Editing Capitalism (section)

==== Relationship to democracy ====
The relationship between [[democracy]] and capitalism is a contentious area in theory and in popular political movements.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Milner |first1=Helen V |title=Is Global Capitalism Compatible with Democracy? Inequality, Insecurity, and Interdependence |journal=[[International Studies Quarterly]] |date=2021 |volume=65 |issue=4 |pages=1097–1110 |doi=10.1093/isq/sqab056 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The extension of adult-male [[suffrage]] in 19th-century Britain occurred along with the development of industrial capitalism and [[representative democracy]] became widespread at the same time as capitalism, leading capitalists to posit a causal or mutual relationship between them. However, according to some authors in the 20th-century, capitalism also accompanied a variety of political formations quite distinct from liberal democracies, including [[fascism|fascist]] regimes, [[Absolute monarchy|absolute monarchies]] and [[One-party state|single-party states]].<ref name="Burnham" /> [[Democratic peace theory]] asserts that democracies seldom fight other democracies, but others suggest this may be because of political similarity or stability, rather than because they are "democratic" or "capitalist". Critics argue that though economic growth under capitalism has led to democracy, it may not do so in the future as [[authoritarian]] régimes have been able to manage economic growth using some of capitalism's competitive principles<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Gady |last=Epstein |title=The Winners And Losers in Chinese Capitalism |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/gadyepstein/2010/08/31/the-winners-and-losers-in-chinese-capitalism/ |magazine=[[Forbes]] |access-date=28 October 2015 |archive-date=5 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105210914/http://www.forbes.com/sites/gadyepstein/2010/08/31/the-winners-and-losers-in-chinese-capitalism/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The rise of state capitalism |url=http://www.economist.com/node/21543160 |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |access-date=24 October 2015 |issn=0013-0613 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615124603/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2012/01/21/the-rise-of-state-capitalism |url-status=live}}</ref> without making concessions to greater [[political freedom]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Mesquita |first=Bruce Bueno de |url=http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050901faessay84507/bruce-bueno-de-mesquita-george-w-downs/development-and-democracy.html |title=Development and Democracy |date=September 2005 |access-date=26 February 2008 |work=[[Foreign Affairs]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220154505/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050901faessay84507/bruce-bueno-de-mesquita-george-w-downs/development-and-democracy.html |archive-date=20 February 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Siegle |first1=Joseph |last2=Weinstein |first2=Michael |last3=Halperin |first3=Morton |date=1 September 2004 |title=Why Democracies Excel |url=http://www.mafhoum.com/press7/212S28.pdf |journal=[[Foreign Affairs]] |volume=83 |issue=5 |pages=57 |doi=10.2307/20034067 |jstor=20034067 |access-date=26 August 2018 |archive-date=12 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412055541/http://www.mafhoum.com/press7/212S28.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

Political scientists [[Torben Iversen]] and [[David Soskice]] see democracy and capitalism as mutually supportive.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Iversen |first1=Torben |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv4g1r3n |title=Democracy and Prosperity: Reinventing Capitalism through a Turbulent Century |last2=Soskice |first2=David |date=2019 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |jstor=j.ctv4g1r3n |isbn=978-0-691-18273-5}}</ref> [[Robert Dahl]] argued in ''On Democracy'' that capitalism was beneficial for democracy because economic growth and a large middle class were good for democracy.<ref name=":0a">{{cite book |last=Dahl |first=Robert A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZG4JEAAAQBAJ |title=On Democracy |date=2020 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-25799-1 |language=en}}</ref> He also argued that a market economy provided a substitute for government control of the economy, which reduces the risks of tyranny and authoritarianism.<ref name=":0a" />

In his book ''[[The Road to Serfdom]]'' (1944), [[Friedrich Hayek]] (1899–1992) asserted that the free-market understanding of [[economic freedom]] as present in capitalism is a requisite of [[political freedom]]. He argued that the market mechanism is the only way of deciding what to produce and how to distribute the items without using coercion. [[Milton Friedman]] and [[Ronald Reagan]] also promoted this view.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pryor |first1=Frederic L. |title=Capitalism and freedom? |journal=Economic Systems |date=2010 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=91–104 |doi=10.1016/j.ecosys.2009.09.003}}</ref> Friedman claimed that centralized economic operations are always accompanied by [[political repression]]. In his view, transactions in a market economy are voluntary and the wide diversity that voluntary activity permits is a fundamental threat to repressive [[political leader]]s and greatly diminishes their power to coerce. Some of Friedman's views were shared by [[John Maynard Keynes]], who believed that capitalism was vital for freedom to survive and thrive.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Friedrich |last=Hayek |author-link=Friedrich Hayek |title=The Road to Serfdom |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=154 |issue=3911 |pages=473–474 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=1944 |isbn=978-0-226-32061-8 |bibcode=1944Natur.154..473C |doi=10.1038/154473a0 |s2cid=4071358}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bellamy |first=Richard |title=The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Political Thought |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-521-56354-3 |page=60}}</ref> [[Freedom House]], an American [[think-tank]] that conducts international research on, and advocates for, democracy, political freedom and [[human rights]], has argued that "there is a high and statistically significant correlation between the level of political freedom [[Freedom in the World|as measured by Freedom House]] and economic freedom [[Index of Economic Freedom|as measured by the Wall Street Journal/Heritage Foundation survey]]".<ref>{{cite book |first=Adrian |last=Karatnycky |title=Freedom in the World: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties |publisher=[[Transaction Publishers]] |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-7658-0101-2 |page=11}}</ref>

In ''[[Capital in the Twenty-First Century]]'' (2013), [[Thomas Piketty]] of the [[Paris School of Economics]] asserted that inequality is the inevitable consequence of economic growth in a capitalist economy and the resulting [[Wealth concentration|concentration of wealth]] can destabilize democratic societies and undermine the ideals of social justice upon which they are built.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Thomas Piketty |last=Piketty |first=Thomas |date=2014 |title=Capital in the Twenty-First Century |publisher=[[Belknap Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-43000-6 |page=571}}</ref>

States with capitalistic economic systems have thrived under political regimes deemed to be authoritarian or oppressive. [[Singapore]] has a successful open market economy as a result of its competitive, business-friendly climate and robust rule of law. Nonetheless, it often comes under fire for its style of government which, though democratic and consistently one of the least corrupt,<ref>{{cite web |title=Transparency International Corruption Measure 2015 |url=https://www.transparency.org/country/#SGP |website=Transparency International Corruption Measure 2015 – By Country / Territory |publisher=Transparency International |access-date=20 September 2016 |archive-date=31 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331114640/http://www.transparency.org/country/#SGP |url-status=dead}}</ref> operates largely under a one-party rule. Furthermore, it does not vigorously defend freedom of expression as evidenced by its government-regulated [[Censorship in Singapore|press]], and its penchant for upholding laws protecting ethnic and religious harmony, judicial dignity and personal reputation. The private (capitalist) sector in the People's Republic of China has grown exponentially and thrived since its inception, despite having an authoritarian government. [[Augusto Pinochet]]'s [[Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990)|rule in Chile]] led to economic growth and high levels of inequality<ref>[[Naomi Klein|Klein, Naomi]] (2008). ''[[The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism]].'' [[Picador (imprint)|Picador]]. {{ISBN|0-312-42799-9}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=PwHUAq5LPOQC&pg=PA105 p. 105] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319071518/http://books.google.com/books?id=PwHUAq5LPOQC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA105 |date=19 March 2015 }}.</ref> by using authoritarian means to create a safe environment for investment and capitalism. Similarly, [[Suharto]]'s authoritarian reign and [[Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66|extirpation]] of the [[Communist Party of Indonesia]] allowed for the expansion of capitalism in [[Indonesia]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Farid |first=Hilmar |date=2005 |title=Indonesia's original sin: mass killings and capitalist expansion, 1965–66 |journal=[[Inter-Asia Cultural Studies]] |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=3–16 |doi=10.1080/1462394042000326879 |s2cid= 145130614}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Geoffrey B. |date=2018 |title=The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965–66 |url=https://press.princeton.edu/titles/11135.html |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |page=177 |isbn=978-1-4008-8886-3 |access-date=1 August 2018 |archive-date=19 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419011656/https://press.princeton.edu/titles/11135.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

The term "capitalism" in its modern sense is often attributed to [[Karl Marx]].<ref name="Scott">{{cite book |title=Industrialism: A Dictionary of Sociology |last=Scott |first=John |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title="capitalism, n.2". OED Online |url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/27454?rskey=ZVI1hr&result=2&isAdvanced=false |access-date=19 January 2013 |archive-date=23 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923063611/https://www.oed.com/start;jsessionid=A9CBE07460C68ED291D7D6CDCE84A1B1?authRejection=true&url=%2Fview%2FEntry%2F27454%3Frskey%3DZVI1hr%26result%3D2%26isAdvanced%3Dfalse |url-status=live}}</ref> In ''[[Das Kapital]]'', Marx analyzed the "[[Capitalist mode of production (Marxist theory)|capitalist mode of production]]" using a method of critique that later became known as [[Marxism]]. However, while Marx did discuss capitalism extensively, he used the term "capitalism" less frequently than "capitalist mode of production." His collaborator, [[Friedrich Engels]], played a significant role in popularizing the term in more political interpretations of their work. In the 20th century, supporters of the capitalist system often replaced the term "capitalism" with phrases such as "free enterprise" or "private enterprise" to avoid its negative connotations. Similarly, the term "capitalist" was sometimes substituted with "[[investor]]" or "[[Entrepreneurship|entrepreneur]]" to emphasize productive roles rather than passive wealth accumulation.<ref name="Williams 1983 51">{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Raymond |title=Keywords: A vocabulary of culture and society, revised edition |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-19-520469-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/keywordsvocabula00willrich/page/51 51] |chapter=Capitalism |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/keywordsvocabula00willrich/page/51}}</ref>