General features of capitalism. Capitalism in Russia

Built on the basis of private property rights and free enterprise. The phenomenon originated in Western Europe in the 17th-18th centuries and is now widespread throughout the world.

The emergence of the term

The question "what is capitalism" has been studied by many economists and scientists. Karl Marx is especially responsible for highlighting and popularizing this term. This publicist wrote the book "Capital" in 1867, which became fundamental for Marxism and many leftist ideologies. The German economist in his work criticized the prevailing system in Europe in which entrepreneurs and the state mercilessly exploited the working class.

The word "capital" arose somewhat earlier than Marx. Initially, this was jargon common on European exchanges. Even before Marx, the famous English writer William Thackeray used this word in his books.

The main features of capitalism

To understand what capitalism is, you need to understand its main features that distinguish it from other economic systems. The basis of this phenomenon is free commerce, as well as the production of services and goods by individuals. It is also important that all this is sold only in free markets, where the price is determined depending on supply and demand. Capitalism does not imply government coercion. In this it is opposite to the planned economy that existed in many communist countries, including the USSR.

Capitalism is the driving force behind capital. These are means of production that are privately owned and needed to make a profit. In everyday life, capital most often means money. But it can also be other property, such as precious metals.

Profit, like capital, is the property of the owner. He can use it to expand his own production or to meet his needs.

The life of a capitalist society

Capitalist society makes its living through free employment. In other words, labor is sold for wages. So what is capitalism? This is the fundamental freedom of the market.

In order for a society to have capitalist relations, it needs to go through several stages of development. This is an increase in the amount of goods and money in the market. In addition, capitalism also needs a living labor force - specialists with the necessary skills and education.

Such a system cannot be controlled from a specific center. Each member of the capitalist society is free and can dispose of his own resources and skills at his own discretion. This, in turn, means that any decision implies individual responsibility (for example, for losses due to incorrect investment of money). At the same time, market participants are protected from encroachment on their own rights by laws. Rules and regulations create the balance that is necessary for the stable existence of capitalist relations. An independent court is also needed. He can become an arbiter in the event of a dispute between two market participants.

Social classes

Although it was Karl Marx who is best known as a researcher of capitalist society, even in his era he was far from the only one who studied this economic system. The German sociologist paid a lot of attention to the working class. However, even before Marx, Adam Smith investigated the struggles of various groups in society.

The English economist identified three main classes within capitalist society: capital owners, landowners, and proletarians who cultivated this land. In addition, Smith identified three types of income: rent, wages, and profit. All these theses later helped other economists to formulate what capitalism is.

Capitalism and a planned economy

Karl Marx in his own writings admitted that he did not discover the phenomenon of the class struggle in capitalist society. However, he wrote that his main merit was the proof that all social groups exist only at a certain stage of historical development. Marx believed that the period of capitalism is a temporary phenomenon that should be replaced by the dictatorship of the proletariat.

His judgments have become the basis for many leftist ideologies. Including Marxism turned out to be a platform for the Bolshevik party. The history of capitalism in Russia turned into the 1917 revolution. In the Soviet Union, a new model of economic relations was adopted - a planned economy. The concept of "capitalism" became a curse, and the Western bourgeoisie began to be called nothing other than the bourgeoisie.

In the USSR, the state assumed the functions of the last resort in the economy, at the level of which it was decided how much and what to produce. This system turned out to be clumsy. While in the Union the emphasis in the economy was on the military-industrial complex, competition reigned in the capitalist countries, which resulted in an increase in income and prosperity. At the end of the 20th century, almost all communist countries abandoned the planned economy. They also moved on to capitalism, which is the engine of the global community today.

Capitalism (capitalism) is an economic system and a social order, where the distinctive features are private ownership of the means of production, the use of hired labor and freedom of entrepreneurship.

Capitalism as a social order replaced feudalism. This transition from feudal relations of production to capitalist in different countries had its own characteristics (for example, the English bourgeois revolution of the 17th century, the Netherlands bourgeois revolution of the 16th century, etc.). One of the main and decisive economic values \u200b\u200bfor the emergence of capitalism was the process of the so-called initial accumulation of capital, when small producers (mainly peasants) were deprived of all means by force and became legally free, and the means of production, on the contrary, were concentrated in the hands of the bourgeoisie.

As an economic system, capitalism is characterized by three main characteristics: private disposal of the means of production; market-price mechanism for coordinating the activities of individuals; maximizing income, benefits as a goal of management. In such an economic system, the problem of the efficiency of allocation and use of resources is brought to the fore. And this problem is solved first of all by each individual. Therefore, capitalism (European model) assumes personal freedom, individualism, subjectivization and rationalization. A person's position is no longer determined by the social status of his family, religious norms. He asserts himself in accordance with his abilities, becoming the measure of all things. As the German sociologist, historian, economist Max Weber (1864-1920) has shown, Protestant ethics played a huge role in the formation of capitalism, which is characterized by: the responsibility of man to himself, to society, to God; intrinsic value of labor and honest income (earned income). This ethic was established in the course of the religious reformation (XVI-XVII centuries) and replaced the Catholic ethics, which preached not labor, but consumption, pleasure, sanctifying social inequality and the right to sin, since sins can be forgiven.

For countries making a revolutionary and very painful transition from planned to market economies, it is extremely important to understand what constitutes the society to be built. For this, it is necessary to get rid of the illusion of compatibility between the market and socialism, that is, a market without private property, an efficient economy without capitalism. In the post-Soviet consciousness, the word "capitalism" is associated with exploitation, injustice, with the struggle of all against all on the principle of "man to man is a wolf." It is difficult to imagine that a society based on such moral norms could exist for two or three hundred years.

Capitalism is not only and not so much an economic system as a form of society, which unites free individuals, placing enormous moral demands on them. These moral norms of life determine the viability of the market economic mechanism. They are not generated by the market, but precede it. Capitalism as a form of society that emerged in the course of evolution presupposes:

freedom as an opportunity to act in accordance with a goal set independently and responsibility for one's choice as the absence of deliberate restrictions, except for moral ones;
civil society as a set of institutions, unions, associations strong enough to exclude the possibility of usurpation of power, tyranny, and at the same time, free enough to allow a person to join or leave them without hindrance, in other words, this society is structured, but its structure is mobile, capable of improvement;
modular man, capable of joining certain structures, associations, but not obeying them, preserving his freedom and the right to withdraw from these unions, associations, parties, etc., and at the same time ready to take active action against those who restrict his freedom , his rights, like the rights of others;
democracy, that is, a form of government that presupposes political freedom and the actions of a government elected by the people in accordance with the interests and will of the voters (governed), which, in turn, presupposes constitutional consent and the existence of effective mechanisms that limit the power and functions of government;
private property as a social institution that gives all members of society equal rights to own resources;
market system, including the capital market, labor market, land market;
freedom of enterprise and market competition;
limited role of government.

The named features and properties of capitalist society can be defined as capitalist ideology, that is, a system of values \u200b\u200band views on which this society is based and which are recognized by the absolute majority of its members.

Basics of economic theory. Lecture course. Edited by A.S. Baskin, O.I. Botkin, M.S. Ishmanova Izhevsk: Publishing House "Udmurt University", 2000.

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This social formation, which is characterized by the advantage of commodity-money relations, has become widespread throughout the world in different variations.

Advantages and disadvantages

Capitalism, which gradually replaced feudalism, emerged in Western Europe in the 17th century. In Russia, it did not last long, being replaced by the communist system for decades. Unlike other economies, capitalism is based on free commerce. The means of production of goods and services are privately owned. Other key features of this socio-economic formation include:

striving to maximize income, profit;
the basis of the economy is the production of goods and services;
widening the gap between the rich and the poor;
the ability to adequately respond to changing market conditions;
freedom of entrepreneurial activity;
the form of government is mainly democracy;
non-interference in the affairs of other states.

Thanks to the emergence of the capitalist system, people made a leap towards technical progress. This economic form is also characterized by a number of disadvantages. The main one is that all the resources without which a person cannot work are in private property. Therefore, the population of the country has to work for the capitalists. Other disadvantages of this type of economic system include:

irrational distribution of labor;
uneven distribution of wealth in society;
voluminous debt obligations (loans, borrowings, mortgages);
big capitalists, based on their interests, influence the government;
there is no powerful system to resist corruption schemes;
workers receive less than their labor is actually worth;
increased profits due to monopolies in some industries.

Each economic system that society uses has its own strengths and weaknesses. There is no ideal option. There will always be supporters and opponents of capitalism, democracy, socialism, liberalism. The advantage of a capitalist society is that the system makes the population work for the benefit of society, companies, and the state. Moreover, people always have the opportunity to provide themselves with such a level of income that will allow them to live quite comfortably and safely.

Features:

The task of capitalism is to use the labor of the population for the efficient allocation and exploitation of resources. The position of a person in society under such a system is not determined only by his social position and religious views. Any person has the right to realize himself using his abilities and capabilities. Especially now, when globalization and technological progress affect every citizen of a developed and developing country. The size of the middle class is steadily increasing, as is its importance.

Capitalism in Russia

This economic system took root on the territory of modern Russia gradually, after serfdom was abolished. For several decades, there has been an increase in industrial production and agriculture. During these years, almost no foreign products were imported into the country on a massive scale. Oil, machinery and equipment were exported. This situation developed until the October Revolution of 1917, when capitalism with its free enterprise and private property was a thing of the past.

In 1991, the Government announced the transition to the capitalist market. Hyperinflation, default, collapse of the national currency, denomination - all these terrible events and radical changes Russia went through in the 90s. last century. The modern country lives under the conditions of a new capitalism, built taking into account the mistakes of the past.

Capitalism- a socio-economic formation in which private ownership of the factors of production is widespread, and the distribution of the produced product, goods and services is carried out through market mechanisms. Capitalism is characterized by |: free enterprise, competition, the desire of producers and sellers of goods to make a profit. Capitalism, being a socio-economic system, is closely related to the socio-political system of the state and, in many ways, predetermines the latter. Capitalism replaced the feudal-serf system at the end of the Middle Ages, while changing its original appearance. At the initial stage, capitalism was characterized by tough exploitation of labor, the desire to get maximum profit. At the present stage of development of civilization, capitalism is oriented towards social goals, the achievement of scientific and technological progress, and is based on the achievement of producers' interest in the results of labor. In modern political economy, the main features of capitalism are: private ownership of the means of production; wage labor system; freedom of entrepreneurship and choice; free competition; profit; limiting the role of the state

In a capitalist system of free competition, material production resources and significant monetary assets are owned by capitalists and capitalist enterprises. Private property allows capitalists to acquire, control and dispose of material and financial resources at their own discretion. The system of hired labor is a key element of the capitalist economic system and involves the involvement of a wide category of the population in the process of capitalist production of goods and services, which does not own the means of production and financial resources sufficient to organize their own business. Freedom of enterprise and freedom of choice is closely related to private property. Free enterprise means that under capitalism, private enterprises can freely buy resources (labor, means of production, land) and organize the production and sale of goods or services at their own discretion. Free competition means a type of competition between economic agents, in which commodity producers do not have a decisive influence on the market price, and the additional income received from the sale of each additional unit is the market price.

82. The economic system of monopoly capitalism: features of formation and structuring

The modern stage of capitalism is called monopoly capitalism. Monopoly capitalism- this is capitalism, in which large enterprises and their unions occupy a dominant position in the markets in order to obtain monopoly profits. Under the conditions of monopoly capitalism, free competition between tens and hundreds of relatively equivalent enterprises is giving way to the dominance of a few enterprises and their various associations, unions or contracts, which make it possible to concentrate a significant part of social wealth and production resources. The desire of capitalists to obtain maximum profit in conditions of free competition leads to the concentration and centralization of capital, and an increase in the size of enterprises.

Monopoly profit- profit received due to the seller's monopoly position in the market, which is characterized by a high rate of profit.

The main ideologue of monopoly capitalism is Karl Marx, who proved that capitalism is focused on creating monopolies and preserving empires. He called this stage in the development of capitalism imperialism. The concentration of capital in the hands of large enterprises expands the possibilities of applying the achievements of science and technology in production. In real life, monopoly is power over the market. The seller has monopoly power if he can increase the price of his products by limiting the volume of output, produced goods or services. In monopoly markets, there are barriers to entry, which make it impossible for a new subject to penetrate its limits. In the process of transition to the formation of large enterprises and their associations, a large role belongs to the active use of the joint-stock form of capital organization and capitalist management. A joint-stock company is formed by combining many individual capitals and personal savings of households by issuing shares.

Cartel- the union of several enterprises of the same industry, the participants of which retain ownership of the means of production and the manufactured product, production and commercial activities.

Syndicate- unification of several enterprises of the same industry, the participants of which retain ownership of the means of production, but do not have ownership of the product being produced Syndicate sales are handled by a common sales company.

Trust- an association of enterprises, firms, whose members lose production and trade independence and carry out their activities taking into account the decisions of the management center.

Concern- a large association of enterprises linked by a common interest, agreement, capital, participation in joint activities. International concerns are called transnational corporations. Banks and other lending institutions actively provide loans on favorable terms, assist corporations in the distribution of new issues of securities. All these trends are evidence of the formation of financial and monopoly capital.