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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   2578 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 2, 2022

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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What exactly does it mean when people blame “capitalism” for something? I see this a lot on Reddit and I have never really understood what people mean by it. I see it most often in the context of people blaming capitalism for some sort of exploitative behavior by corporations or individuals, or that capitalism is the reason for all sorts of mental health issues and other struggles with modern life. But I don’t see how “capitalism” specifically can really be blamed for any issues. Anything related to exploitative behavior can easily be attributed to human nature and the inherent problems that result from competition for finite resources. And most of the distinctly modern problems of atomization and things of that nature seem to be a result of technological changes. Basically I find “moloch” to be the best explanation for what’s causing most people’s complaints about modern society but I’m wondering if there is something I’m missing when people attribute problems to capitalism itself

Their complaints probably have more to do with capitalist ideology instead of the literal system itself. Capitalism as an institution could not have reshaped society as it did, it needed an ideology to actually encourage people to partake of it instead of staying on subsistence or whatever else. That ideology says the people who accumulate lots of money and wealth through the system are actually praiseworthy. It didn't introduce the idea of wealth or status envy to us, but it did provide a path upon which accumulating wealth was not seen as immoral.

This is not all it did, of course. Another change it wrought was the idea that the markets should be as free as possible, and from there, that economic growth is a terminal value.

I'm not going to say all of the things above are so easily blamed on capitalist ideology. But when people are blaming capitalism for something, it's very likely they're complaining about how, for example, it has reshaped how we actually go about determining if something is or is not a problem, let alone what the solution might be.

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