Capitalism

Capitalism as Society

Contemporary social theory's treatment of capitalism is grounded in its treatment by the classics. It is necessary to refer at least to two of them: Marx and Weber. Other weighty contributions, notably Durkheim's and Simmel's, are not included here. Both Marx and Weber tended, like many social theorists today, to recognize the institution of wage-labor as a core characteristic of modern capitalism. The best starting point to discuss the problems and directions of the theory of capitalism is not, what seems obvious, the concept of capital, but its apparent opposition, labor—if one keeps in mind that this point doesn't exhaust the problematic.

Marx didn't use the term capitalism, but spoke of a capitalist mode of production that consists of specific forces and relations of production. This mode of production was the base of modern commodity-producing society in which the principal means of production were the property of a particular class, the bourgeoisie, and labor power also became a commodity. It was in the labor market where the two fundamental opposing classes of capitalism met, and it was there and in the labor process where they had to cooperate and to struggle against each other at the same time. This ambiguous class relation was the dynamic force behind society's development. Its distinctive features were its capacity for self-expansion through ceaseless accumulation; its continual revolutionizing of production methods, connected with the advance of science and technology as [Page 77]major productive force; and the cyclical character of its development, marked by phases of prosperity and depression. The theory of capitalism was essentially a class theory and a crisis theory. Advanced capitalism was regarded as containing inherent contradictions (between developed productive forces and fettering production relations, creating increasing crisis tendencies and class divisions) expected to lead to a proletarian revolution and the replacement of capitalism by socialism.

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