This might seem like a dumb, obvious question especially on a leftist board: What even is capitalism, anyway?
I personally believe how someone defines capitalism says more about their politics than whatever ideology they might describe themselves as. I mean, we all agree here that capitalism is a problem — but what if we don't even mean the same thing by "capitalism"…?
So, what do you think capitalism should be defined as? Please try to be as thorough and comprehensive as possible and to avoid unexplained or ambiguous jargon.
private ownership of the means of production and wage labor
seems pretty clear cut to me
Ryder Hernandez
Capitalism is mostly characterized by wage labour and the private ownership of the means of production.
Angel Sanchez
It doesn't get any more specific than this, OP
Jeremiah Ross
How do you defined wage labor?
Robert Young
an arrangement in which labor is a commodity to be bought and sold, so workers sell it to the propertied
Camden Bennett
Doesn't that mean we also have to compute the commodity-form into the definition of capitalism as well?
Robert King
An economic system of production defined by private ownership of property, wage labor, and the commodity form. Most commonly paired with a market system for distribution.
Grayson Long
Is a market system really just a mean of distribution? What would non-market capitalism look like?
Joshua Lopez
Capitalism is both a economic system where productive enterprise is controlled by private hands to generate a profit, and a social system that divides people into classes based upon their relation to production and ownership.
