Two Hemispheres: A Comparison and Contrast of Capitalism and Socialism
For the last couple centuries, since the Industrial Revolution the world has been experiencing a tremendous wave of changes in the matters of society, economy and political practices. During this time, two major systems emerged as the result and/or perhaps as a response to the many challenges and opportunities brought by Industrial Revolution. The two hemispheres of power, capitalism and socialism are the two most influential systems that throughout modern history have had an impact the social structures, economic methods and political position of many nations. The importance of analyzing the similarities and differences between both systems present an insight to how …show more content…
The dictionary of economics (Black, 2012) defines capitalism as “the economic system based on private ownership of property and private enterprise. Under this system all, or a major proportion, of economic activity is undertaken by private profit-seeking individuals or organizations, and land and other material means of production are largely privately owned”, to expand of the definition, capitalism is the lines with the laissez-faire economic view which argued that the government shouldn’t intervene in business practices except to protect private property. The timeline for modern capitalism starts with merchant capitalism from the 16th century with naval trade mainly from Great Britain and the Netherlands. Later on during the Industrial Revolution, political philosophers inspired by the analysis develop innovative ideas about how the power that resulted from wealth created by industrialization and commerce and their socio-economic impact. In his book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Scottish economist Adam Smith, considered the father of capitalism, described capitalism as a free market system that strongly relies on the regulation of the supply and demand by a price mechanism (Smith, 2012).The free market is separated from the government and individuals have the freedom to pursue …show more content…
This main contrast sets a myriad of opposite postures that have a socio-economic and political impact. For example, the capitalist system base individual prosperity on free market with a small government and the opposite, considers government controlled industries as a mean to social prosperity. While in capitalism companies are owned by the private sector; in socialism the government owns the companies. Individual freedom to property, competition and assets management contrasted by elimination of private property and government welfare programs that provide same social benefits. Capitalism can cause huge distance between the classes which can result in social uneasiness, while Socialism systems attempts to assure social equality. In the matter of technology both systems share the interest in scientific and technological developments, but differ in the methods. While in capitalism, the classic laissez-faire allows the private sector to develop technology and encourage entrepreneurship that consequently allow creative destruction, while in socialism the government agencies would be exclusively behind every project. The highest representation of the opposition between the two systems, was the during the Cold War, when two powerful nations, The United States representing capitalism and the U.S.S.R representing a form of
For the last couple centuries, since the Industrial Revolution the world has been experiencing a tremendous wave of changes in the matters of society, economy and political practices. During this time, two major systems emerged as the result and/or perhaps as a response to the many challenges and opportunities brought by Industrial Revolution. The two hemispheres of power, capitalism and socialism are the two most influential systems that throughout modern history have had an impact the social structures, economic methods and political position of many nations. The importance of analyzing the similarities and differences between both systems present an insight to how …show more content…
The dictionary of economics (Black, 2012) defines capitalism as “the economic system based on private ownership of property and private enterprise. Under this system all, or a major proportion, of economic activity is undertaken by private profit-seeking individuals or organizations, and land and other material means of production are largely privately owned”, to expand of the definition, capitalism is the lines with the laissez-faire economic view which argued that the government shouldn’t intervene in business practices except to protect private property. The timeline for modern capitalism starts with merchant capitalism from the 16th century with naval trade mainly from Great Britain and the Netherlands. Later on during the Industrial Revolution, political philosophers inspired by the analysis develop innovative ideas about how the power that resulted from wealth created by industrialization and commerce and their socio-economic impact. In his book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Scottish economist Adam Smith, considered the father of capitalism, described capitalism as a free market system that strongly relies on the regulation of the supply and demand by a price mechanism (Smith, 2012).The free market is separated from the government and individuals have the freedom to pursue …show more content…
This main contrast sets a myriad of opposite postures that have a socio-economic and political impact. For example, the capitalist system base individual prosperity on free market with a small government and the opposite, considers government controlled industries as a mean to social prosperity. While in capitalism companies are owned by the private sector; in socialism the government owns the companies. Individual freedom to property, competition and assets management contrasted by elimination of private property and government welfare programs that provide same social benefits. Capitalism can cause huge distance between the classes which can result in social uneasiness, while Socialism systems attempts to assure social equality. In the matter of technology both systems share the interest in scientific and technological developments, but differ in the methods. While in capitalism, the classic laissez-faire allows the private sector to develop technology and encourage entrepreneurship that consequently allow creative destruction, while in socialism the government agencies would be exclusively behind every project. The highest representation of the opposition between the two systems, was the during the Cold War, when two powerful nations, The United States representing capitalism and the U.S.S.R representing a form of