Capitalism and Culture

Paper Summary:

The works of Adam Smith, Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud center around the history of capitalism and its meanings as it has emerged from the West: First from western Europe and subsequently from the United States of America. The paper shows, however, that this is not the only light in which world economy might be seen. There are various economic systems that are viable in various cultures. The paper considers these systems in terms of the above-mentioned authors, together with authors who write from a different perspective, including M. Sahlins and Arjun Appadurai.

From the Paper:

"Sahlins points out that modern economies, although considered economically prosperous, feature, as mentioned above, a large amount of unemployed and destitute people. This is not so in hunter-gatherer communities, where everybody is taken care of by everybody else. Affluence in such societies is also not measured by money, but rather by commodities that can be found in the world around them. Sahlins further contests that the "civilized" world is obsessed with feeding the masses while exploiting and dominating as much as possible of the earth. This panicky search for the endlessly new and best of the world thus focuses the attention on scarcity. Thus concentrating on alleviating as well as avoiding scarcity, culture actually perpetuates scarcity in terms of those who suffer as a result of the capitalist system. Hunter-gatherers on the other hand are not so much concerned with either dominating or utilizing all resources available to feed huge masses of people. Instead the resources that are available are used by each person in order to satisfy each immediate need."

More papers on Capitalism and Culture:

• Analytical Essay # 118065 : "Capitalism and Organizations"
• Article Review # 114324 : "Capitalism and Adult Education"
• Research Paper # 109327 : "Marx: Capitalism and Class"

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