4.6 Capitalism And Its Future


As Karl Polanyi argues, capitalism is an anomaly - for it is a system, where social relations are determined by economic relations. This is unlike in previous systems where economic interactions follow from social relations20. Capitalism suffers from bigger conceptual problems:

1. Mixing needs and their means of satisfaction.

2. Needs are only materialistic.

3. Commodities and services are not related to the structure of the society.

These assumptions have left societies and the world in disarray both physically and intellectually. The future will certainly see a correction; correction of a non-correctable system entails replacing it with an alternative system.


20 Polanyi K, 1944, The great transformation, Rinehart & Co., New York.