David Ruccio — Capitalism—what’s in a word?

Quote from Richard Wolf.

According to Richard Wolff, critics of capitalism need to be clear about what they mean by capitalism. It’s not free markets or free enterprise, both of which have been present in various forms of slavery and feudalism (and, of course, both of which have been absent in various forms of capitalism). Instead, it’s how surplus labor is organized, in the form of surplus-value.

Note that in this view, political economy is about distribution. Distribution determines the type of economy and the economic infrastructure determines the type of society, that is, social structure in terms of institutional arrangements that order socio-economic relationships. Imposition of institutional arrangements is a matter of power and therefore politics.

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Capitalism—what’s in a word?
David F. Ruccio | Professor of Economics University of Notre Dame Notre Dame