Capitalism Critical Thinkings Samples For Students

Question #1: As the e-Activity states, CompUSA executives were criticized for employing a "pay for play" model that meant vendors who paid the company more were given more exposure in stores and in promotions. Assess the congruity of this model enforced by CompUSA in relation to capitalist ideals. Based on your assessment, criticize or defend the "pay for play" model on moral grounds.

According to some capitalist ideals, individual demand is the source of any value in the economy or market. Therefore, according to this kind of definition, the “pay for play” model utilized by CompUSA executives ...

Introduction

Market capitalism refers to a market in which things like distribution, investment, and production are influenced by demand and supply forces. As such, the prices of both services and goods can be established in an economy with a price system that is free. Alternatively, it can be defined as an economic system where the industry and the country’s trade are controlled by the private sector without any sort of interference from the state. On the other hand, market socialism is one where methods of production and other economic activities are socially owned or publicly owned such as cooperatives. The essay ...

Introduction

Capitalism refers to a form of political and economic system where country's trade and industry is manned by the private sector, rather the government. Every society is characterized by an uneven distribution of wealth and income. The speculated thoughts help a small percentage of the people in the society to gain control over the majority in the country. Therefore, the minority must, be able to find ways in which they sustain their status quo within the society. The majority group uses myriad ways to battle and be at the top of the prestige minority class. For instance, they convince the majority ...

“For Marxism, literature does not exist in some timeless, aesthetic realm as an object to be passively contemplated. Rather, like all cultural manifestations, it is a product of the socioeconomic and hence ideological conditions of the time and the place in which it was written, whether or not the author intended it so. Because human beings are themselves products of their socioeconomic and ideological environment, it is assumed that authors cannot help but create works that embody ideology in some form.”
-Tyson, Critical Theory Today.
War of the Worlds, the novel about the Martian invasion on earth is ...

1. Five steps of Persuasion
The key to effective persuasion is excellent communication while influencing. Persuasion is not about being abrasive or aggressive. Persuasion predominantly means the ability to influence and convince the audience on the merit of the idea, without being disrespectful. Monroe’s Motivated Sequence of Persuasion steps are as follows:
- Attention – Attention is getting somebody to listen to your argument and engaging their focus, like using their name, emotion, physical touch when appropriate, etc.
- Need – Having caught the attention to sustain the focus, it is essential that you voice the need ...

According to John Ashworth the rise of American capitalism led to increasing calls for the complete and unconditional abolition of slavery from the United States. In the text provided John Ashworth proves this claim. He proves the claim by explaining the underlying ideologies of American capitalism and how these ideologies eventually led to demands for abolition of slavery. Capitalism advocates for privately owned businesses which bring forth profits for the owners. According to ashworth this was completely in line with abolitionism. This is because as capitalism grew there was increasing demand for labor and calls for the work force ...

Division of labor

It a process whereby people specialize in areas of production in which they are best fitted to work. A British economist of the 17th century Adam Smith is accredited to have developed the modern model of division of labor. He proposed that division of labor has caused greater increase in production than any other factor. (Smith, 1776).This differences are experienced in greater size in more developed nations with more industry and improved technology and they are the major causes of universal opulence in these countries. For example industry is more amenable to division of labor than agriculture causing poor ...

“National Geographic as our Sunglasses to the World: A Distorted Look at Reality:” A Critique

Sociologist Tami Miller, in his article “National Geographic as our Sunglasses to the World: A Distorted Look at Reality,” presents a critical review of Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins’ research analysis of the National Geographic magazine. He said that the two authors’ research finding about the world-renown “capitalist” organization has a “hidden racist” perspective. It portrays photographs of foreign, exotic cultures (e.g., ritual behavior, colorful symbolic dress, etc.). Miller even asked why “the National Geographic decides to pick certain photographs over others.”
I am ambivalent and do not want to toy with the idea that Miller’s answer to the ...

In Karl Marx's Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, the philosopher denotes the main problems with private ownership, political economics and capitalist society. In short, those with property are the bourgeoisie, and those without property are the workers - the proletariat. Workers are frequently impoverished and alienated from their own world, most due to their inability to relate to the products that he creates. By making these products for other people, he is giving of himself to others without getting anything in return; he does not own any of the world that he gives his life to. Work is ...

Walden University

Abstract

The Three Little Pigs is a well-known short story with many interpretations, from capitalism to the struggle between good and evil, to the way in which a broken childhood can cause a person to grow up with anti-social behaviours. No one interpretation is conclusively correct. Moreover, it is likely that any of them could be applied to the ambiguous story, and that each reader should be free to make their own decision.

The Three Little Pigs is a short story that has been retold countless times since it was originally written. There are many interpretations of the text, some more convincing than ...

According to Peter Drucker, Post-Capitalist Society (1993) [Lustig], the communist analysis on the capitalistic system consists in concentration on the thesis that wage-laborers are being subjugated by wealth holders and in return obtain only part of the profits of their labor; and with the accumulation of capital the dissimilarity of earnings between laboring poor and non-laboring rich tends to boost. The Marxist resolution in this case suggest confiscate the capitalists’ property and expose them to the same situation as wage-laborers, so that everybody can turn to an employed person and get paid according to his skills. The general work ...

Weber M; The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in Lemert, C. (Ed.) Social Theory: The Multicultural and Classic Readings. 3nd ed. (104-108) (2004) Boulder, CO.: Westview Press
Quote: “In order that a manner of life well adapted to the peculiarities of the capitalism… could come to dominate others, it had to originate somewhere, and not in isolated individuals alone, but as a way of life common to the whole groups of man” (para 1 lines 1-3)
In this quote, Weber focuses on capitalism which eventually can grow to dominate other people’s lives and eventually forge a way ...

Historical-materialist perspective associated with Marx and Engels

Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx developed the concept of the historical materialism also known as the materialist conception of history. One of the main building blocks of this concept is the Hegel's argument that history arises from a dialectic/conflict of the contrasting forces in the society. According to Hegel's claim, the world that we live is a world of appearances, and the state of reality where an individual and the absolute are reunified defines the end of the story. To form a theory of historical materialism, Marx and Engels accepted the idea of dialectic but refuted the Hegel's notion ...

Introduction

Capitalism is a social system, both economic and political, where a country’s trade is owned and controlled by private organizations or individuals for profits while rationalization is a belief that actions should be based on knowledge and reasoning rather than traditions, emotions or other beliefs.
According to Weber, capitalism is defined as a common orientation in the shape of various mercantile operations in an effort to achieve maximum profit through economic exchange. It exists in many nations such as Babylon, China, Ancient Egypt, Mediaeval Europe, and India. Capitalism can either be regular or rationalized. Rationalized Capitalism comprises of ...

“Capitalism as a System of Expectations: Toward a Sociological Microfoundation of Political Economy” by Jens Beckert

What the Article is About
This article is about how capitalism thrives by managing expectations. Beckert develops an approach he calls sociological fictionalism. According to sociological fictionalism it is the future that shapes the present. Images of the future shape present decisions. It focuses its attention on the role of imaginaries of future states of the world as an important element in explaining present action. The relationship between society and markets is that of managing expectations.

Methods

This article relies on the theoretical method. It uses literature research. It is a theory building paper that relies on literature from several ...

POLITICAL HISTORY

What is the relationship between country size and trade and will existence of many small countries promote or inhibit trade?
Country size is a highly relevant factor as far as trade is concerned. A large country will entail more internal trade. Presence of many small countries will promote external trade as the small countries will seek goods they do not produce (Palmer, p.134). The existence of countries in large units will promote both internal and external trade as these countries will be able to produce a wider variety of goods for example North American countries.

Definitions of communism socialism and capitalism

Communism is a socialist movement based ...

What has been the evolution of development theories since the “linear stages” period? Have these theories added value to the understanding/explaining the causes of underdevelopment? Give reasons for/against your position.

Among the many fundamental questions that continue to confound economists today, is the issue, what are the causes of economic growth and decline? Economic theories have emerged to locate, understand, and thus, develop the reasons behind the successes and failures of economies. While the original answers for this question were in the form of simple theories, nowadays, the complexity of this question has been better understood as these theories ...

In production, when the price of capital changes due to the relative change in labor than capital becomes cheaper and labor dearer. The capitalist then substitute the cheaper one for the costlier one.
Figure 11.4, 11.5,11.6
In the figure 11.4 shows the VMPL curve, which is MPL multiplied by price of the output. The curve is diminishing which shows that the amount capitalist will add to increase his revenue by hiring one more labor at different levels of employment.
The figure 11.5(a) shows that in the labor market the part of the labor that will be employed ...

Value calculation is used to determine the exchange value of goods according to the Marx's law of value while price is calculated to determine the same exchange relation but according to the Law of Equal Rate of Profit.

Abstract labor as the only substance of valuenot use value

In capitalism , the capitalist is concerned with the means of production .He purchases the labor power or the capacity of the labor to work. The capitalist doe not have knowledge or interest about the useful labor or the specific use values of the labor. He hired the worker only to produce the commodities that will be exchanged in the market. So ...

Question 1

Identify what methodology (ies) are being employed in this analysis of Leonardo da Vinci's "La Joconde," and explain why/how. What questions might other methodology (ies) ask about this particular work?

Formalism: - a formal approach has been taken towards this image. Several physical properties have been engaged so as to disclose the function and meaning of this work. Also, intrinsic beauty is the main idea behind this work. The image has a slight smile (slight lips opening at the mouth corners) which was considered as a sign of elegance. A delicate atmosphere dominates this image with perfect interaction of light and shade, ...

How Can Workers Achieve a Balance between their Work and Social Life?

Structuration Theory
In the workplace, workers try to strike a balance between work and life. In the family context, life casts many demands upon the workers that force them to work harder and meet the demands. The credibility approach enables workers to weigh the importance between work and their social life. Workers weigh what is more important between socializing and generating revenue to meet the demands they have. Those who have pressing demands work for longer where as those who value their social time work for shorter periods.
The second approach is the rationalization approach. Workers prefer to ...

Religion cannot be defined by a particular set of words due to its complex nature. Different philosophers, scholars and theologians have held different opinions on religion, some which are radical. Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud stood out for their unique views on religion, which have been studied for centuries. They both rooted for the abolition of religion. Religious instinct is a part of human existence. Every society has something that would be classified as religion by modern scientists. Human beings have formed a strong inclination towards religion since time immemorial. Marx described religion as the ‘opium of the people’, a quite controversial and popular ...

“America” is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in the 1958. The poem revolves around the life of the speaker, who feels overwhelmed by life in U.S. Specifically, the speaker is dissatisfied with the level of capitalism in the country, which makes him admire his communist upbringing. He also conveys his admiration for Marxism. Although there are several literary strategies (put forward by different theorists) on the best means to interpret a text, none would be more appropriate than Michael Foucault’s in analyzing Ginsberg’s poem.
In his articles “The Archaeology of Knowledge” and “What is an Author?” Michael ...

Presentation

Bob Mullaly is the author of books about ‘the new structural social work,’ a concept he has been writing about for many years from a progressive point of view. One of the fundamental questions about how social work should be carried out is ‘Do the clients of social workers need to be changed or does the structure of their society need to be changed?’ I do not mean to imply that the job of a social worker is to attempt to change society’s structure. I am only trying to explain that Mullaly has not observed that contemporary social work has been ...

Globalization has had a huge impact on the world in many ways, from political to cultural to economic. Basically, as things become more globalized, and as more and more foreign goods become available to buy, people will go for the more exotic, desirable option. This leaves local farmers and businesses without appropriate business to maintain their companies. Because everything is becoming more globalized, it allows corporations and international forces to have a lot more power than they used to - instead of only being restricted to local goods, people have a wide variety of products to choose from, shipped and created from ...

Part 1 Question 1

The Vietnam is also commonly called the American War in Vietnam (Rosenberg, 2012). This war was fought between 1959 and April 30, 1975. Most of the American citizens were opposed to the war and they felt that America should not have gotten involved in the muddle. They felt that there was no need as to why the nation could lose much of its resources and soldiers in fighting a war which, in their eyes, was not bound to deliver any benefits to the nation. For the purpose of this paper, it is important to look at the cause of the ...

Critical Analysis Paragraph 10

The subject article proposes a modification of Rawlsian Justice Theory to be centered on social and subsistence security. This amendment will, however, narrow the scope of the theory as other elements that are not listed are lost. While security and subsistence justice is critical to a stable society, the input of the people existing in particular society count. It is therefore, imperative that elements and term of the agreement, remain hypothetical as Rawls intended. Listing an item of interest one by one may go to infinity and as the society is made up of different people probably with different ...

Introduction

A dam is a structure specifically constructed to obstruct the flow of moving water, and by extension raising the water level. Dams are built for various purposes, such as a means of flood control, water storage, and a source of hydroelectric power, specifically hydroelectric ones. Some dams are also used in transportation and inland navigation by acting as bridges that connect one side of a body of water to the next. In other words, dams can have many benefits for a developing society. Because of their perceived benefits, many dams have been built all over the world—at least ...

Cuba has undergone a lot of social and economic transformation over time. Following the various transition periods through which Cuba has undergone is important in understanding its culture. The cultural landscape in Cuba is predicted by themes of race and gender and how the two interact. For instance, Bengelsdorf (234) finds that despite the Cultural Revolution that has occurred in over the last century, the family norms in the country are still predicted by racial and class traditions. This means that interaction in the society was polarized by class and racial differences as well as the formation of nuclear ...

The conditions highlighted in the book have many causes. The public was responsible for some of the things that were happening to them. It is their greed that led to unscrupulous behavior where people had to take things from an individual before the same was done to them. The public helped form this culture. During the wedding of the immigrants, people take their beer and food without paying, yet nobody does anything to stop it (Sinclair, 2). In the factories, they are paid poorly and treated unfairly but they still wake up to go to work. The public is ...

Karl Marx’s Theory of alienation describes the separation of things that in nature belong together. It also discusses the placement of resentment between things that ought to be in harmony with each other. In particular, the theory describes social alienation or the estrangement of people from certain aspects of human nature as a result of living in societies that are divided into social classes between the rich and the poor (Krugman, 2002).
Marx’s theory of alienation in respect o capitalism is very relevant in our contemporary society. According to Mészáros, (1970) alienation can almost be ...

This essay will consider the way in which American consumerism defines us as an individual and a society. As such, the paper will using the key readings from the specified text address the issues of how and why we use the purchase of goods and services to help define ourselves as individuals.

The general thesis statement to be examined in this paper is the contention that the acquisition and consumption of goods and services is used by the American public not only to fulfil basic physiological needs to also to help define a person either as an individual or as a part ...

In the 20th century, lesbians created their own identities over time. Just like in other societies, lesbians formed rules and acceptable and unacceptable behaviors in their groups or communities. Lesbians needed a community just like the other people in the society. Although lesbianism occurred even in the olden days, most women did not think of themselves as particular types of people based on their behaviors. This is because; sexual identity only appeared in the 20th century after the coming of the sexologists (Art#1). Lesbians have created identities for themselves and their communities because when they came out as lesbians, they ...

Philosophy

With the advent of the Scientific Revolution, there was an increased level of comfort in the society which led to probing the ancient notions or the beliefs that were long held by the majority. A majority of philosophers started giving out their own opinions about a variety of subjects like politics, government, social order, economics, and religion among others.
The Era of Enlightenment started with this new found curiosity about scholarly or philosophical opinion becoming popular in the entire Europe. The Enlightenment Era was a time period in the 18th century Europe, which was a movement where philosophers applied ...

What is use value?

According to Marx every commodity has two characters – one is use value and other is exchange value. The use value of a commodity refers to the satisfaction or utility that an individual derives from the use of the commodity.

What is exchange value?

The exchange value of a commodity is the amount of other commodity which is obtained in exchange for one unit of this commodity.

What about money?

Money is the special commodity and functions as universal exchange equivalent.
Relationship between use value and exchange value
Use value means a relation between consumer and object consumed and is a subjective relation. But if a commodity ...

Over the past decades, the labor force in many nations has encountered drastic changes. An example can be drawn from the U.S. that has experienced a significant decline in the blue-collar jobs. The blue-collar work facilitated the employment of people with minimal skills and education. They worked in the manufacturing industries and earned a meager but honest living. However, with the onset of technology and globalization, the employment opportunities for the low-skilled laborers have reduced leaving many without sources of income. This essay looks at the changing patterns of labor from blue-collar to white-collar jobs and their effects.
Recent ...

Results and Literature Review

Slavec & Prodan (2012) found out that the strength of an entrepreneur’s social links is a significant factor in financing choice. The bigger the strong-tie network, the less the need for seeking finances to offset debts as the strong ties the entrepreneur has will enable him or her assemble the necessary financial resources. A majority of the respondents indicated that they have strong social ties with family members, financial institutions, accountants and friends whom they play an important role in supplementing the start-up and working capital of their business. This is in line with Slavec & Prodan’s research on ...

New theoretical approaches to the study of history have led to a major shift in the way we perceive political history leading social scientists to question the findings based on the old approaches.
The new approaches have revolutionized our study of history, further proving that history in itself is not merely a study of the past but is also a living art subjected to the changes that occur within those affected by it. These new approaches have evolved perhaps due to the need to ensure that even generations that did not partake in the major historical events of the ...

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Examining Bell Hook’s Contribution to Debates About Gender and Race

Introduction
The dawn of the 20th century paved the way for the second wave of feminist where Bell Hooks or otherwise Gloria Jean Watkins emerged as among the most renowned thinkers that contributed to the debates about gender and race. Among the most notable contributions to gender and race debates are the theories that provided the standpoint for feminists. The myriad of claims encompassing in the debates on gender and race states that knowledge is something that is socially situated in ways that marginal members of the society particularly women can be made ...

Critique

The development of technology has made the world to become a village. This has made it easier for people to come closer and contribute in the socio-economic, cultural and political development of the society. Basically, as Appadrai examines, globalization has contributed to a cordial relationship between different countries (Bordo, M., 2005). As a result of the technological innovations, many people can now easily come together during international conferences, seminars, workshops and forums to share ideas. Through this, they can discuss matters of concern to ensure that there is a harmony amongst all the countries.
According to Beck, globalization has also contributed to ...

Every once in a while we feel that divine intervention is behind the incidence or occurrence of something that has come along in life. Whether it is a commercial, a person, a song or something else, we cannot help but pay attention because it reaches directly to our heart. For most readers, finding Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist makes them believe that it will be a nice, quick read that will provide a change of pace from the usual books that they read. However, Coelho’s novel turns out to be
In The Alchemist, Coelho discusses the concept or idea of the destined path ...

Effect on Reducing Deficits and Stabilizing Prices

In a recent opinion editorial, American literary theorist, legal scholar, and public intellectual Stanley Fish decided to use a definition for neoliberalism provided by political thinker and writer Paul Treanor (2009). Fish stated that Treanor holds that neoliberalism is a philosophy where the existence and operation the market are valued separate from the production of goods and services, to the point of deliberately not justifying the market by its goods and services production. This creates an ethic based on the operation the market alone, and this resulting ethic is asserted as being capable of acting as a guide for all human action, substituting ...

Economic questions

Question 1
Economically, if people were to sell their organs rather than donate them as it is done nowadays for free, the price of the organs would drive away the patients in need. In addition, the low income families would have difficulties and may not afford them. This is because people who donate their organs attach little value to their organs and hence the patients get them free of charge. According to the law of demand, the low supply of organs compared to an increasing demand would lead to an escalation of prices. The lower the supply the ...

Sports ills in America resonate around contemporary societal issues. Some of the main concerns include the unequal salaries, the increased cases of violence, sexual exploitation of female athletes, sexism, and racism, among others. Some of these ills have been facilitated by the mainstream media whose lack of news perhaps motivate them into propagating information that goes into feeding the nation the wrong way. In addition, the American society has evolved overtime from a society compromised with racist, sexist and capitalistic undertones. These factors have had their contribution on the current sports ills. It is incumbent on the stakeholders to pursue ...

A1. The global contact changed the world during the middle ages and the early modern period through a globalizing character where colonization and exploration of the Americans sustained contacts in the isolated parts of the world. The historical powers were involved in the global trade. Capitalist economies around the world became globally articulated and sophisticated, which saw the rise and dominance of mercantilism theory of economy. It also led to the colonization of the Europeans who spread Christianity in the 15th and 19th century around the globe. Interactions and encounters between cultures were inevitable mostly in by the non-westerners.
...

Communism is an idea, an ideology that strives to establish a classless society in which every individual is the same, based on common ownership of production. It can be seen as a branch of the broader socialist movement. However, communism as a political goal is the superior form of future social organization. Communism is a term commonly used to clarify the embodiment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and the political and economic power of the Communist Party regime.
At the end of the 19th century, Marxist theory has encouraged the formation socialistic parties across Europe; although later their ideological platforms were ...

The United States is founded on equality, but capitalism is an economic and social system, which promotes inequality. In a free economy market economy like the United States, slight income equality is considered essential, but the gap between the rich and poor is constantly widening. According to the OEC (Organization for Economic Co-operation), the United States is ranked fourth in terms of wealth and disparity in comparison to other developed countries
(Dadush 41). A report released by the Census Bureau in the United States reveals that the bottom fifth of the population live under the poverty threshold. The top ...

In the novel Cannery Row and the play Glengarry Glen Ross, authors John Steinbeck and David Mamet present characters whose approach to existence appears quite dissimilar on the surface. Mack and the boys from Cannery Row place little value on extravagant material possessions. They possess no ambition other than to have very basic shelter and food; they do not compete with each other or town residents to accumulate goods or social status. The real estate salespeople in Glengarry Glen Ross, on the other hand, thrive on workplace competition to acquire possessions that will signify their success. If one accepts ...

Effects of credit crunch/ensuing recession on political economy decisions

The 2007-2010 economic crisis is perhaps the worst economic disaster to hit the globe since the Great Depression of the early 1930s. The crisis spread instantaneously across the globe triggering deep recessions in developed and developing economies (Hudson, and Maioli, 2010). Assets were devalued, financial markets became turbulent, unemployment levels rose, and access to credit became limited during the crisis. The onset of the financial crisis marked the end of the highest growth cycle experienced from 2003-mid-2008. The causes of the crisis can be attributed to surpluses in the current account of China and other oil-based economies, which provided ...

Advance an original interpretation of two images, considering the images in the context of a historical moment or cultural phenomenon.

The logic of advertising requires a clear goal. One’s physical appearance is determined by one’s body and one’s apparel, and both of these are fodder for perceived judgment by advertisers. Western fashion has seen upheaval in the past century, resulting in a lack of clarity in what apparel represents success. It is primarily this loss of homogeneity which has resulted in a greater focus on the body in beauty advertisements, despite claims that the trend is a backlash against feminism. Having ...

C. Wright Mills; The Sociological Imagination p. 355-358 in Lemert, C. (Ed.) Social Theory: The Multicultural and Classic Readings. 3nd ed. (37-41) (2004) Boulder, CO.: Westview Press.

“Underlying this sense of being trapped are seemingly impersonal changes in the very structure of continent-wide societies. The facts of contemporary history are also facts about the success and the failure of individual men and women. When a society is industrialized, a peasant becomes a worker; a feudal lord is liquidated or becomes a businessman. When classes rise or fall, a person is employed or unemployed; when the rate of investment goes up or down, a person takes new ...