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Difference Between Capitalism And Capitalism
Similarities and differences between feudalism and capitalism
Difference Between Capitalism And Capitalism
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The Line Between Feudalism and Capitalism
We consider America to be a capitalist nation, but what exactly makes it capitalist? Webster’s dictionary defines capitalism as an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state owned wealth. Capitalism affects the people in it on a daily basis; it affects the way they live their daily lives. A break down in this, supposedly perfect, economic system may occur resulting in a case of feudalism. This can still be found today even, in America. Feudalism is defined in Webster’s dictionary as a system of political organizations prevailing in Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries having as its basis the relation of lord to vassal with all land held in fee and as chief characteristics homage, the service of tenants under arms and in court, ward ship, and forfeiture. There are defined social differences and similarities between capitalism and feudalism; these differences can be seen when comparing and contrasting the reality-based movies Norma Rae and Matewan.
There are many similarities between Norma Rae and Matewan making it hard at times to see which economic system is feudalism and which is capitalism. These similarities cause confusion, even today, in deciding what can be considered feudalism and what can be considered capitalism. This is because in both systems the employers have a significant amount of control over their employees' lives. Both movies are about employees in large factory situations trying to better their working conditions by unionizing the company.
Neither the Stone Mountain Coal Company, in Matewan nor the O.P. Henley Textile Mill, in Norma Rae seemed to truly care about the welfare of their employees. For example, in Matewan the coal miners were suffering from the coal dust cutting their lungs. This problem could have been easily alleviated, had the company cared, by providing the employees with masks. Another major problem was the premature explosions in the mine, which were also caused by coal dust and often resulted in death. This problem would have been more difficult to remedy, but it could have been done. The company just didn't care enough about the lives of its workers to spend the money necessary to correct the problem.
The Stone Mountain Coal Company wielded monopoly control over the town of Matewan through a feudal system of economic, cultural, political, and environmental processes. Every person in the town of Matewan came under the power of the company in one way or another. The employees of Stone Mountain were under a bondage contract with the company. Once they came to the company it was impossible to leave and at the same time maintain a basic standard of living. They could not leave also because once they signed on with the company they owed the company a large sum of money for everything ranging from the ticket for the train that brought them to Matewan to the equipment they needed to work there. In this way it was as if they were paying the company to let them work in the mines rather the other way around. They did not have the rights basic to capitalism such as the right to join a union, the right to sell their labor in a labor market to the bidder of their choice, and the right to spend their wage freely.
Capitalism is an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state
The citizens of Matewan, a coal -mining town in West Virginia lived amidst a feudalistic class process. One may think of medieval times in connection with feudalism, but the film “Matewan” directed by John Sayles was based on historical events that took place in 1920. The feudal lord was not a European king, and the serfs were not farming his land. Nevertheless, feudalism existed in this southern town, as the workers did not have the ability to choose their employer. Unlike Capitalism, the members of Matewan could not go out into the free labor market and choose the businesses for which they wished to work. The Stone Mountain Coal Company made choice nonexistent and in doing so gained feudal power over the employees.
An economic and political system in which a country 's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state is known as Capitalism. Many components make up a capitalist society such as the factors of production are privately owned. The economic transactions take place in markets where buyers and sellers interacts, and many business and employees are free to pursue their own self interest. The United States is known to follow the ideals of a capitalism throughout the years but as many as 32 recessions have taken place in the last 150 years. The economy seems to be unstable and the question arises, why is capitalism so dynamic and unstable? In the novel “The Rise and fall of Neoliberal Capitalism”, David M Kotz analyzes and answers the many
What do the feudal and capitalist economic systems represent? The Webster dictionary defines capitalism as, "an economic system characterized by open competition in a free market and by private or coperate ownership of the means of production and distribution." In Matewan, the idea of capitalism was first introduced by communist and union man himself, Joe Kinnehan. He urged the coal miners to realize the choices they could make and not to let a coal company make the decisions for them. He explained that this would entail all joining together and standing as one while demanding higher wages and better worker conditions. Not until the citizens of Matewan comprehend the feudal system they are living under, can they hope to change. The story of Matewan West Virginia portrays the struggle that an entire town underwent before they could release themselves from the grip of The Stone Mountain Coal Company.
In Marge Piercy’s, “Barbie Doll,” we see the effect that society has on the expectations of women. A woman, like the girl described in ‘Barbie Doll’, should be perfect. She should know how to cook and clean, but most importantly be attractive according to the impossible stereotypes of womanly beauty. Many women in today’s society are compared to the unrealistic life and form of the doll. The doll, throughout many years, has transformed itself from a popular toy to a role model for actual women. The extremes to which women take this role model are implicated in this short, yet truthful poem.
Although scholars dispute its roots, Feudalism was mostly seen in Frankish lands around the 9th and 10th century. ("Feudalism: History of Feudalism in Europe." Infoplease.) The system was first introduced as a means of protection for the king. However, as time grew the opportunity to use it as means of exchange for services between the king and vassal was found. Instead of just forcing people into the king’s army the idea of giving fiefs to those who would pledge their life to service the king was decided on. Likewise, vassal, or the knights saw the advantages they had that could be used to their advantage.
To begin, capitalism is the economic ideology that everything is primarily focused towards making profit through the production and distribution of a product. In the article “Capitalism: Where Do We Come From?” By Robert Heilbroner and Lester Thurow, they provide insight on how capitalism has changed over the years and the impact it now has in today’s society. “There were no factors of production before capitalism. Of course, human labour, nature’s gift of land and natural resources, and the artifacts of society have always existed. But labour, land, and capital were not commodities for
In times of need the church and religion provided hope for people in trouble, eventually creating feudalism. Many things such as feudalism depended on the Great Chain of Being, such as most of the peasants in the middle ages. The Great Chain of Being says that not all things are created equal and that everything has its own place that cannot be changed. Feudalism is based off of the Great Chain of Being where it is unfair but every layer depends on every other layer. In times of need, people looked to religion for help. Because of their role as a religious place, they could provide comfort to families such as ones with a loved one who got sick, but they could never cure the person (Richardson). The church was outside of the feudalism system, having social mobility. Anyone
Capitalism is an economic system where people and private businesses are able to control their own trade and means of production for profit. It emerged as technology, production and trade began to increase. During the industrial revolution, capitalism started to influence people more. Some characteristics of capitalism are capital accumulation, competitive markets and wage labor. The government isn’t supposed to interfere with trade. Individual markets raise or lower their prices due to competition and demand for goods. There has been a lot of debate over the usefulness of capitalism. Some believed capitalism had negative effects while others saw more benefits. Adam Smith and Andrew Carnegie pushed for a capitalistic society, but had different beliefs on how economic wealth should be distributed; Karl Marx advocated for a communistic society where wealth was evenly distributed.
Marge Piercy wrote the Barbie Doll poem in 1973, during the woman’s movement. The title of the poem Barbie Doll, symbolizes how females are supposed to appear into the society. In the poem Barbie Doll, the main character was a girl. She was described as a usual child when she was born. Meaning that she had normal features that any person could ever have. Piercy used “wee lipstick the color of cherry candy” as a smile to describe the child before she has hit puberty. After the character hit puberty, the classmates in her class began to tease her saying “you have a big nose and fat legs.” (Piercy pg. 1) Having a big nose and a fat leg is the opposite of what females are supposed to be presented as in the gender stereotype. In the society that the girl lives in, follows the gender stereotypes that presented females as a petite figure with a slender body. These expectations made the character go insane. She wanted to fit into the society so she “cut off her nose and legs and offered them up.” (Piercy pg. 1) Even though the girl was “healthy, tested intelligent…” (Piercy pg. 1) no one saw that in her, but her appearances. In the end of the poem the girl end up dying, a...
Barbie, an American icon that was a product of the Mattel Company, revolutionized the lives of young girls and women for many decades. The creation of Barbie, meant for many young girls the opportunity to have choices during a time when women were limited. Although, Barbie has long been criticized for being associated with domesticity and her appearance among many other things, she is nonetheless an iconic figure in American History. As a female who grew up playing with Barbie dolls, for many people like myself, she was more than a toy, she was an influence that many woman have tried to emulate because she was an innovate figure in the 1960s and has continued to be well into today. The intention of this paper is to examine what were the intentions of Barbie doll creator Ruth Handler when the doll debuted in 1959 as well as the magnitude of Barbie’s impact on women and women’s history.
According to Lisa Belkin, Barbie is good for society because she’s fun to play with and she encourages little girls to use their imagination and dream big. Many young girls who play with Barbie dolls have realized that she is just a doll. Some of these little girls don’t have the desire to look like Barbie; they just think Barbie is just a doll that they play with and leave them everywhere. At a young age girls are given their first Barbie doll and thought what “perfect” should be. Barbie portrays the perfect image and life. Not only is Barbie tall, skinny, and beautiful, she has all the luxurious accessories to match her perfect life. To go along with her perfect life she is accompanied with the perfect boyfriend, family and dream house.At a young age girls are also being influenced by this doll, what they should look like, and what kind of life they sgould lead. Young girls strive to achieve this look which is life threatening to obtain. Regardless to the changes they made to Barbie, she is still far from real. Little girls that are mature enough don’t strive to look like Barbie because she’s just a plastic doll.(Debate.org, 9). According to “The Intentions behind the creation of Barbie”, Barbie dolls ...
Capitalism, a French word, capitalisme, meaning “the conditions of the rich”, is an economic system, way of life, and economic market structure. The meaning alone invokes a sense of worldly wealth and prosperity. Capitalism is more accurately labeled as aggregates of private owners with the goal of making profits in a market economy; it is a citizen driven society and business world with the strongest, most populous, most resource rich, and we...
The idea of Barbie came about when a woman named Ruth Handler was watching her daughter play with dolls. In the 1950’s, girls of all ages only had paper or cardboard dolls to play with and preferred to play with cut outs of teenagers and adult dolls. So, Ruth Handler thought to make The Teenage Fashion Doll for older girls, as a three dimensional doll, called Barbie, named after her daughter Barbara (Heppermann 2010). However, Mrs. Handler met resistance when she went to her husband with the idea, and he didn’t think her idea would work out. When they travelled to Germany, she found a doll called Bild Lilli. This doll was a strong-minded individual that would use all at her disposal to get what she wanted. Bild Lilli was adult-bodied; which represented exactly what Handler had in mind for Barbie. In 1959, Barbie made her debut at the American International Toy Fair. This was the start of a new revolution, as far as dolls were concerned because for the first time, dolls did not only consist of paper and cardboard dolls, but also a more realistic, three dimensional doll that resembles what girls would want to be like, and can physically hold. But, like many toys, Barbie’s fame was not without its challenges.