Page 52 - DSOC401_SOCIOLOGICAL_THOUGHT_ENGLISH

Sociological Thought

notes merchants and rich city dwellers. It is this state of society that gave birth to capitalism. In western
countries, capitalist economy has been defined theoretically by some economists.

Did You Know? Marxism has given rise to parallel political economy. Adam smith and
Rocardo developed new economical thinking.

This is the age that supported Laissezfaire ideology in the economic system. On the other hand,
a kind of industrial capitalism was born. Slowly state–Interference too became a determiner in
capitalism. In brief capitalism is where the basis for the production means is capital. The objective of
capital is to earn profit. Labour can be bought through the medium, means of this capital, and means
of production are also forcibly gained through this capital. Capital in whatever form, buys labour,
factories–foundaries, production–raw–materials etc. which are always under private ownership.
Therefore the central characteristic of capitalism is capital which is the main means of production. In
reality capital is used by non–marxist economists as a controversial argument. In fact, even in Marx’s
writing it was used much later. Marx himself used the terms capital and capitalist. In his renowned
books ‘Communist Manifesto’ and ‘ Das Capital’ he has not used the term capitalism anywhere. In
spite of all this, when ‘ism’ is added to ‘capital’ it becomes an ideology, and therefore it should be
taken in the form of an ideology.
characteristics of capitalism

Mehanad Desai has explained some fundamental characteristics of the Capitalistic system in some
detail. Where these characteristics prove the main characteristics of capitalism there, they also describe
its main elements. These characteristic are :
1. private ownership only in the hand of one class : In the capitalist system, the means of production
are in the hands of private ownership. These persons, for the benefit of persona, profit take decisions
about production and its means in an authoritarian manner, without counsulting their labours, who
have no part to play in the decision making process. When production resources are in the hands of
private ownership, then that means that other people’s lives are under the control of the capitalists.
2. market : The central concept of capitalist system is the market economic system. In the earlier
capitalist age, the economic system was local and self–sufficient. Then, every family produced according
to its needs. In cases of needs of those products the family did not produce, were obtained from the
product distribution system. In the early capitalist system the division of labour hardly existed.
In the capitalist systems products are not judged and controlled by tradition, nor by the order of the
state. Products are priced by the market, and the market belongs to nobody. Only the straight laws
of economics run the market : the law of Demand and supply. If the price of a product rises, it is a
clear indication that, the sale of that product is profitable. And if the price of a product falls then the
indications are : try your fate in another product. In the market economy, the consumer is the most
powerful.
Market is such a place, where labour–power is bought : where workers are put to work, and this
is a place where labour is sold or that workers get a daily wage. This wage is for a fixed time. It
is the speciality of the market that the buying and selling of labour is done through some kind of
understanding.
3. the distribution of money : In the capitalist system, money is a determining factor. In older times the
barter system existed through a distribution of products. In the villages of our country barter–exchange
system existed. But in the capitalist system the complete distribution is controlled by money. In this
system banks and other financial institutions play an important part in the distribution system.

46 LoVeLY professionaL uniVersitY