We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, March 19, 2017

What is Capitalism, Exactly? [one of a series of five articles]

Click here to access article by Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D. from ThoughtCo

Cole has provided us with a series of articles related to capitalism that shed so much light on its various aspects. Although this website runs one article into another, I will post them separately in what I believe is a logical order and selecting five articles that I believe are the most important. I am posting two of the five articles today. Thus I believe we should begin with the important characteristics of capitalism as described by Cole in this article. 
Capitalism is a term that we are all familiar with. We have a capitalist economy in the U.S., and most of us could probably answer that a capitalist system is premised on competition between private businesses that seek to make profit and grow. But, there’s actually quite a bit more to this economic system, and it’s worth understanding the nuances, considering the fundamental and important role it plays in our lives.

So, let’s dig in to it a bit, from a sociological perspective.

Private property and ownership of resources are key aspects of a capitalist economy.