argumentative essay about capitalism

1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology

Philosophy, One Thousand Words at a Time

Arguments for Capitalism and Socialism

Author: Thomas Metcalf Category: Social and Political Philosophy Wordcount: 993

Editor’s Note: This essay is the second in a two-part series authored by Tom on the topic of capitalism and socialism. The first essay, on defining capitalism and socialism, is available here .

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Suppose I had a magic wand that allowed one to produce 500 donuts per hour. I say to you, “Let’s make a deal. You use this wand to produce donuts, and then sell those donuts for $500 and give me the proceeds. I’ll give you $10 for every hour you spend doing this. I’ll spend that time playing video games.”

My activity—playing video games—seems pretty easy. Your job requires much more effort. And I might end up with a lot more money than $10 for every hour you work. How is that fair?

In the story, the magic wand is analogous to capital goods : assets (typically machinery and buildings, such as robots, sewing machines, computers, and factories) that make labor, or providing goods and services, more productive. Standard definitions of ‘capitalism’ and ‘socialism’ indicate that, in general, capitalist systems permit people to privately own and control capital goods, whereas socialist systems do not. And capitalist systems tend to contain widespread wage labor, absentee ownership, and property income; socialist systems generally don’t. [1]

Capital goods are morally interesting. As in the case of the magic wand, ownership of capital goods can allow one to make lots of money without working. In contrast, other people have to work for a living. This might be unfair or harmful. This essay surveys and explains the main arguments in this debate. [2]

1. Capitalism

Arguments for capitalism tend to hold that it’s beneficial to society for there to be incentives to produce, own, and use capital goods like the magic wand, or that it’s wrong to forcibly prevent people from doing so. Here are four arguments for capitalism, stated briefly:

(1) Competition: ‘When individuals compete with each other for profits, this benefits the consumer.’ [3]

Critique : Competition also may encourage selfish and predatory behavior. Competition can also occur in some socialist systems. [4]

(2) Freedom: ‘Preventing people from owning capital restricts their freedom. Seizing their income in the form of taxes may constitute theft.’ [5]

Critiques : Maybe owning property, itself, restricts freedom, by excluding others from using it. [6] If I announce that I own something, I may be thereby announcing that I will force you not to use it. And maybe “freedom” requires the ability to pursue one’s own goals, which in turn requires some amount of wealth. [7] Further, if people must choose between work and starvation, then their choice to work may not be really “free” anyway. [8] And the general distribution of wealth is arguably the result of a morally arbitrary “natural lottery,” [9] which may not actually confer strict property-rights over one’s holdings. [10] I didn’t choose where I was born, nor my parents’ wealth, nor my natural talents, which allow me to acquire wealth. So perhaps it’s not a violation of my rights to take some of that property from me.

(3) Public Goods: [11] ‘When objects, including capital, must be shared with others, then no one is strongly motivated to produce them. In turn, society is poorer and labor is more difficult because production is inefficient.’ [12]

Critique : People might be motivated to produce capital for altruistic reasons, [13] or may be coerced in some socialist systems to do so. Some putatively socialist systems allow for profitable production of capital goods. [14]

  (4) Tragedy of the Commons: ‘When capital, natural resources, or the environment are publicly controlled, no one is strongly motivated to protect them.’ [15]

Critique : As before, people might be motivated by altruism. [16] Some systems with partially-private control of capital may nevertheless qualify as socialist. [17]

2. Socialism

Arguments for socialism tend to hold that it’s unfair or harmful to have a system like in the story of the magic wand, a system with widespread wage labor and property income. Here are four arguments for socialism, stated briefly:

(1) Fairness: ‘It’s unfair to make money just by owning capital, as is possible only in a capitalist system.’ [18]

Critique : Perhaps fairness isn’t as morally important as consent, freedom, property rights, or beneficial consequences. And perhaps wage laborers consent to work, and capital owners have property rights over their capital. [19]

(2) Inequality: ‘When people can privately own capital, they can use it to get even richer relative to the poor, and the wage laborers are left poorer and poorer relative to the rich, thereby worsening the inequality that already exists between capital-owners and wage-laborers.’ [20]

Critiques : This is a disputable empirical claim. [21] And perhaps the ability to privately own capital encourages people to invest in building capital goods, thereby making goods and services cheaper. Further, perhaps monopolies commonly granted by social control over capital are “captured” by wealthy special-interests, [22] which harm the poor by enacting regressive laws. [23]

(3) Labor: ‘Wage laborers are alienated from their labor, exploited, and unfree because they must obey their bosses’ orders.’ [24]

Critiques : If this alienation and exploitation are net-harmful to workers, then why do workers consent to work? If the answer is ‘because they’ll suffer severe hardship otherwise,’ then strictly speaking, this is a critique of allowing poverty, not a critique of allowing wage labor.

(4) Selfishness: ‘When people can privately own capital, they selfishly pursue profit above all else, which leads to further inequality, environmental degradation, non-productive industries, economic instability, colonialism, mass murder, and slavery.’

Critique : These are also disputable empirical claims. Maybe when people are given control over socially -owned capital, they selfishly extract personal wealth from it. [25] Maybe when the environment is socially controlled, everyone is individually motivated to over-harvest and pollute. [26] State intervention in the economy may be a major cause of the existence of non-productive industry, pollution, and economic instability. [27] Last, some of the worst perpetrators of historical evils are governments, not private corporations. [28]

  3. Conclusion

It is difficult to justifiably draw general conclusions about what a pure capitalism or socialism would be like in practice. [29] But an examination of the merits and demerits of each system gives us some guidance about whether we should move a society in either direction.

[1] See my Defining Capitalism and Socialism for an explanation of how to define these systems.

[2] For much-more-extensive surveys, see Gilabert and O’Neill n.d. and Arnold n.d.

[3] By analogy, different people might try to construct even better magic wands, or use them for better purposes. Typically the benefits are thought to include lower prices, increased equality, innovation, and more options. See Smith 2003 [1776]: bk. 1, ch. 2 and Friedman and Friedman 1979: ch. 1.

[4] Schweickart 2011 presents an outline of a market socialism comprising much competition.

[5] By analogy, if I legitimately own the magic wand, then what gives you the right to threaten violence against me if I don’t give it to you? Nozick 1974: ch. 7 presents a general discussion of how socialism might restrict freedom and how taxation may be akin to theft or forced labor.

[6] Spencer 1995 [1871]: 103-4 and Zwolinski 2015 discuss how property might require coercion. See also Scott 2011: 32-33. Indeed, property in general may essentially be theft (Proudhon 1994 [1840]).

[7] See Rawls (1999: 176-7) for this sort of argument. See John Rawls’ ‘A Theory of Justice’ by Ben Davies for an introduction.

[8] See e.g. Burawoy 1979 for a discussion of whether workers consent to work. See also Marx 2004 (1867): vol. IV, ch. VII.

[9] Rawls 1999: 62 ff.

[10] Relatedly, while one may currently hold capital, one may greatly owe the existence of that product to many other people or to society in general. See e.g. Kropotkin 2015 [1913]: chs. 1-3 and Murphy and Nagel 2002.

[11] A public good is a good that is non-excludable (roughly, it is expensive to prevent people from using it) and non-rivalrously consumed (roughly, preventing people from using it causes harm without benefiting anyone) (Cowen 2008).

[12] By analogy, why bother building magic wands at all if someone else is immediately going to take it from me and start using it? Standard economic theory holds that public goods (non-excludable and non-rivalrous goods) will, on the free market, be underproduced. This is normally taken to be an argument for government to produce public goods. See e.g. Gaus 2008: 84 ff.

[13] For example, according to Marxist communism, the ideal socialist society would comprise production for use, not for profit. See e.g. Marx 2004 [1867]: vol. 1 ch. 7. See also Kropotkin 1902, which is a defense of the general claim that humans will tend to be altruistic, at least in anarcho-communist systems.

[14] In a market-socialist system (cf. Schweickart 2011), it is possible to make capital goods and sell them at a profit that gets distributed to the laborers.

[15] By analogy, if I know that anyone in the neighborhood can use the magic wand, I might not invest my own time and money to maintain it. But if it’s mine alone, I care a lot more about maintaining it. This is the basis of the well-known ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ alleged problem. See, e.g., Hardin 1968.

[16] Kropotkin 1902.

[17] As before, in Schweickart’s (2011) system, firms will be motivated to protect capital if they must pay for capital’s deprecation, even though the capital is owned by society.

[18] By analogy, as noted, the wand-owner might make lots of money for basically doing no work. Sherman 1995: 130; Schweickart 2011: § 3.2.

[19] See e.g. Friedman 2002 for a collection of consequentialist arguments for capitalism, and Nozick 1974: chs. 3 and 7 for some arguments concerning freedom and capitalist systems.

[20] By analogy, the wand-owner might accumulate so much money as to start buying other magic wands and renting those out as well. See e.g. Piketty 2014.

[21] Taking the world as a whole, wealth in absolute terms has been increasing greatly, and global poverty has been decreasing steeply, including in countries that have moved in mostly capitalist directions. See e.g. World Bank Group 2016: 3. Friedman 1989: ch. 5 argues that capitalism is responsible for the improved position of the poor today compared to the past.

[22] See e.g. Friedman 1989: ch. 7 for a discussion of regulatory capture.

[23] Friedman 2002: chs. IV and IX; Friedman 1989: ch. 4.

[24] By analogy, the person I’ve hired to use the wand might need to obey my orders, because they don’t have a wand of their own to rent out, and they might starve without the job I’ve offered them. Marx 2009 [1932] introduces and develops this concept of alienation. See Dan Lowe’s 2015 Karl Marx’s Conception of Alienation for an overview. See also Anderson 2015 for an argument that private corporations coercively violate their workers’ freedom.

[25] See n. 21 above. This result is most-obvious in countries in which dictators enrich themselves, but there is nothing in principle preventing rulers of ostensibly democratic countries from doing so as well. Presumably this worry explains the presence of the Emoluments Clause in the U. S. Constitution.

[26] See n. 14.

[27] See e.g. Friedman 2002: chs. III and V and the example of compliance costs for regulations.

[28] See Huemer 2013: ch. 6 ff.

[29] All or nearly all large-scale economies have been mixed economies. In contrast, a pure capitalism would be an anarcho-capitalism (see e.g. Gaus 2010: 75 ff. and Huemer 2013), and a pure socialism wouldn’t permit people to privately own scissors. See also the entry “Defining Capitalism and Socialism.”

Anderson, Elizabeth. 2015. Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don’t Talk about It) . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Arnold, Samuel. N. d. “Socialism.” In The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (ed.), The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy , URL = < https://www.iep.utm.edu/socialis/ >

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Cohen, G. A. 2009. Why Not Socialism? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Cowen, Tyler. 2008. “Public Goods.” In David R. Henderson (ed.), The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics . Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund.

Dagger, Richard and Terence Ball. 2019. “Socialism.” In Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (ed.), E ncyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/socialism

Dahl, Robert A. 1993. “Why All Democratic Countries have Mixed Economies.” Nomos 35: 259-82.

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Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. 2019. “Henri de Saint-Simon.” In Encyclopædia Britannica , Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henri-de-Saint-Simon

Friedman, David D. 1989. The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism , Second Edition. La Salle, IL: Open Court Publishing Company.

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Gilabert, Pablo and Martin O’Neill. 2019. “Socialism.” In E. N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socialism/ .

Hardin, Garrett. 1968. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162(3859): 1243-48.

Herzog, Lisa. 2019. “Markets.” In E. N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , Spring 2019 Edition, URL =https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/markets/

Huemer, Michael. 2013. The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey . Houndmills, UK and New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Investopedia. 2019. “Mixed Economic System.” Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/mixed-economic-system.asp

Kropotkin, P. 1902. Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution . New York, NY: McClure Phillips & Co.

Kropotkin, Peter. 2015 [1913]. The Conquest of Bread. London, UK: Penguin Classics.

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About the Author

Tom Metcalf is an associate professor at Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL. He received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He specializes in ethics, metaethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of religion. Tom has two cats whose names are Hesperus and Phosphorus. shc.academia.edu/ThomasMetcalf

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248 Capitalism Essay Topics & Examples

Looking for capitalism essay topics? The economic system considered the most advanced and effective is worth exploring!

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💡 Most Interesting Capitalism Topics to Write about

✍️ capitalism essay topics for college.

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In your capitalism essay, you might want to focus on its key features or history. Another idea is to talk about the pros and cons of capitalism, discussing why it is good or bad. One more option is to compare capitalism and socialism. Whether you are assigned to write an argumentative essay, research paper, or thesis on capitalism, this article will be helpful. Here you’ll find everything you might need to write an A+ paper! Capitalism research questions, prompts, and title ideas are collected below. Best capitalism essay examples are also added to inspire you even more.

💸 Research Questions about Capitalism

• How did capitalism in its modern form appear?
• What are the key ideas of mercantilism?
• What is the relationship between capitalism and democracy?
• How did globalization help capitalism spread worldwide?
• Is inequality inevitable in a capitalist economy?
• What are the key characteristics of modern capitalism?
• What are the ways to ensure fair competition in a capitalist economy?
• What is the role of wage labor in capitalism?
• How to protect private property in capitalist economy?
• What are the disadvantages of capitalism?

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• Financial Markets as an Element of the Capitalist Economy Model The story demonstrates various use of the financial market by involved stakeholders such as Credit Suisse, Archegos, investors and lenders for the Archegos, as well as shareholders of Credit Suisse.
• The Supply of Money in the Capitalist Economy In the capitalist economy that the world is currently based on, the supply of money plays a significant role in not only affecting salaries and prices but also the growth of the economy.
• “Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist” by R. Lowenstein The book provides an avenue for Investors and businessmen to learn a lot from the thoughts of Warren Buffett on issues pertaining to business and the methods he applies when making investments.
• Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism I agree with the statement because people with different cultures have different ways of doing things and architecture is one of the crucial tools used to express the culture of the people.
• Shared Value: Business Organizations and Capitalism Systems The intention of the review, authors and the title of the article: This paper will review the views presented by the authors on business organizations and capitalism systems to draw informed and objective conclusion.
• The Various Aspects of Capitalism Communism is a sociopolitical faction whereby the means of production, such as land, labor, and machinery, are possessed and managed by “the state”, and individuals control only a small portion of the means of production.
• Edward Luttwak’s Turbo-Capitalism: Danger or Blessing? And these are some of the reasons to read his book and agree or disagree with the writer’s points of view on the present and future world economy. The main points of the author lie […]
• Saving Capitalism: Video and the Articles Analysis The video and the articles analyzed in the paper allow for a comprehensive understanding of current issues, with the increasing income inequality that undermines the virtues of capitalism being the major challenge.
• Stages of History, Capitalism, Class Conflict, and Labor Theory in Adam Smith’s Writings The stages of history in Adam Smith’s writing, as reiterated by Paganelli, are the age of hunters, the age of shepherds, the age of agriculture, and the age of commerce.
• Trans-Atlantic Chattel Slavery and the Rise of the Modern Capitalist World System The reading provides an extensive background of the historical rise and fall of the African nations. The reading gives a detailed account of the Civil War and the color line within its context.
• Triumph of Capitalism and Liberalism in Kagan’s “The Jungle Grows Back” In this situation, Kagan argues that it is not rational for the US “to mind its own business and let the rest of the world manage its problems”. It is to demonstrate the need to […]
• “Capitalism in America: The History” by Alan Greenspan and Adrian Wooldridge Such books are now divided into the synchronic and diachronic ones, where the latter ones examine the economics in the context of history, and the first focus on modern development. Hence, the major value of […]
• Capitalism: Contemporary Political Culture Various theories and ideologies have been introduced to try to establish awareness of the socio-economic and political nature of the life of various people in different societies.
• Anti-Capitalism: Social Phenomenon Thus, the younger generations are most likely to be polarized by the ideology of anti-capitalism, which is a divisive issue, since they are opposed to the idea of a few individuals in society controlling trade […]
• The Relations Between Capitalism and Socialism On the other hand, Marx defined socialism as a principle that ensures the most of these production factors are owned and controlled by the society or the state for the benefit of the whole community […]

🎓 Interesting Capitalism Essay Topics

• Phenomenon of the Capitalism and Socialism The system values private ownership with the price system as the system of determining the rate of exchange of goods and services.
• Capitalism in America in 1865-1930’s The capitalist economy of the US between the 1865 and 1930 laid a framework for the present American economic system. The objective of the union was to protect the rights of the workers, who were […]
• Economic Way Between Communism or Socialism and Capitalism in China A positive example of this mix is Israel, where socialism is dominant in the rural areas and capitalism, is dominant in the urban areas, this has led to an increase in the welfare of the […]
• Oligarchic Capitalism and Russia’s Global Resurgence The governments in many oligarchic societies are mainly focused on protecting and perpetuating the interests of the oligarchs while neglecting the economic growth and development that is vital in the prosperity of the country masses.
• Jonathan Prude: Capitalism, Industrialization, Factory The aspects of historical industrialization were based on rural capitalism of the North-West regions and the co-existence of nonprofit factories along with private properties makes it difficult to understand the milieu of the factory of […]
• Slave Trade and Rise of Capitalism Others consider the presence of capitalism to be the root of the slave trade as humans were in the earlier times viewed as factors of production similar to the current labor factor but different in […]
• The American Capitalism and Technological Progress So, the first reason for the American Revolution to begin was a very strict policy of the British Empire towards colonies, particularly, the restriction of commerce to the limits of internal trade; the colonies should […]
• Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story” Documentary The results of the research are deplorable, because the rate of unemployed people increases every day, people have nothing to pay for their homes, insurances, and education. Is it possible to make fortune in the […]
• “Turbo-Capitalism: Winners and Losers in the Global Economy” by E. Luttwak Consequently, the thesis of the book may be formulated in the following way: human society should beware of the present state of capitalism, turbo-capitalism, which can bring very harmful results of its existence that will […]
• Capitalism History: Ancient and Modern Capitalism During the 1st century, the double currency was stable and towards the end of 2nd century, the denars equivalent to gold started to rise.
• Capitalism and Industrialization in the “Communist Manifesto” by Marx In fact, the Communist Manifesto is clear in indicating that industrialization was a process that led to the overall improvement of society in doing away with the hardships of the majority of the population.
• How Best To Ensure US-Style Global Capitalism This research work aims to analyze the peculiarities of global capitalism and the impact that the United States has on other nations.
• Boltanski and Chapello: New Spirit of Capitalism Analysis For example, in their book, Boltanski and Chapello describe the new paradigm of production to be one of the forms of workers’ exploitation.
• Human Rights in the Disaster Capitalism Context By the word human rights, it is generally meant to be the protection of individual rights against the encroachment by the state and it also means the basic rights and freedom of individuals.
• The Concept of Capitalism in China In actual by capitalist state Chinese dreamt of living a life style free of bureaucracy so that they may be able to offend their sense of pride and demean the life-style of the workers’ families.
• Capitalism and Industrialization as a Cause of AIDS Spread Population growth rates are the highest in most of Asia, Africa, and Latin America due to the high degree of fertility and the dramatic decrease in mortality following World War II.
• Capitalism: Competitional Free Trade This essay will try to highlight the first problem area of Competition and Free Trade, what some of the known authors had to say about the effect of capitalism on it, and finally the overall […]
• The Synergy Between Capitalism and Democracy Democracy and its success: Democracy refers to a political system in which the political part of the government is elected through adult suffrage.
• Great War & Liberal Capitalism in Russia, Germany, Italy The history of capitalism has for long term highlighted the basis of reference on the impact of material prosperity and the overall view on the economy in the context of time and region.
• Capitalism, Individualism, and Social Responsibility This has largely been attributed to the regulation of modern societies by the state, the localization of the life-worlds, and the crisis of the subject in the post modernist culture of intellectuals.
• Capitalist System in America The market forces of demand and supply determine the prices of goods and services without the interference of the government. The capitalist argues that the government must protect its citizens who are the production units […]
• Does American Capitalism Allow Social Mobility? Sometimes, this process is called the distribution of talent, even though ratio can not be perfect, the more close it is to the ideal, the better principle of justice is applied in the society.
• The Result of Western Capitalism Fueling Communism The paper starts with the history of China and elucidates the entry of western capitalism into China in different stages, including the historic opium wars.
• Financial System, Financial Markets and Understanding of Capitalism in Germany and the U.S. The reason for this has been primarily identified as to the experiences and the events the countries have had to face in the past century.
• A. Smith and K. Marx: Contrasting Views of Capitalism One important aspect of society that helps balance the needs and wants of the people is Economics, the social science that deals with goods and services.
• Urban Democracy and Capitalism For example, surveys show that people increasingly identify with the planetary scale, the local scale, and a whole series of spaces in between.
• Supermarkets. The Machinery of Capitalism Even the meat, which is placed in the market, seems to be losing the imprints of nature, as it is boneless and entirely processed out of human hands.
• Capitalist Modernity After Feudal Mode The division of labor contributed immensely to the demise of feudalism and the rise of capitalism. Both lords and peasants sought to participate in the trade as a way of accessing markets for their products.
• Environmental Sociology. Capitalism and the Environment Some evident examples of remarkable economic development in modern capitalism encompass the enormous industrial development of England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the outstanding development levels of Western Europe, the emergence of East Asian […]
• Population Pressure, Surplus Population, Nature, and Capitalist Development While a section of the society has more than they can consume in several generations, others are starving because of a system that favours only a section of the society.
• American Individualism vs. Capitalism Norms However, a large number of people would agree that the possibility to satisfy one’s basic needs is one of the constituents of contentment.
• Reciprocity in the Capitalist Workforce Thirdly, the majority of companies have failed to implement the policy of employee engagement despite the fact that the requirements are quite common and easy to follow.[1] All of these factors separately or in a […]
• Profit and Capitalism on the Facebook Example Milton and Friedman’s school of thought discusses the power of the market in the sense that the majority of economic fallacies are driven by the lack of attention to simple insight and the tendency to […]
• Race and Ethnicity: Capitalism, Law, and Biology Stemming from the bigoted perspective that the colonialist thinking provided, legal regulations and biological theories have aggravated the quality of relationships between members of different racial and ethnic groups, creating the scenario in which the […]

📌 Hot Capitalism Topics to Write about

• “The People’s Republic of Capitalism” Documentary The central themes of The People’s Republic of Capitalism are the intricacies of the Chinese experiment with capitalism restrained by the authoritarian government and interdependence of American and Chinese economies.
• Economics: Socialism vs. Liberal Capitalism Karl Marx, a great proponent of socialism, refers to the ethical, economic, and political contribution of socialism to the welfare of the society in asserting his position on the debate of the best economic model.
• Federici’s “Caliban and the Witch” and Capitalism The main thesis of the book is multilayered and addresses the development of capitalism and the role women, as well as violence, played in the process.
• Weber’s “The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism” Much of the book focuses on the concept of capitalism as witnessed in northern Europe and the United States of America due to the influence of the Protestants.
• David Harvey’s Movie “Crises of Capitalism?” According to the opinion of the expert, the problem is that every system has some risks and the crises that society is experiencing today are the result of how the conflicts were managed and mitigated […]
• 2008 Global Financial Crisis: Crises of Capitalism? Although I had an idea of the possible catalysts of the 2008 global financial meltdown before watching the video, Harvey presented a clear report of the events that occurred before the crisis and put them […]
• Economics: Episode 6 of “Capitalism” Documentary In the meantime, while Keynes simply rejects the potential of the invisible hand of the market, Polanyi develops this idea and comes to a conclusion that the liberalistic attempt to establish the self-regulating market system […]
• Economics: Episode 5 of “Capitalism” Documentary The pivot point of the Hayek’s theory is the consideration of those factors that illustrate the market’s failure to coordinate human’s actions in an appropriate manner and the consequences of this failure such as unemployment.
• Astrology in Socialist, Capitalist, Psychological Views The fact that many people overlook what astrologers do or say has resulted in the unavailability of information in the area of study.
• The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber At the time of producing the document, society expected its people to believe in something. The sociologist used the concept of Ascetic Protestantism to investigate the origin and nature of capitalism.
• Chapters 4-6 of “After Capitalism” by D. Schweickart Also, the act of democracy does not seem to have any place in such a system since individuals who are wealthy take over the control of every process.
• Chapters 1-3 of “After Capitalism” by Schweickart According to the author, moral and pragmatic failures of capitalism are vividly evident in the modern world. In order to comprehend these lessons, it is necessary to compare and contrast socialism both in the 20th […]
• Economy of Capitalism, Communism, Fascism and Socialism Government structure: the structure of the government in the two countries, involves federal governments that are led by the political elites in the countries. The government has the duty of formulating policies that regulate the […]
• “Capitalism and Freedom” by Milton Friedman In turn, the competition will be one of the factors that can improve the quality of education. Moreover, the increased competition can make school administrators more responsive to the suggestions and critique of parents who […]
• “State Capitalism Comes of Age” by Ian Bremmer Thus, Bremmer concentrates on the discussion of the opposition of the models realized in such countries as Russia, China, Brazil, and India with basing on the principles of state capitalism and the model of free […]
• Capitalism System: David Harvey’s View David Harvey tries to convince the viewers that capitalism is a horrible system that leads humanity to self-destruction on a global scale.
• Capitalism Problem: Video Analysis However, the lack of resources and their disproportionate distribution will inevitably lead to a serious crisis. Admittedly, people’s nature will not change, and many people will not want to build a fair society where resources […]
• Labor Market, Social Organizations and Wages in Capitalism Therefore, employers are forced to pay efficiency wages to increase work intensity and the cost of job loss. The intention is to reduce wages as employees are pressurized to work harder and to the extreme.
• Socialist vs. Capitalist Approach to Social Issues Capitalism also refers to a system where the economy is independent of the state. In a Socialist economy, the intellectual property belongs to the government.
• “Redeeming Capitalism” by Kenneth J. Barnes With such gaps, the central thesis of the text is that there is a need for the global society to combine aspects of morality and ethics with modern capitalism and ensure that it meets the […]
• Capitalism in Poland and Its Transitional Stage The decades of socialism had a significant impact on the transition countries and resulted in the lack of institutions involved in the provision of the functioning of a market economy.
• Protestantism, Capitalism, and Predestination Calvinism and Predestination are central to the book because Weber considers the actions and beliefs of Calvinists as two of the major factors in the development of capitalism.
• Saving Capitalism: Its Role in Modern World This type of economic structure is called capitalistic, and one of its central conditions is the right to private property and free trade within the limits of the norms established by the law.
• Eduardo Porter’s Views on Capitalism In the meantime, the latest change in the economic trends shows that the economist’s expectations were inflated as well as the potential that he assigned to the free market turned out to be exaggerated.
• The Destructive Nature of Capitalism The author emphasizes the tendency in the modern popular culture to humanize the technological aspects of our lives, probably in order to compensate for the exacerbated violence and a lack of compassion that human beings […]
• Poverty: An Echo of Capitalism Poverty is a word that has always been a part of people’s lives at different stages of the development of human society. Relative poverty is often defined as the lack of material resources needed to […]
• The Dutch Republic and Capitalism The production of silk brought by merchants from China to Italy and Turkey is an excellent example of the influence that merchants had during that time period.
• Capitalism in Milanovic’s and Ferguson’s Views Other economists establish that there is a need for the government to intervene to avoid the risk of monopolies. The question of wages in labor also calls for the intervention of the government to make […]
• Nature, Technology, Society, and Capitalism For the majority of human history, the approach towards the relationship between Humanity and Nature was perceived through the lens of binary interactions.
• Division of Labor: Aspects of Capitalism The paper then focuses on the differences between the social division of labor and the detailed division of labor. It is important to look at the difference between the social division of labor and the […]
• Capitalism in Marx’s, Weber’s, Durkheim’s Theories Conceptualizing change as a feature of social modernity using analogies such as growth, cyclical renewal, progress, modernity, development, and evolution gives us presuppositions for understanding the world and the concept of individual, society, and culture. […]
• Russia’s Transition to Capitalism First, lack of a robust system of property rights was the greatest drawback to the successful implementation of the transition policies. Russia experienced the assassination of famous economists and lawyers that advocated the transition from […]
• The Development of Capitalism in Canada To begin with, Pentland states that by the middle of the nineteenth century there were a plenty of signs indicating that the changes of the course of the economy “had gone too far to be […]
• Society, Culture, Economy in “Capitalism” Mini-Series While certain points, such as the historical, sociological, and anthropological grounds for the Smith’s work are persuasive and present a solid basis for further inquiry, some of the conclusions, such as the inherent malevolence of […]
• Capitalism and Its Influence on Globalization
• “The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism” by Weber
• Capitalism in Adam Smith’s and Karl Marx’s Views
• Globalization, Art and Capitalism
• Karl Marx: Critique of Capitalism
• Varieties of Capitalism – Comparative Advantages
• Shared Value Capitalism by Porter and Kramer
• Capitalism and Just Eat It Documentaries Contrast
• Capitalism in the US: Criticism and Alternative
• Globalization and Its Impact on Capitalism
• Documentaries – Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore
• Capitalism Spirit and the Protestant Ethic
• Capitalism in Canadian Society
• History Fukuzawa Yukishi: From Samurai to Capitalist
• Economic Issues in “Capitalism” by Joan Robinson
• Marxist Critique of Capitalism: Expropriation of Surplus Value
• Clean Capitalism in Organizations
• Weber and the Rise of Capitalism
• Natural Capitalism in Economic
• Relationship Between Capitalism and a Logically Formal Rational Legal System
• Marxist Critiques of Capitalism: Theory of Surplus Value
• Socialist Market Economy of China Shift Toward Capitalism
• Robert Brenner on the Development of Capitalism
• Biggart and Swedberg Views on Capitalist Development
• Capitalism and Colonialism
• The Transition of Russia to Capitalism
• Capitalism: Theoretical and Operational Limitations
• The Role of Capitalism and the Life of Workers: XX Century
• Global Capitalism and Its Discontent
• An Invisible Hand of Capitalism in the Business
• Market Structure during Post-Mao China: Capitalism or Socialism?
• Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Dynamic Capitalism
• Marxists’ Critique of Crises With the Capitalist System
• Capitalism, Democracy and the Treaty of Waitangi are Three Ways Through Which We in Aotearoa ‘Organise’ Ourselves
• Taxes, Capitalism, and Democracy: Karl Marx vs. Plato
• Racial Capitalism and Colonialism
• Racial Capitalism and Colonialism in African Diasporic Culture and Western Culture
• Capitalist Societies Economic Disparities
• How Is Today’s Capitalism Society Changed by the “New Left?”
• Video Report “China’s Capitalist Revolution”
• Capitalism in Modern Societies
• The Political and Economic Spheres in Capitalist Societies
• The Global Financial Crisis and Capitalism for the Elite Rich
• David Harvey About Capitalism
• Weber’s Ideal Type of the Spirit of Capitalism
• Understanding Economics: The Nature and Logic of Capitalism
• Richard Sennett’s Account of the ‘New Capitalism’ in Relation to Current Organizations
• Labor in Capitalism System
• Economic Principles and Theories of Adam Smith: A Case for Free Markets and Capitalism
• Capitalism and World Inequality
• Weber’s Conception of the Capitalist Entrepreneur and the Modern Bureaucrat
• Capitalism Concept Evolution
• British Capitalism Development
• Capitalist Economy Support
• John Gray: Fast Capitalism and the End of Management
• Running Economies: Capitalism and Socialism
• Capitalist Economies in the US
• Scholars on the Effects of Capitalism
• Political Ideologies: Capitalism vs. Socialism
• Adam Smith’s Understanding of Capitalism
• Can Capitalism Be Ethical?
• Capitalism and Its Role in Commodity Exchange and Value
• Capitalism and Poverty
• Karl Marx: From Feudal Society to Modern Capitalism
• Compare of Capitalism and Socialism
• Capitalism: A Love Story: A Reflective Paper
• Development of the Atlantic Trade Triangle a Colonial Capitalism (Mercantilism)
• How Capitalism Beat Communism/Socialism
• Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Weber
• US Economic Success: Rise of Capitalism
• Forced Labor and Free Enterprise on Sugar Plantations Created a Feudal and Capitalism Society

❓ Capitalism Research Paper Topics

• Why Has Liberal Capitalism Failed To Stimulate a Democratic Culture in Africa?
• What Is the Connection Between Capitalism and Modern Culture?
• How Government Policies Affected Global Capitalism?
• What Are the Positive and Negative Outcomes of Market Capitalism?
• How Does Capitalism Differ From Socialism?
• What Is the Connection Between Slavery, the Rise of Capitalism, and Colonization?
• What Is the Relationship Between Race and Capitalism?
• How Does Modern Capitalism Looks Like?
• Will Global Capitalism Fall Again?
• What Is the Relationship Between Capitalism and Democracy?
• How Capitalism Contributes Towards Unemployment?
• What Is the Difference and Similarity Between Socialism and Capitalism?
• How Does Shared Capitalism Affect Economic Performance in the UK?
• Why Doesn’t Capitalism Flow to Poor Countries?
• How Does Capitalism Affect Population Growth?
• Did the New Deal Strengthen or Weakened the USA Capitalism?
• How Has the Rise of Capitalism Contributed to the Persistent Gender Inequity?
• How Can Capitalism Take Control of People’s Lives?
• What Is the Conflict Between Socialism and Capitalism?
• What Can Marx’s Work on Capitalism Tell Us About Modernity?
• How Does the Spirit of Capitalism Affect Stock Market Prices?
• How Capitalism and the Bourgeois Virtues Transformed and Humanized the Family?
• Who Are Capitalists and What Is Capitalism?
• How Does the Capitalism Influence the Debt of Developing Countries?
• Why Does Market Capitalism Fail To Deliver a Sustainable Environment and Greater Equality of Incomes?
• How Can Capitalism Save American Healthcare?
• How Slavery Shifted the Economy Towards Capitalism?
• How Has the Internet Changed Modern-Day Capitalism?
• Why China Chose the Socialism Instead of Capitalism as the Country Political System When Prc Was Established?
• How Capitalism Thwarts Creativity?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Does capitalism have a future? A review essay of Peter Boettke’s The Struggle for a Better World and Daniel Bromley’s Possessive Individualism: A Crisis of Capitalism

Ilia murtazashvili.

Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA

In this review essay, I compare and contrast Peter Boettke’s The Struggle for a Better World (Mercatus Center, 2021) and Daniel Bromley’s Possessive Individualism: A Crisis of Capitalism (Oxford University Press, 2019). Each of these books considers the future of capitalism. Boettke’s Struggle sees capitalism as the only morally and economically justifiable system but that continual effort is necessary to ensure the capitalist enterprise succeeds. Bromley’s Crisis sees capitalism as a spent force that no longer does what it was meant to do—namely, improve the economic well-being of households. There are surprisingly many points of agreement in these books, most notably a concern for the downtrodden in society and an appreciation for the legitimation crisis confronting capitalism. There are also important differences that will give anyone interested in the future of capitalism much to ponder. Boettke sees unconstrained government as the primary threat to legitimacy; Bromley identifies the possessive individualism that lies at the heart of our current capitalist system as the source of the crisis. Both books make a significant contribution to our understanding of the institutions governing capitalist economies and powerful arguments as we contemplate the future of capitalism.

Introduction

Does capitalism have a future? In this review essay, I compare and contrast two books that offer sweeping, insightful accounts of the past, present, and future of capitalism. Peter Boettke’s The Struggle for a Better World ( 2021 ) (hereafter Struggle ) is an eloquent defense of liberalism—a “doctrine of economic and political life grounded in the recognition that we are one another’s dignified equals, and that justice demands equal treatment of equals” (p. 7). Liberalism is about power for the people, not the privileged elites. Boettke’s collection of essays offers a superb defense of capitalism grounded in an appreciation for the way that spontaneous order makes the best use of the human imagination and a deep concern for the damage done when government becomes unshackled Leviathan.

Daniel Bromley’s Possessive Individualism: A Crisis of Capitalism ( 2019 ) (hereafter Crisis ) sees capitalism as a spent force because its concern with improving the well-being of households has been replaced by its singular focus on profiting by what Bromley calls “wrangler capitalists” – those capitalists who specialize in buying, selling, and reorganizing businesses (pp. 55–56). According to Bromley, the problem is possessive individualism: an overwhelming concern is to “stay focused on controlling costs,” much like what a comptroller does (p. 23). Economics used to be concerned with how households provide for themselves but has become preoccupied with the atomistic individual. Did, as Boettke suggests, and as Deirdre McCloskey and Art Carden ( 2020 ) have persuasively argued, liberalism make us better and richer humans? Not so, for Bromley. We have more stuff, but what about the quality of our working lives? For many workers, the current situation is nothing to gloat about.

Each author speaks from a position of credibility as a scholar and institution builder. Boettke has done as much as anyone to advance contemporary Austrian economics. Bromley is known for work in the tradition of the so-called old institutionalists, such as John Commons. There are important differences between the traditions. For one, Austrians and institutionalists differ in their beliefs about general economic truths: Austrians think there are such truths but question whether mathematical formalism is the way to find them, while institutionalists, especially the old institutionalists, find such truths chimeral (Boettke et al., 2003 ).

Despite differences in their perspectives, these books have much in common. The shared framework should not come as much of a surprise. Though institutionalism is sometimes contrasted with institutionalism in economics, Austrians, as Boettke ( 1989a ) explains, are and always have been institutionalist. Austrian institutionalists such as Hayek and Mises are completely in agreement with the old institutionalists (and the new version) that the structure and scope of economics ought to be concerned first and foremost with “the consequences of alternative institutional arrangements” (Boettke, 1989b , p. 78). Simply put, Austrian economics is institutional economics (Palagashvili et al., 2017 ).

Besides a shared concern with institutions, each of these books recognizes a legitimacy crisis. Boettke’s Struggle begins by noting that trust in public institutions of governance, private institutions of finance and commerce, and social institutions of community are confronting a severe stress test. For example, George Floyd’s murder cannot be tolerated in a liberal society. Rust Belt cities such as Detroit and Pittsburgh continue to grapple with economic malaise, despair, and addiction. True radical liberals, as Boettke explains, have inherited a problematic past and face a troubling present. There is no shortage of interesting work pointing out how we are so much better off now than in earlier centuries. But pointing out how economic freedom is associated with wealth does not really explain why there is so much anger, and the fact is that much of the world remains extremely poor. Boettke knows not all is well in society, though liberalism is not the problem.

Bromley’s Crisis is motivated in part by the recent electoral victory of populist leaders, including Donald Trump. Trump is a grifter, but this surprising victory was not a cause of the crisis. Trump, in Bromley’s words, is “merely a noxious messenger” (p. 232). Bromley contends that people are angry because managerial capitalism, with its emphasis on cutting costs, has failed them.

John Meadowcroft ( 2019 ) explains that James M. Buchanan was especially concerned with the status of the status quo. So too are Boettke and Bromley’s books. But their understandings of the causes differs. Boettke argues that public misconduct, not private misconduct, ruins nations. Unshackled Leviathan is the problem. For Bromley, the problem is capitalism.

My goal in this review essay is to consider where these books differ in their understanding of capitalism, their diagnosis of the problem giving rise to the legitimation crisis, and their suggestions about what ought to be done. It is not to choose one argument over another. Each of these books masterfully weaves together insights gained through the authors’ decades of careful inquiry on the nature of capitalism. Each shows a masterful understanding of institutions. I hope that anyone especially optimistic about capitalism will take Bromley’s critique seriously and that anyone especially optimistic about government’s ability to solve the problem will consider carefully Boettke’s impassioned arguments.

The rest of this essay is structured as follows. First, I suggest that an important difference is that Struggle focuses on capitalism as exchange of goods and services, while Crisis places much more emphasis on the transition from merchant capitalism to industrial, then financial, and then managerial capitalism. By the time we get to managerial capitalism, goods and services are still exchanged, but labor has far less bargaining power under the current system of capitalism than under previous ones. Next, I consider differences in how these books conceptualize the problem: Boettke’s issue is with government, while Bromley’s is with possessive individualism. Finally, I contrast the two authors’ advice about the future.

Capitalism or capitalisms?

Boettke’s Struggle places Adam Smith at the forefront. One might think this is an obvious starting point since we are concerned with economies. But anyone familiar with the typical PhD program’s course sequence in microeconomics will know that Smith is treated as a footnote in a course devoted mainly to proving one’s mathematical chops.

But ignoring Smith has significant costs, especially if we are concerned with vulnerable people. In Boettke’s hands, Smith becomes a figure much like Johnny Cash: someone profoundly concerned with the voiceless and the downtrodden. Liberalism, as Boettke explains, means extending a hand to strangers in order to lift the dispossessed and the desperate out of poverty. 1 Smith’s Wealth of Nations argued that individuals should be free from domination and that those who are more powerful should not determine the material conditions of those who have less power because no society can flourish if the greater part of its members are poor and miserable. This is the central theme in the liberal tradition. F.A. Hayek understood the liberal project as the abolition of privileges of the few that kept down the many. It is a point made explicitly in the 1956 edition of The Road to Serfdom “The essence of the liberal position is the denial of all privilege, if privilege is understood in its proper and original meaning of the state granting and protecting rights to some which are not available on equal terms to others” ( 1956 [1994], p. xxxvi). In addition, in The Constitution of Liberty , Hayek states that the “true contrast to a reign of status is the reign of general and equal laws, of the rules which are the same for all, or, we might say, of the rule of leges in the original meaning of the Latin word for laws – leges that is, as opposed to the privi-leges ” (emphasis original, Hayek, 1960 , p. 154). Buchanan believed that the struggle for political liberalism is an effort to free individuals from the ruling elite. Boettke favorably references McCloskey’s Why Liberalism Works ( 2019 ) in noting that true liberalism means no racism, no imperialism, no unnecessary taxes, and no slaves at all. 2

Boettke’s essays ( Crisis is a collection of essays bookended by a wonderful introduction and conclusion) are exceptionally useful as a corrective to any argument that classical liberalism supports oppressive institutions such as slavery and segregation. Others have debunked such arguments (see, for example, Fleury and Marciano 2018 ). Struggle is not a direct response to those criticisms. Rather, it shows that Smith was an ardent defender of consent as a general organizing principle and an enemy of privilege as a means of organizing economic activities.

But could Smith have foreseen the evolution of capitalism? And should we place blame on government when capitalism and democracy seem so intrinsically bound up that it seems impossible to even separate them? 3 Bromley’s Crisis recognizes that the capitalism that Smith understood so well has changed a great deal since his time. And we know that the core of Bromley’s book is to analyze the transition from merchant capitalism to industrial capitalism to financial capitalism and, finally, to the managerial capitalism of today. These gradual shifts are characterized by “the primacy of a central personified medium—the entrepreneur of merchant capitalism, the engineer of industrial capitalism, the banker of financial capitalism, and the wrangler of today’s managerial capitalism” (emphasis original, p. 55). 4

Bromley’s description of capitalism is significant and useful, especially when we consider that Smith introduced new ideas about how we think about capital and capitalism. 5 Before Smith wrote about it, capital was a sum of money that was to be invested or had been invested. But then it became the things themselves – the goods traded. Conceptualizing of capital as physical things and capitalism as exchange was a historical sleight of hand, one with important consequences: it makes us lose track of the changes in capitalism since we become concerned with physical things rather than legal relationships and the rules governing capitalism.

Smith’s novel approach to capital and capitalism meant that the conversation about capitalism was often less institutionally rich than it could have been. This does not mean Smith had no role for institutions. Gary Anderson and Robert Tollison ( 1982 ) showed that Smith was critical of the English East Indian Company. Smith believed the problem was government failure rather than a market failure. And Nathan Rosenberg recognized Smith’s preoccupation with establishing the conditions under which market mechanisms operate most effectively and that tree operation of “certain impulses, motivations, and behavior patterns were calculated to thwart, rather than to reinforce, the beneficent operation of market forces” ( 1960 , p. 569). Institutions, including government ones, are necessary because cooperation is not inevitable. Rather, Smith’s institutionalism, like Boettke’s, focuses on the political side of the institutions governing capitalism as the problem. 6 Thus, when Smith speaks of capitalism requiring an appropriate constitutional framework, it is mostly about ensuring that the government limits its activities – a view quite similar to Boettke’s Struggle . Bromley, in contrast, is much more interested in the evolutionary stages of capitalism, and the consequences of these shifts.

What changes ought we to be concerned with? The rigid hierarchies of precapitalist relations came under pressure as labor’s bargaining power improved as a result of plague and warfare in the fourteenth century. By the end of the fourteenth century, most agricultural laborers had become quasi-independent agricultural entrepreneurs who were no longer willing to underwrite wars. Copyhold emerged as an institution – and with it, rental contracts to use land replaced in-kind payment for privileges to use land. Now lords held the king’s land and independent families held the lord’s land. Copyhold put us on the road to fee simple, the most complete property right. 7 This institutional development enabled the rise of merchant capitalism and the entrepreneur, but much would be lost as capitalism evolved. Workers lost control of their means of production (labor) with the rise of industrial capitalism and the factory system and the accompanying separation between owners of capital—commercial land, sophisticated machines, large factories—and owners of labor power. Labor then became a commodity to be bought and sold just like any other factor of production. McCloskey’s Bourgeois Dignity ( 2010 ) concerns how we talk about entrepreneurs. Bromley’s concern is with the rise of a body of compliant laborers whose lives are very different from those of entrepreneurs.

The factory system was not the only development. Financial capitalism—which came because industry at a massive scale required financing on a grand scale—introduced rapid movement of liquidity around the world. But that was not the end. In managerial capitalism, “the wrangler rules. The entrepreneur of merchant capitalism surrendered his autonomy to the engineer of industrial capitalism. The engineer was soon pushed aside by the money managers and bankers of financial capitalism. Now, it seems reasonable to suggest that the financial wizards are answerable to the wrangler. Someone very meticulous is now minding the store” (Bromley, p. 82).

Bromley then shifts to an argument that scholars interested in collective action will appreciate. He describes firms as hedgehogs and households as foxes. Hedgehogs know one thing and foxes know many. Households, under managerial capitalism, have to know many things, and some even have to hold several jobs. The firm, however, is an artificial construct with a singular goal: to lower costs. It is for this reason that the hedgehogs dominate the foxes; the foxes have no chance. Walmart and Amazon are too big to resist. The foxes face a much larger collective action problem, one that is exacerbated by the massive scale of capitalism.

Boettke’s essays do not focus as much as Crisis on the historical evolution of capitalism; rather, they focus on the importance of freedom of choice. Struggle defends significant figures such as Ludwig von Mises, Hayek, and Milton Friedman. Bromley counters the arguments of the great defenders of capitalism. Freedom of choice—not being forced to work a specific job—is a narrow conception of freedom. Freedom to choose means little if the choice set, which is shaped by institutions, is not of our choosing. Bromley puts it this way: living is good (we have more stuff to consume), but what about work life? Capitalism is thriving in some parts of urban areas, but anger with the current situation is especially pronounced in rural areas in the United States, Britain, and Western Europe. And outside of those countries, many countries have experienced little improvement in material conditions in the past several centuries. Some workers may enjoy the life of the fox, moving from job to job in the gig economy, but for many, there is despair: “The unavoidable consequence of possessive individualism is that capitalism no longer comprises a source of hope. It has evolved into a system—an ‘ism’—without a compelling moral basis for its continuation” (Bromley, p. 123).

These books thus differ in what they mean by capitalism: trade in goods and services (in Struggle ) or trade in labor (in Crisis ). However, each aspect of capitalism is significant, and so they are in a sense complementary contributions. Trade in goods and services has its benefits, though the increase in goods and services available to us comes with greater vulnerability for households excepting their greater consumption choices. Together, the books offer profound insight into the productive power of capital and its costs.

Another reason to praise Boettke’s and Bromley’s books is that they move beyond Thomas Piketty’s ( 2014 ) concern with the empirical relationship between inequality and capitalism in at least three ways. First, they remind us that any attempt to relate capitalism to inequality leaves out important changes in the nature of capitalism over the past several hundred years. This is significant because unless we understand which capitalism we are talking about, we may misdiagnose the problem. Second, Boettke and Bromley each recognize that anger and illegitimacy are based not on inequality but on vulnerability. They disagree about their source of the problems: for Boettke, vulnerability is a result of government or regulation; for Bromley, capitalism – specifically, what he calls wrangler capitalism (and before it, industrial capitalism – is the reason households struggle to find meaningful employment). Third, it is abundantly clear that the wealth tax suggested by Piketty and increasingly supported by politicians is a magic bullet. Rather, our focus, if we agree with Boettke, is that we ought to be concerned with political institutions (why should we expect that the revenues will be spent addressing the real problems?). And if we agree with Bromley, we ought to direct our concern to economic institutions, not simply fiscal policies (why should we expect a wealth tax will solve the problem of vulnerability, if managerial capitalism remains unimpeded?).

One term that does not come up much in either book is neoliberalism, and for good reason: the term is often used as a pejorative to criticize a certain group of economists. 8 Critics of “neoliberalism” would do well to consider carefully specifying what kind of capitalism they are talking about and whether they have accurately diagnosed the problem they see, and whether it works. 9 Bromley’s work suggests their concern is not so much with the recommendations of scholars such as Friedman as with the specific institutional features of capitalism as we currently experience it, while Boettke suggests that the problems they see may be government failures rather than problems with supposedly laissez-faire economic policies.

Is unshackled Leviathan or capitalism the problem?

Each offers a diagnosis of the problem. In Struggle , the diagnosis is public predation. In Crisis , it is possessive individualism and the collective action problem confronting workers in their dealings with firms.

In chapter 2 of Struggle , “Economics and Public Administration,” Boettke contends that an institutional framework is necessary to realize gains from exchange because of the paradox of government: addressing private predation opens the possibility of public predation. The fundamental cause of development—as viewed by scholars from Mises to McCloskey—is ideas about what to produce and how to produce it, as well as idea about what kinds of rules make savings and capital accumulation safe. That is, idea about how to govern ourselves.

Chapter 5 of Struggle (aptly titled “Is State Intervention in the Economy Inevitable?”) argues that government intervention in the economy is not inevitable but probable without restraints on government, given that the demand for state intervention is constant. Chapter 6 is a clearly written essay that eloquently argues that government overspends because it has too much power. Nor is the problem with the people. One of the things that comes out in this book is Boettke’s deep appreciation for the role of institutions as an explanation of our current situation. As Boettke explains, “Blaming public unions for asking for improved benefits from their members or blaming elected officials for responding to those demands in order to win votes is like criticizing a wasp for stinging you when you step on its nest. The problem isn’t the people; it is the institutional regime that produces the pattern of behavior” (Boettke, p. 126). Like Bromley, Boettke is concerned above all with institutions and their consequences.

Boettke, as we know from his Public Administration in the Classical Liberal Tradition (Aligica et al.,  2019 ), written with Paul Dragos Aligica and Vlad Tarko, is deeply appreciative of Vincent and Elinor Ostroms’ vision of public administration. The essays of Struggle show the evolution of many of the ideas in the earlier book. In the emergent view of public administration, the idea of a unitary state populated by omniscient and benevolent expert bureaucrats is rejected in favor of a view of government populated by ordinary individuals who have limited knowledge and respond to incentives. This is the Ostromian vision. The implication is clear: we ought to adjust our expectations of what to expect from bureaucrats. Public entrepreneurs are the ones with the vision required to make changes, though making changes requires that these entrepreneurs and those who they interact with have some autonomy. The problem is not government. Our central problem is that government has gotten out of hand and that we have collectively moved away from the Ostromian vision of self-governance as the unifying theme of public administration.

Most of the examples in Boettke’s book are examples of unshackled Leviathan doing bad things. This is most obvious in his reflections on the evils of what Geoffrey Hodgson ( 2019 ) calls “big” socialism: central planning. But so too are there many significant examples of government predation, including in policing—arguably one of the most significant examples of the predatory state in society. 10

Turning to Crisis , we direct our gaze to the problems arising from capitalism. Central to Bromley’s diagnosis of the problem is the parable of the fox and the hedgehog. As noted above, managerial capitalists are the hedgehogs; households and workers are the foxes. The foxes of the world have to deal with increasing atomization: “In a fully atomized world, the flowering of meritocratic processes then tends to threaten political coherence and a shared sense of purpose within a community. Meritocracies reward merit, but they also begin to generate institutional arrangements—public policies—that tend to reinforce such self-interested inclinations” (Bromley, p. 16).

Bromley points to economics as the dubious enabler of the hedgehogs. Economics shifted its concern from organization to the atomized individual. It was originally concerned with how individuals and societies organize to provide for themselves. The two key organizations are the household (which is natural) and the firm (which is artificial). But then formalism took hold, and the maximizing individual became sovereign. Possessive individualism is the view that individual rationality and the sanctity of the consumer are the most significant building blocks of the economy. This view overlooks that there had to be organizations in order for there to be something to trade. As far as I can tell, Bromley and Boettke are fully in agreement on the problems that arise from the Max U or “man as machine” approach in much of economics. 11

Crisis offers up possessive individualism as the cause of the current dissatisfaction with capitalism. Bromley engages a topic of concern to many in the Austrian tradition: do markets make us more virtuous than we would otherwise be? 12 Bromley summarizes the case that markets make us moral as follows. Market economies come to be composed of individuals who are socialized to master the virtuous character traits of market societies. These acquired traits are inevitable consequences of the need to orient one’s actions toward mutually advantageous social interactions, which are the reason why societies adopted markets in the first place.

Bromley’s response to the markets-as-moral-spaces argument is that its proponents are concerned only with buyers and sellers seeking to exchange commodities or services in a normal market. However, the desire to engage in market transactions is not itself a virtue, as many exchanges are repugnant and many choices are not good even for the individuals doing the choosing. Most significantly, most of these market transactions reapportion wealth rather than create new wealth.

Any focus on buying and selling is thus incomplete. Labor has been commodified, and many workers cling to the belief that they need choice. But workers now have fewer choices and much less bargaining power. The hedgehog dominates under managerial capitalism, and many foxes do not even know it, and when they do, they cannot really do much about it. This is not a problem that arises from government. Rather, it is a problem of capitalism; more fundamentally, the problem is that the ideology of possessive individualism has been wielded to justify the institutions that give rise to the anger that has contributed to deplorable phenomena such as Trumpism.

These books are also an invitation to additional empirical research. Bromley offers sweeping critiques of managerial capitalism, with a masterful institutional analysis of our current situation. But many of the contentions are empirical ones. Does the market erode social capital? Mark Pennington and John Meadowcroft ( 2008 ) find that spontaneous order produces bridging and bonding social capital. Art Carden recently notes that Walmart is not as bad as it seems, contrary to corporate dystopia narratives in the tradition of John Kenneth Galbraith’s New Industrial State ( 1967 ). While Walmart is one of the largest firms in the world by profits, its profits are only about one-tenth of one percent of US GDP (Carden, 2021 ). Carden’s empirical studies provide further evidence that Walmart is actually good – there is less hunger (Courtemanche & Carden, 2011 ), more art and leisure (Carden & Courtemanche, 2009 ), and no decline in social capital, such as club membership, in communities with a Walmart (Carden et al., 2009 ). One might see this as empirical evidence in support of Boettke, though for reasons noted, Bromley is certainly on to something, as the anger with the current work situation is still palpable, despite low prices.

It is straightforward to see how Bromley and Boettke differ. It is certainly true, as Boettke claims, that goods being reshuffled and reallocated in response to changes in prices can be a good thing—even a great thing, as we know from Amazon Prime getting many of us through the COVID-19 pandemic or from how the supply lines for toilet paper and paper towels came through despite the hoarding behavior of some customers. But what if we replace goods and services in the above account with workers reshuffled and reallocated in response to changes in prices? After all, the definitive change in capitalism as we moved from merchant capitalism to industrial capitalism is that the worker became a fictitious commodity. Foxes are not simply buying goods and services; they are goods and services. The point here is not to choose a side, but to note that the Industrial Revolution ensured that the question of what is being purchased would become not only about the stuff we want, but about labor.

Another difference worth noting is about embracing people with open arms. Libertarians will love Boettke’s characterization of welcoming strangers with an open hand. 13 Bromley’s perspective is a bit more nuanced. The reason why people want to come to countries such as the United States is not that they do not have market freedom. Many African countries have an abundance of market freedom, but that is not enough to provide political order. Nor is it clear that the open hand comes without costs. George Borjas ( 2016 ) has made this point in reflecting on immigration. Nor is xenophobia or racism the obvious reason why people support Trump, as some workers have rational reasons to worry about their situation with inflows of people (Murtazashvili et al., 2021 ). But this should be clear enough from any economics lesson on immigration, since the argument is about net benefits from immigration, not that every single person is better off with new entrants into the labor force. And we cannot necessarily rely on government to address the challenge that comes with new migrants to a region, as those who are left out do not always feel they have much voice in politics. Possessive individualism is part of the reason people want to leave one place; and in their destination, its pernicious effects on politics mean that those people may be subject to the same forces of insecurity and instability brought on by wrangler capitalists. Bromley’s point is that today’s immigrants might be the disaffected Rust Belt workers of tomorrow, and we ought to spend more time thinking about why the disaffected Rust Belt workers might be concerned about immigration beyond merely asserting that they are economically irrational or xenophobic racists.

What is to be done?

Struggle leaves no uncertainty about what is not to be done: “There is no justice to be achieved from socialism, only equality in misery and despair as daily life devolves into one of economic deprivation and political terror” (Boettke, p. 7). The case is made more fully in Boettke’s collection of essays titled Calculation and Coordination ( 2001 ). Socialism ought to be eliminated from the menu of potentially desirable organizational forms of economic, political, and social life. Chapter 13 (“Rebuilding the Liberal Project”) is more constructive in suggesting that the liberal project cannot be saved by repackaging a fixed doctrine of eternal truths. True liberalism faces a threat from conservative movements on the right and socialism on the left. In the US and the UK, the populist threat comes from both the Left and Right. Liberalism above all is about toleration. The answer to populism is toleration. Cosmopolitanism is the answer to populism. Boettke’s argument is a case for freedom to choose. 14 One of the reasons openness is justified is, per Julian Simon ( 1981 ), that the ultimate resource is human imagination.

Boettke’s concluding chapter provides one of the most eloquent defenses of the liberal society as an open society. Libertarian champions of economic freedom would do well to consider Boettke’s nuanced perspective on the current situation. At best, we have pockets of liberal commerce that raise living standards tremendously. At worst, we have power and privilege. There is a growing concern about global inequality. In the end, the struggle of ideas is about correcting two misconceptions: (1) the rich get rich at the expense of the poor, and (2) the poor do not get rich faster than the rich get richer. Critics point to neoliberalism as the problem. Boettke explains why we ought not to do that.

For Bromley, inequality is the intended result of possessive individualism, which compels individuals to pursue a livelihood strategy, including the types of jobs we choose and what we collectively expect of our workers, based on the celebration of rights and the illusory idea of being free to choose. Despite many individuals believing that individualism is the only and right way to organize society, they seem not to realize that they are at the mercy of capitalist firms equally committed to possessive individualism, and that when push comes to shove, the capitalists mostly win. Consumers, as Bromley notes, are often all too eager to denounce China for predatory trade policies while filling up their minivans with abundant clothing, toys, and plastic products from China. Lower prices are a good thing. But Bromley argues that that is not a good reason, but rather an excuse. The more honest reason why consumers continue the endless quest for bargains is the “enduring culturally prized urge toward persistent low-cost acquisitiveness” (p. 237).

Bromley is not engaging in Marxist false consciousness theorizing. Rather, it is an empirical statement that many of the policies individuals support contribute to the vulnerability of workers and that the fact that they have more choice does not eliminate the more general precarity of their work situation. Low-cost acquisitiveness has costs.

One might of course respond that individualism is not necessarily bad, especially when we think of individualism as inquisitiveness and hard work. Certainly the empirical literature finds that individualism is associated with greater wealth (see, for example, Williamson and Mathers 2011 ). Bromley’s criticism is different. Freedom has come to mean aggressively pursuing self-interest and desiring to make sure others do not have what we enjoy. Possessive individualism is not the social capital that Boettke and colleagues have so clearly shown to be significant in responding to crises (Boettke et al., 2007 ). Overcoming possessive individualism – crass individualism – requires us to recognize that we can reconstitute a market economy in the interest of greater equality and other-regarding behavior. The capitalist firm must be transformed into a public trust. However, this will not be sufficient. Improved livelihoods will also require that the possessive individual be reimagined.

Bromley notes that the word “community” is now used to separate us into silos, a practice facilitated by identity politics. Rather than separating ourselves, it is crucial to recognize that personhood requires a community that acknowledges one’s personhood. It requires engagement. But managerial capitalism denies the relevance of community. Mindless and numb workers are the new automatons. Ultimately we need exchange on equal terms since under managerial capitalism the fox always loses.

These books also discuss the future of economics as a science. One of Boettke’s contributions is demonstrating the ongoing significance of the classical liberal tradition. Economics has lost its way in its search for clever research designs and its focus on mathematics. Paradoxically, that makes it challenging for us to understand how people behave since the assumption of maximization eliminates volition (as well as makes challenge consideration of time, uncertainty, and ignorance).

Bromley is perhaps more critical of economics, especially the kind that sees efficiency as a guide to policy. To quote Bromley: “Efficiency is not and cannot possibly be a design criterion. The only approach to meaningful institutional change is to: (1) focus on careful diagnosis of problematic settings and circumstances; (2) entertain new ideas that seem most promising in solving a particular problem; (3) embrace the most reasonable of those possibilities; and (4) then undertake ex post monitoring and assessment as the new policies are allowed to run their course” (p. 123). Anyone who agrees with Peter Leeson’s ( 2020 ) and Yoram Barzel’s ( 2002 ) eloquent defense of the idea that maximization is a critical concept to economists ought to consider Bromley’s explanation why utility maximization cannot provide a guide for human action and why efficiency can never explain why we choose a specific policy. Rather, we need to appreciate that the process of institutional change is one of realizing our collective and shared futures through a process of reasoning about what works, what does not work, and how things can be better. 15

Is capitalism a liberal emancipatory project worth saving? Or is it a spent force? Boettke does a masterful job clarifying what capitalism does well, explaining the problems arising from centralized-government intervention in the economy, and reminding us of the evils of socialism. But all is not well in the kingdom. Work life is not great, and while nobody doubts that the Bourgeois Deal contributed to riches, it only made some rich. And anger in places such as the rural United States is not simply a consequence of unrestrained government. Capitalism is to blame, according to Bromley, but it is not Adam Smith’s capitalism. Managerial capitalism puts workers in a bind, and collective action does not favor the fox.

Despite these differences, there are similarities between Boettke’s Austrian institutionalism and Bromley’s old institutionalism. Each author sees institutions as the central concern for economics. Boettke is also a self-professed disciple of mainline economics, which includes public choice (clearly concerned with rules) and the Ostroms’ polycentric view (also concerned with rules). Still, one discerns a richness in Bromley’s analysis of institutions that one does not see as often in much of the mainline tradition, except perhaps for McCloskey’s work and, arguably, Boettke’s work on socialism. The greatest strength of Boettke’s essays may be in the institutional criticism of socialism, and Bromley’s most significant contribution is to discern the institutional problem with managerial capitalism. 16 In my view, these are complementary insights that counsel humility when assessing capitalism and socialism.

The institutional approach of these books has profound policy significance. Much of the current conversation in the post-COVID economy is about infrastructure—some version of a new Marshall Plan, but for the rich countries. This simplistic application of Keynesian reasoning, as these books make so clear, is insufficient because it does not appreciate that the problem is institutional. Boettke and Bromley differ in their diagnosis of the problem; they agree that institutions are the key, and neither proposes a magic bullet. They understand that the process of institutional change is a struggle. Boettke and Bromley also appreciate the significance of ideas in the process of institutional change. Ideas give rise to beliefs, and changes in beliefs ultimately lead to changes in institutions. Their appreciation for ideas, along with history, is too often pushed aside in economics these days.

There is an important difference when it comes to spontaneous order. Boettke, like the great Austrians before him, appreciates spontaneous order. Hayek famously divided orders into planned and spontaneous orders. Hayek of course followed Menger’s distinction between organic and pragmatic orders. Austrian economists tend to see spontaneous orders as the more interesting aspect of social science, while old and new institutionalists tend to see directed orders as more significant, in part because such orders vary so much. Hayek also thought spontaneous order was the most interesting aspect of social science. Bromley shows why there is much we do not understand about the planned orders that are so important to capitalist economies and that there is nothing simple about understanding why and how planner orders work. But Boettke does not succumb to the view that only spontaneous order is interesting or try to define everything as a spontaneous order. Unlike many of the earlier Austrians, who were content to praise the virtues of the market, Boettke has a deep appreciation for Vincent Ostrom’s insights into public administration and therefore appreciates the problem of explaining the success of directed orders. Thus, each book can be thought of as a major contribution to institutionalism, however we define it.

Anyone interested in the future of capitalism will be better off after reading these books. The books could be read as a defense of markets and criticism of government by an Austrian–public choice economist versus an impassioned criticism of capitalism by a disciple of the progressive John Commons. But that would be a mistake. Each book illustrates a deep commitment to institutional analysis and offers a wealth of knowledge about how to compare institutions. They both put institutional analysis at the forefront of economics, where it should be. There is no Max U in either of these impressive books. The perspectives are very much complementary. The battle for the future of capitalism is indeed a battle of ideas, and the ideas in these books give us much to reflect on.

Acknowledgments

I had the idea to write this essay after a book talk by Dan Bromley at the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh in March 2021. Mark Pennington served as a discussant for the seminar, and his willingness to engage Dan’s book constructively was a breath of fresh air. Mark’s constructive dialogue reminded me how much can be gained by carefully considering work with which we disagree. Since I had been reading Pete Boettke’s book at the time, it seemed natural to continue that conversation by comparing and contrasting these books. I thank Rosolino Candela for encouraging me to write this piece and for offering extensive and thoughtful suggestions on the essay. Thanks to Nick Cowen, Rabih Helou, and Jen Murtazashvili reding and commenting on the essay and Art Carden for sharing some of his recent work on Walmart that fit nicely with the themes of this essay. Most importantly, thanks to Dan and Pete for their mentorship over the years and for inspiring so many of us.

1 See also William Easterly’s ( 2020 ) brilliant essay on Adam Smith’s anticolonialism.

2 Boettke might also have added W.H. Hutt to the list of liberals against racism, as Hutt’s impassioned critique of apartheid was based on an appreciation for consumer sovereignty (Magness et al., forthcoming ).

3 Randall Holcombe’s ( 2018 ) concept of political capitalism also gets at Bromley’s concern about the close relationship between economic and political elites in capitalist democracies.

4 One could, as Aligica and Tarko ( 2015 ) suggest, simply do away with the notion of capitalism and recognize that we are dealing with capitalisms: crony capitalism, state capitalism, and so on. Bromley’s classification of capitalisms is a useful complement to the ones familiar to those in the public choice literature.

5 Two excellent books on the meaning of capitalism and the significance of legal rules are Geoffrey Hodgson’s Conceptualizing Capitalism (2015) and Katharina Pistor’s The Code of Capital ( 2019 ).

6 If there’s a limitation with Smith’s view, it may be that he did not anticipate how well self-governance works when people have these conflicts of interests. Peter Leeson’s Anarchy Unbound ( 2014 ) shows just how well it works, and why.

7 Though much attention is paid to fee simple, the most significant conclusion of the property rights approach regardless of school of thought—Austrian, public choice, or Ostromian—is that the most appropriate property regime is one that evolves in response to local conditions (Harris et al., 2020 ).

8 Nick Cowen’s ( 2021 ) perspective offers a compelling and productive framework that eschews the desire to see neoliberalism as a bogeyman standing in for policies one wishes to criticize.

9 For an excellent discussion of the history of the term neoliberalism, see Leeson and Harris ( Forthcoming ). They also explain why there is no good reason to see Hayek as a neoliberal who only argued for market fundamentalism. Some of Hayek’s writing were very much opposed to state efforts to implement markets, as Hayek of course understood the knowledge problem of doing so.

10 Brandon Davis ( 2021 ) explicitly places the American carceral state in the framework of the predatory state.

11 Indeed, Boettke et al. ( 2003 ) contend that only the Austrians and old institutionalists truly put people at the forefront of analysis.

12 Anyone looking for a response to Bromley’s criticism would do well to consider Ginny Choi and Virgil Storr’s Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals ? ( 2019 ).

13 Ben Powell and Alex Nowrasteh ( 2020 ) make an important case that the benefits of immigration exceed its costs.

14 Ilya Somin’s ( 2020 ) discussion of foot voting fits nicely with the defense of freedom to choose: through foot voting, people can choose better institutions, including political ones, and contribute to greater political freedom. Foot voting is just limited to voting, but where one lives, among other things.

15 Bromley’s Sufficient Reason ( 2006 ) more fully develops this argument about beliefs and the process of institutional change.

16 It would probably make the most sense to accept Smith as the first institutionalist, given his concern with the constitutional rules necessary for a well-functioning market, as Geoffrey Brennan and Buchanan ( 1985 ) argued.

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Table of Contents

Argumentative essay outline toolkit, how to write an outline for an argumentative essay, once you are done with these steps, this is what your structure will look like, introduction.

• Provide an overview of capitalism and socialism
• Introduce the central question: How is socialism more beneficial for society?

Capitalism and socialism each have distinct strengths and weaknesses, but for the betterment of society socialism offers a wider and healthy prespective.

Socialism ensures fairness and equality

• Highlight the advantages of socialism, such as better living standards
• Mention how socialism reduces income inequality
• Provide real-world examples or case studies that illustrate the effects of socialism

Capitalism can be better for economy

• Discuss the benefits of socialism, such as reduced income inequality and social safety nets.
• Explore the disadvantages of socialism, such as reduced economic incentives and bureaucracy
• Offer examples from socialist societies or historical contexts to illustrate the impact of socialism

Socialism can create a stable economy and society

• contrast capitalism and socialism based on how socialism provides better economic stability for the society (e.g., economic growth, income distribution, individual freedom)
• Evaluate the impact of capitalism and socialism on societal well-being, considering factors like healthcare, education, and poverty

Socialism enhances living standards and reduces business fluctuations

• End your discussion by mentioning how socialism is better for both economically and socially
• Present examples of countries successfully implementing socialism models
• Reiterate your thesis statement
• Give your final perspective on how socialism system is more beneficial for society

This is what your outline will look like

Firstly, the essay will discuss how socialism ensures fairness and equality in society by examining various advantages of socialism and offering real-world examples from case studies and historical events. Secondly, the essay will compare and analyze both by evaluating their impact on social and economic factors. Lastly, the essay will convey how socialism enhances living standards and reduces business fluctuations and will support them with the use of real-world examples.

1. Identify the topic

The initial step in crafting a compelling outline for your argumentative essay is to carefully choose your topic. Your choice of topic should be precise and engaging, setting the stage for the reader's expectations. By thoughtfully selecting your topic, you're laying the foundation for an argument that will engage and inform your audience throughout your essay. To do this effectively, consider asking yourself thought-provoking questions.

If you are writing an essay on capitalism and socialism, your topic can be “Why is socialism important for a co-operative society”.

2. Define the objective

In the realm of argumentative essays, the primary aim is to convince your readers to align with your viewpoint on a particular topic. You accomplish this by presenting a well-reasoned argument supported by substantial evidence. Clearly outlining your objective helps your audience understand the purpose and direction of your argumentative essay right from the outset.

If your objective is to state your opinion on a topic, you can say, “A discussion on how socialism can improve co-operative behaviour in the society will be conducted.”

3. Craft the thesis

Within your outline, carve out a distinct section dedicated to constructing the thesis statement, the heart of your argumentative essay. A thesis statement for an argumentative essay takes a firm stance on the issue at hand. The thesis statement serves as the guiding light for your essay, directing your arguments and analysis toward a specific and persuasive perspective.

Continuing the example, your thesis statement for the topic could be, “Capitalism and socialism each have distinct strengths and weaknesses, but for the betterment of society socialism offers a wider and healthy prespective.”

4. Main points

As you delve into the core of your outline, it's crucial to outline the major components of your argument. Identify the central themes and specify supporting points that bolster your thesis. In the realm of argumentative essays, the conventional five-paragraph structure often serves as a helpful framework. This structure typically comprises an introduction and a body paragraph that examines both sides of the issue, followed by your reasoning for supporting one side. Mapping out these main points provides a clear roadmap for your argumentative essay, ensuring it flows logically and persuasively.

The main points for your essay could be

• Socialism can create a stable economy
• Socialism is better for social living and fewer business fluctuations

5. Sub-points

Subsequently, after introducing the main points of your essay, you should embark on a comprehensive exploration of each of these points, fortified by relevant examples and evidence. In this section, it's imperative to elucidate the key issues to be discussed and specify the examples that will underpin your arguments. By breaking down your main points into sub-points, you'll be able to provide a more detailed and compelling argument within your essay.

• Examine the drawbacks of capitalism, including income inequality and exploitation
• Discuss the benefits of capitalism, such as increase in overall economy and better market for consumers.
• Explore the advtanges of capitalism, such as a competitive market and bureaucracy

All will be explained with examples and backed with statistical data.

6. Evidence and citations

In the realm of academic essays, it's imperative to back your claims with credible evidence and properly attribute information. Your outline should include a dedicated section for citing your sources, whether they are real-world examples, quotes, or statistical data. This reinforces the credibility of your argument and demonstrates the thoroughness of your research.

You can cite real-world examples, and case studies, and provide information on historical events and their impact.

7. Introduction and hook

To captivate your readers' attention, your argumentative essay's introduction should feature a compelling hook. Typically, argumentative essays leverage surprising or striking statistics related to your argument as a hook. An effective introduction sets the stage for your argument and entices your audience to delve further into your essay.

You can start your essay with a statistical data hook like “Did you know roughly 39% of people have a positive view of capitalism and a negative view of socialism, and vice-versa”. Then continue on to provide an overview of capitalism and socialism and introduce your central question.

8. Conclusion

After you have stated your key points, it's time to conclude your essay. Argumentative essays are generally concluded by addressing opposing viewpoints and explaining why readers should align with your position.

In the conclusion, you will reiterate your thesis statement, and then give your final perspective on how socialism is better for society.

9. Transitions

Transition words play a crucial role in ensuring the seamless flow of your writing, facilitating smooth transitions between sentences, paragraphs, and topics. In argumentative essays generally, contrast transition words are used specifically when you need to communicate a point that contradicts your previous statement. An effective transition sentence is one that includes a word or phrase such as however, despite this/that, in contrast, or nonetheless.

You can use words like “chiefly”, “as a result”, and “after all” to transition from one idea, topic, or sentence to another.

10. Refine and review

Finally, before you embark on the actual writing of your essay, thoroughly review your outline. Ensure that each point flows logically, and all necessary information is included, while avoiding any extraneous content. Make any necessary revisions as you review, by refining and reviewing your outline, you lay the groundwork for a well-structured, persuasive, and compelling argumentative essay.

Finally, during the review, you will need to ensure that each point flows logically and you have included all the necessary information and didn’t add any extra points.

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• How to write an argumentative essay | Examples & tips

How to Write an Argumentative Essay | Examples & Tips

Published on July 24, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

An argumentative essay expresses an extended argument for a particular thesis statement . The author takes a clearly defined stance on their subject and builds up an evidence-based case for it.

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Table of contents

When do you write an argumentative essay, approaches to argumentative essays, introducing your argument, the body: developing your argument, concluding your argument, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about argumentative essays.

You might be assigned an argumentative essay as a writing exercise in high school or in a composition class. The prompt will often ask you to argue for one of two positions, and may include terms like “argue” or “argument.” It will frequently take the form of a question.

The prompt may also be more open-ended in terms of the possible arguments you could make.

Argumentative writing at college level

At university, the vast majority of essays or papers you write will involve some form of argumentation. For example, both rhetorical analysis and literary analysis essays involve making arguments about texts.

In this context, you won’t necessarily be told to write an argumentative essay—but making an evidence-based argument is an essential goal of most academic writing, and this should be your default approach unless you’re told otherwise.

Examples of argumentative essay prompts

At a university level, all the prompts below imply an argumentative essay as the appropriate response.

Your research should lead you to develop a specific position on the topic. The essay then argues for that position and aims to convince the reader by presenting your evidence, evaluation and analysis.

• Don’t just list all the effects you can think of.
• Do develop a focused argument about the overall effect and why it matters, backed up by evidence from sources.
• Don’t just provide a selection of data on the measures’ effectiveness.
• Do build up your own argument about which kinds of measures have been most or least effective, and why.
• Don’t just analyze a random selection of doppelgänger characters.
• Do form an argument about specific texts, comparing and contrasting how they express their thematic concerns through doppelgänger characters.

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An argumentative essay should be objective in its approach; your arguments should rely on logic and evidence, not on exaggeration or appeals to emotion.

There are many possible approaches to argumentative essays, but there are two common models that can help you start outlining your arguments: The Toulmin model and the Rogerian model.

Toulmin arguments

The Toulmin model consists of four steps, which may be repeated as many times as necessary for the argument:

• Make a claim
• Provide the grounds (evidence) for the claim
• Explain the warrant (how the grounds support the claim)
• Discuss possible rebuttals to the claim, identifying the limits of the argument and showing that you have considered alternative perspectives

The Toulmin model is a common approach in academic essays. You don’t have to use these specific terms (grounds, warrants, rebuttals), but establishing a clear connection between your claims and the evidence supporting them is crucial in an argumentative essay.

Say you’re making an argument about the effectiveness of workplace anti-discrimination measures. You might:

• Claim that unconscious bias training does not have the desired results, and resources would be better spent on other approaches
• Cite data to support your claim
• Explain how the data indicates that the method is ineffective
• Anticipate objections to your claim based on other data, indicating whether these objections are valid, and if not, why not.

Rogerian arguments

The Rogerian model also consists of four steps you might repeat throughout your essay:

• Discuss what the opposing position gets right and why people might hold this position
• Highlight the problems with this position
• Present your own position , showing how it addresses these problems
• Suggest a possible compromise —what elements of your position would proponents of the opposing position benefit from adopting?

This model builds up a clear picture of both sides of an argument and seeks a compromise. It is particularly useful when people tend to disagree strongly on the issue discussed, allowing you to approach opposing arguments in good faith.

Say you want to argue that the internet has had a positive impact on education. You might:

• Acknowledge that students rely too much on websites like Wikipedia
• Argue that teachers view Wikipedia as more unreliable than it really is
• Suggest that Wikipedia’s system of citations can actually teach students about referencing
• Suggest critical engagement with Wikipedia as a possible assignment for teachers who are skeptical of its usefulness.

You don’t necessarily have to pick one of these models—you may even use elements of both in different parts of your essay—but it’s worth considering them if you struggle to structure your arguments.

Regardless of which approach you take, your essay should always be structured using an introduction , a body , and a conclusion .

Like other academic essays, an argumentative essay begins with an introduction . The introduction serves to capture the reader’s interest, provide background information, present your thesis statement , and (in longer essays) to summarize the structure of the body.

Hover over different parts of the example below to see how a typical introduction works.

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts is on the rise, and its role in learning is hotly debated. For many teachers who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its critical benefits for students and educators—as a uniquely comprehensive and accessible information source; a means of exposure to and engagement with different perspectives; and a highly flexible learning environment.

The body of an argumentative essay is where you develop your arguments in detail. Here you’ll present evidence, analysis, and reasoning to convince the reader that your thesis statement is true.

In the standard five-paragraph format for short essays, the body takes up three of your five paragraphs. In longer essays, it will be more paragraphs, and might be divided into sections with headings.

Each paragraph covers its own topic, introduced with a topic sentence . Each of these topics must contribute to your overall argument; don’t include irrelevant information.

This example paragraph takes a Rogerian approach: It first acknowledges the merits of the opposing position and then highlights problems with that position.

Hover over different parts of the example to see how a body paragraph is constructed.

A common frustration for teachers is students’ use of Wikipedia as a source in their writing. Its prevalence among students is not exaggerated; a survey found that the vast majority of the students surveyed used Wikipedia (Head & Eisenberg, 2010). An article in The Guardian stresses a common objection to its use: “a reliance on Wikipedia can discourage students from engaging with genuine academic writing” (Coomer, 2013). Teachers are clearly not mistaken in viewing Wikipedia usage as ubiquitous among their students; but the claim that it discourages engagement with academic sources requires further investigation. This point is treated as self-evident by many teachers, but Wikipedia itself explicitly encourages students to look into other sources. Its articles often provide references to academic publications and include warning notes where citations are missing; the site’s own guidelines for research make clear that it should be used as a starting point, emphasizing that users should always “read the references and check whether they really do support what the article says” (“Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia,” 2020). Indeed, for many students, Wikipedia is their first encounter with the concepts of citation and referencing. The use of Wikipedia therefore has a positive side that merits deeper consideration than it often receives.

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An argumentative essay ends with a conclusion that summarizes and reflects on the arguments made in the body.

No new arguments or evidence appear here, but in longer essays you may discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your argument and suggest topics for future research. In all conclusions, you should stress the relevance and importance of your argument.

Hover over the following example to see the typical elements of a conclusion.

The internet has had a major positive impact on the world of education; occasional pitfalls aside, its value is evident in numerous applications. The future of teaching lies in the possibilities the internet opens up for communication, research, and interactivity. As the popularity of distance learning shows, students value the flexibility and accessibility offered by digital education, and educators should fully embrace these advantages. The internet’s dangers, real and imaginary, have been documented exhaustively by skeptics, but the internet is here to stay; it is time to focus seriously on its potential for good.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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An argumentative essay tends to be a longer essay involving independent research, and aims to make an original argument about a topic. Its thesis statement makes a contentious claim that must be supported in an objective, evidence-based way.

An expository essay also aims to be objective, but it doesn’t have to make an original argument. Rather, it aims to explain something (e.g., a process or idea) in a clear, concise way. Expository essays are often shorter assignments and rely less on research.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

The majority of the essays written at university are some sort of argumentative essay . Unless otherwise specified, you can assume that the goal of any essay you’re asked to write is argumentative: To convince the reader of your position using evidence and reasoning.

In composition classes you might be given assignments that specifically test your ability to write an argumentative essay. Look out for prompts including instructions like “argue,” “assess,” or “discuss” to see if this is the goal.

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Capitalism Vs Socialism Argumentative Essay Examples

Type of paper: Argumentative Essay

Topic: Social Issues , Politics , Sociology , Financial Crisis , Unemployment , Socialism , Capitalism , Liberalism

Published: 01/24/2020

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The two main political, social, and economic systems within the global arena are capitalism system and socialism system. Capitalism and socialism differ widely in various aspects such as equity, ownership, unemployment, efficiency, and economic systems. In addition, capitalism and socialism hold different views and perceptions on religion, way to change, philosophical drives, political movements, and key components amongst others (Nell 178). Whereas capitalism system takes very little concern on equity and instead encourages inequality for the purposes of production, socialism enhances redistribution of resources for the main aim of ensuring equality amongst the citizens. Under capitalism system, business organizations are largely owned by private individuals as well as shareholders. Therefore, creation of jobs is within the hands of the private sectors. As a result, it becomes difficult to check on unemployment rates especially during the extreme ends of recession and boom. On the other hand, socialism system is where majority of the production firms and operations are state-owned. As a result, job creation is a duty of the state, which has the capacity and capability of restoring unemployment during recession. It is argued that capitalism system enhances efficiency of production whereas socialism system always leads to inefficient production systems (Nell 178). Amazingly, whilst socialism system derives its motivation on planning for the purposes of defining the type and magnitude of investment, capitalism system will obtain the motivation to move on from investments, productions, as well as distribution channels and procedures. Politically, capitalism system practices classical liberalism, neo-liberalism, social liberalism, libertarianism, and social democracy (Nell 178). On a different perspective, the political systems found within socialism include democratic socialism, anarchism, communism, and syndicalism amongst others. Lastly, other than enhancing free market, capitalism also provides room for freedom of religion (Nell 178). Based on the above analysis, it is therefore clear that capitalism is better than socialism.

Nell, Edward. "Capitalism versus socialism." Markets, Unemployment and Economic Policy: Essays in honour of Geoff Harcourt, Volume Two 2 (2012): 178.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Animal Farm — Themes Of Socialism And Capitalism In Orwell’s Animal Farm

Themes of Socialism and Capitalism in Orwell's Animal Farm

• Categories: Animal Farm George Orwell

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Words: 1147 |

Published: Feb 8, 2022

Words: 1147 | Pages: 3 | 6 min read

Table of contents

An outline for an argumentative essay about capitalism and socialism, argumentative essay example about capitalism and socialism, introduction.

• Introduction to "Animal Farm" by George Orwell
• Thesis statement

The Setting and Initial Call for Change

• Introduction to the farm and Old Major's speech
• Highlighting mistreatment and poor living conditions
• The incentive for change among the animals

The Socialist Revolution

• The plan to overthrow Mr. Jones
• Creation of a more efficient system
• Implementation of socialist principles
• Commandments for equality and shared labor

 The Corruption of Socialist Ideals

• Manipulation of commandments by the pigs
• Emergence of a power hierarchy
• Greed and privilege among the pigs

The Emergence of Capitalism

• The pigs replicate Mr. Jones's actions
• The growing gap between the privileged and the servants
• Exploitation of the less powerful animals
• Capitalist tendencies leading to corruption

The Transformation into a Communist Society

• Napoleon's rise as a dictator
• The adoption of a communist economy
• The development of a class system
• Manipulative rituals for group identity

The Commentary on Social Classes

• Shifting interpretations of unity
• Establishment of social classes based on intellect and strength
• Orwell's critique of moral issues in the Soviet Union
• Recap of themes explored in "Animal Farm"
• Orwell's critique of both socialism and capitalism

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Animal Farm is a timeless and thought-provoking piece of literature that continues to resonate with readers around the world. Written as an allegory of the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalinism, the novel is replete with [...]

Animal Farm by George Orwell is a timeless allegorical novel that explores themes of power, corruption, and leadership through the lens of a group of farm animals who overthrow their human owner. Snowball, a spirited and [...]

The novel Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, tells a story that uses animals to illustrate the story of the rule that Joseph Stalin implemented on the Soviet Union. The writing made him unpopular because he wrote the story [...]

Animal Farm serves as a powerful reminder of the dangers of unchecked power and the ease with which it can be corrupted. Through the character of Napoleon and the events that unfold on the farm, George Orwell illuminates the [...]

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