Capitalism
Capitalism is both a special kind of self-organizing system for structuring economic activity and a historical movement in support of such a system. Its first full development is generally taken to have occurred in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries in England, but its ideals of private property and open markets have been variously manifested and defended since. Capitalism is also coupled to a distinctive ethical view of the world, linked closely with developments in modern science and technology, and a source of challenges to other alternative ethical and political perspectives.
Historical Origins
The root of the abstract noun capitalism is the Latin capitalis, from caput, meaning head, from the hypothetical Indo-European qap-ut, by which cattle (another related term) are counted and thus in many preindustrial societies wealth measured. A popular but mistaken belief views capitalism as a transcultural phenomenon that "only needs to be released from its chains—for instance, from the fetters of feudalism—to be allowed to grow and mature" (Wood 2002). In reality, however, capitalism depends on special cultural conditions, including ethical commitments to the primacy of the individual and the importance of material welfare.
The political economist Adam Smith (1723–1790), who is often taken to be the father of modern capitalism, analyzes the accumulation of capital promoted by free markets and the productive efficiencies of increased divisions of labor.
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