Capitalism And How It Shaped The World

Post date: Oct 18, 2010 1:21:27 PM

There have been many theories and ideas in the history of

mankind that have shaped our history and led us to where we

are now. The one theory that I believe that has had the most

impact on mankind is Capitalism. Capitalism is the

socioeconomic theory that has informed and shaped human

history for well over the past three hundred years. Started

as a professor's insight in Scotland, its widespread

adoption throughout the Continent has lead to an explosion

of changes that upended the world and is still causing it

profound disturbances or advantages depending on how you

look at it.

Based on the idea that the social good is best served byprivate pursuits (or so we were taught), it is almost Taoistin its simplicity and no less mystifying to some economistshonest enough to admit their befuddlement. In our day, ithas become just about the only way an average man can live,and even some rather morally extraordinary souls cannotremain untouched by it, whether compelled to work forwage-slavery or benefit themselves from the products ofwage-slavery.But what is one to do? There seems no other way to bestorganize society and its members. Communist China, thatgreat experiment in social engineering, has veered betweenrigid state planning to the loosest of state controls, andit can report egalitarian poverty and famine for all as wellas unequal access to wealth and security.So it's all well and good to criticize the failings of

capitalism, but perhaps no system can succeed completely. At

any rate, it does appear that capitalism, to borrow Winston

Churchill's comment on democracy, is "terrible but the best

we've got."

However, one is usually more likely to hit the bull's eye by

aiming for it, and part of trying to improve human

civilization increasingly involves the recognition that

capitalism is not the end-all and be-all of human progress

and development. It has brought awesome wonders, even as

Rome in her day was both fearsome and inspiring, but it too

shall pass as human beings continue to grow as a race and

learn to better and better manage their relations both

between themselves and within themselves.

In the 21st century no can really say true capitalism or

communism exist, most of the world is now a "Mixed Economy"

- a mixture of Public and Private Interest shaping and

guiding the progress of human history. Many theories have

come and gone some may stay till the end of time while other

may constantly change and adapt to our changing environment.

Seeing how lately a lot of attention is being given the well

being of our planet we might just see some changes come about

that may better our ways of living.

About the Author:

This article was written by Paul Wise. If you are looking for

more information about Capitalism, Paul recommends visiting

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