Economists, historians, political economists, and sociologists have adopted different perspectives in their analyses of capitalism and have recognized various forms of it in practice. These include laissez-faire or free-market capitalism, state capitalism, and welfare capitalism. Different forms of capitalism feature varying degrees of free markets, public ownership, obstacles to free competition, and state-sanctioned social policies. The degree of competition in markets and the role of intervention and regulation, as well as the scope of state ownership, vary across different models of capitalism. The extent to which different markets are free and the rules defining private property are matters of politics and policy. Most of the existing capitalist economies are mixed economies that combine elements of free markets with state intervention and in some cases economic planning.
Capitalism in its modern form emerged from agrarianism in England, as well as mercantilist practices by European countries between the 16th and 18th centuries. The Industrial Revolution of the 18th century established capitalism as a dominant mode of production, characterized by factory work, and a complex division of labor. Through the process of globalization, capitalism spread across the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially before World War I and after the end of the Cold War. During the 19th century, capitalism was largely unregulated by the state, but became more regulated in the post–World War II period through Keynesianism, followed by a return of more unregulated capitalism starting in the 1980s through neoliberalism. (Full article...)
The slate industry in Wales began during the Roman period when slate was used to roof the fort at Segontium, modern Caernarfon. The slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, from when it expanded rapidly and reached its peak output in the late 19th century, at which time the most important slate producing areas were in north-west Wales. These included the Penrhyn Quarry near Bethesda, the Dinorwig Quarry near Llanberis, the Nantlle Valley quarries and Blaenau Ffestiniog, where the slate was mined rather than quarried. Penrhyn and Dinorwig were the two largest slate quarries in the world, and the Oakeley mine at Blaenau Ffestiniog was the largest slate mine in the world. The Great Depression and the Second World War led to the closure of many smaller quarries, and competition from other roofing materials, particularly tiles, resulted in the closure of most of the larger quarries in the 1960s and 1970s. Slate production continues on a much reduced scale. (Full article...)
Philip Kotler (born May 27, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois) is an Americanmarketing author, consultant, and professor; currently the S. C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He is the author of over 55 marketing books, including Principles of Marketing, Kotler on Marketing: How to Create, Win, and Dominate Markets, and Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit. Kotler describes strategic marketing as serving as "the link between society's needs and its pattern of industrial response.
Kotler's latest work focuses on economic justice and the shortcomings of capitalism. He published Confronting Capitalism: Real Solutions for a Troubled Economic System in 2015. (Full article...)
With American and French Revolutions and the opening of vast pioneer countries, a substantial reversal of the trend developed, as to important sections of the world population, especially in political aspects, especially in political respects, also evidenced in the movement for universal education. But many new things of nineteenth century reversed this temporary change in attitude. Of these, the theory of evolution, the emphasis upon the biological background of the individual, and the study of sociology and social anthropology profoundly affected the importance of the individual in our habits of thought. And to these, the study of economics and economic speculation, especially of French, German and Englishsocialists, gradually contributed enormously. Then finally flowered the modern corporation and the organized labor movement, all emphasizing interdependence, cooperation, regimentation, as the essential aspects of life, as the constructive forces of civilization, until the subservience of individual to state, society, economic machinery, is the habitual attitude of mind. It has become exceedingly difficult to consider the individual. Chiefly the psychologist, the psychiatrist, the physician, the clergyman, and (to some extent) the teacher, recognize "man" as an individual, rather than as a statistical unit, in the major aspects of their work.
I am not making a plea for "individualism" as opposed to "collectivism." The extreme emphasis upon the individual in doctrinarie argument against various aspects of collective interest and action seems to me even less realistic than the reverse emphasis upon organization and collectivism. Not only socially and politically but also economically, men are more interdependent, at least in western civilization, than ever before. By reason of organized cooperation in innumerable ways, both population and the standard of living, and perhaps even the quality of living, have been greatly increased. Without such organization in society, retrogression is inevitable. Recognition of these facts, however, does not require a denial of the coexistence of the individual. It is individuals who are being organized, and the effectiveness of the group depends not only upon the scheme of grouping and function, but upon the quality of the elementary units. It is impossible in practice to disregard either aspect very far; but in general our condition of mind, our attention and interest in the problems of organization, dispose us constantly to a one-sided approach.
Image 7Map of a medieval manor. Notice the large commons area and the division of land into small strips. The mustard-colored areas are part of the demesne, the hatched areas part of the glebe. William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas, 01923 (from History of capitalism)
Image 11The economic model of supply and demand states that the price P of a product is determined by a balance between production at each price (supply S) and the desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand D): the diagram shows a positive shift in demand from D1 to D2, resulting in an increase in price (P) and quantity sold (Q) of the product. (from Capitalism)
Image 19Gustave Doré's 19th-century engraving depicted the dirty, overcrowded slums where the industrial workers of London lived. (from History of capitalism)
... that rational egoism is the idea that it is always in accordance with reason to pursue one's own interest, used by Ayn Rand as the rationale behind objectivism?
... that in the 16th century people convicted of sedition had their ears nailed to the pillory in Norwich Market, and when their pillory time was completed their ears were cut off?
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