Topics in Culture Change

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Dear Student,
It is important in Q1 to look into the history of Capitalism for a true understanding of social change in terms of capital markets and society. The solution below gives a summary but since this is a broad topic I advice you read on it a little more. Thank you for using Brainmass. Good luck!

Sincerely,
OTA 105878/Xenia Jones
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Culture Change & Globalization Questions

1) What is the new form of expansive capitalism that has emerged since the mid-20th century?

To completely understand this change one has to look back at the kind of capitalism or free market enterprise .Trade had always been a part of civilization as peoples traded with each other to avail of certain goods and services. It was in Ancient Assyria where the earliest records of trading merchants can be traced however although much of the trade in the Fertile Crescent appear either as part of Roman capitalism records or Islamic capitalism. The modern form of capitalism however has its earliest origins during the Middle Ages through the Renaissance under the idea of 'free markets' or 'Laissez Fraire' where farms and guilds/cottage industries brought products to trade and sell to important markets and points of exchange. It was during the Age of Exploration & Discovery however that merchant capitalism and mercantilism was established due to the feverish desire of European Monarchies to conquer new territories via the galleon trade and their navies side by side with the perceived decline of the Silk Road trade route. But colonial mercantilism added a fuel in trade wherein demand for goods from new colonies and territories became so high in Europe that enterprising sailors and merchants gained wealth, power and land as was the case with England. It was this success and mercantilism and its powerful navy that led Britain to establish a global empire centered on trade which also gave its monarchs unrivalled power. Companies, banks and other structures specific to trade emerged. By the time the Industrial revolution came, trade and capitalism have become entrenched in social life and laissez fraire began a reinterpretation in an industrial sense. Companies and capitalists invested heavily in growing industries (the railway system fuelled by the steam engine, mining & varied factories mass producing products to answer demand and create surplus for export) for huge amounts of profit. Wealth is now not dependent on land but on investment in industries. When 20th century came about, and the United States had an established Federal government, finance capitalism (private investors) and monopoly capitalism (government fuelled and run investments via its own financial systems) were in full swing despite cycles of depression and boom & bust of industries. Karl Marx, critical of capitalism predicted that "the disastrous effects of machinery and division of labor, the concentration of capital and land in a few hands," and this was evident in the creation of moguls and massively wealthy capitalists. By the time the Great depression came about though, said moguls lost a huge amount of their wealth. The ...