot of debate about the prospects of capitalism. But basically there are two approaches: either capitalism is something natural and eternal, or it will give way to a completely different type of society and become a kind of “preceding stage,” just as capitalism itself once replaced feudalism, which was considered “natural,” eternal and “founded.” on divine laws."

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

Capitalism- a socio-economic formation in which private ownership of factors of production is widespread, and the distribution of the produced product, goods and services is carried out through market mechanisms. Capitalism is characterized by: free enterprise, competition, the desire of producers and sellers of goods to make a profit. Capitalism, being a socio-economic system, is closely connected with the socio-political system of the state and, in many ways, predetermines the latter. Capitalism replaced the feudal-serf system at the end of the Middle Ages, changing its original appearance. At the initial stage, capitalism was characterized by severe exploitation of labor and the desire to obtain maximum profit. At the present stage of development of civilization, capitalism is oriented towards social goals, achieving scientific and technological progress, and relies on achieving interest among producers in the results of labor. In modern political economy, the main features of capitalism are: private ownership of the means of production; wage labor system; freedom of enterprise and choice; free competition; profit; limiting the role of the state

In a capitalist system of free competition, material production resources and significant funds are owned by capitalists and capitalist enterprises. Private property allows capitalists to acquire, control and dispose of material and financial resources at their own discretion. The wage labor system is a key element of the capitalist economic system and involves the involvement in the process of capitalist production of goods and services of a wide category of the population, which does not own the means of production and financial resources sufficient to organize their own business. Freedom of enterprise and choice is closely related to private property. Freedom of enterprise means that under capitalism, private enterprises can freely buy resources (labor, means of production, land) and organize the process of production and sale of goods or services at their own discretion. Free competition means a type of competition between economic entities in which commodity producers do not have a decisive influence on the market price, and the additional income received from the sale of each additional unit is the market price.

82. Economic system of monopoly capitalism: features of formation and structuring

The modern stage of capitalism is called monopoly capitalism. Monopoly capitalism- This is capitalism in which large enterprises and their unions occupy a dominant position in markets in order to obtain monopoly profits. Under the conditions of monopoly capitalism, free competition between tens and hundreds of relatively equivalent enterprises gives way to the dominance of a few enterprises and their various associations, alliances or agreements, which allow them to concentrate a significant part of social wealth and production resources. The desire of capitalists to obtain maximum profit in conditions of free competition leads to the concentration and centralization of capital and an increase in the size of enterprises.

Monopoly profit- profit received due to the monopoly position of the seller in the market, which is characterized by a high rate of profit.

The main ideologist of monopoly capitalism is Karl Marx, who proved that capitalism is focused on creating monopolies and preserving empires. He called this stage of development of capitalism imperialism. The concentration of capital in the hands of large enterprises expands the possibilities of using scientific and technological achievements in production. In real life, a monopoly is power over the market. A seller has monopoly power if he can increase the price of his product by limiting the volume of output of a good or service produced. In monopoly markets, there are barriers to entry that make it impossible for a new entity to penetrate its boundaries. In the process of transition to the formation of large enterprises and their associations, a major role belongs to the active use of the joint-stock form of organization of capital and capitalist management. A joint-stock enterprise is formed on the basis of combining many individual capitals and personal savings of households by issuing shares

Cartel- an association of several enterprises of the same industry, the participants of which retain ownership of the means of production and the product produced, production and commercial activities.

Syndicate- an association of several enterprises of the same industry, the participants of which retain ownership of the means of production, but do not have ownership of the product produced. Sales within the syndicate are carried out by a common sales enterprise.

Trust- an association of enterprises, firms, whose participants lose production and trade independence and carry out their activities taking into account the decisions of the management center.

Concern- a large association of enterprises connected by a community of interests, agreement, capital, participation in joint activities. International concerns are called transnational corporations. Banks and other credit institutions actively provide loans on preferential terms and assist corporations in distributing new issues of securities. All of these trends are evidence of the formation of financial monopoly capital.