Why do people like capitalism

Critics of socialism point to Venezuela as an example of a country where it has failed. People with positive views of socialism cite different countries, such as Finland and Denmark, as places where it has succeeded. To find out, we asked people to describe — in their own words — why they had positive or negative impressions of socialism and capitalism.

Some who view socialism negatively portray it as a serious threat to capitalism in the U. And some who have a positive view of socialism express an explicit preference for a system that blends socialism and capitalism. The survey found that Republicans, in particular, viewed socialism and capitalism in zero-sum terms. But others mentioned history, the experiences of other nations, personal experiences or their own understandings of the terms in explaining the reasons behind their opinions of socialism and capitalism.

Among the majority of Americans who have a negative impression of socialism, no single reason stands out. Socialism kills incentives for people to innovate and climb the ladder of success.

Some in this group say the U. While much of the mainstream media offers little sympathy for the insecurities and aspirations of younger Britons, the internet has offered a political education.

The free market would bring them freedom, they were told; instead it gifted them insecurity. The sacrifices made by young people during the pandemic have further crystallised a sense of injustice. Hannah Baird, a year-old student, grew up in Rotherham and has always felt dissatisfied by the status quo. Her fears about the climate emergency, and exposure to dissenting opinions on social media, strengthened her discontent. One of her characters mulls over how everyone is talking about communism.

Most young people are not immersed in radical literature, yet politicised zoomers and millennials leave an ideological footprint in their friendship groups. In France, many young people have swung to the far right; in the UK, few are members of trade unions, which historically help craft anti-capitalist attitudes; while some classically rightwing sentiments coexist with leftish attitudes among many young people.

The rich — whose wealth surged during the pandemic — remain uneaten. But it is clear that young people see no rational incentive to back a system that seems to offer little other than insecurity and crisis. Eat the rich! Why millennials and generation Z have turned their backs on capitalism.

They view it as the only sensible way to organize a society, insisting that alternatives like socialism, communism, or anarchism are doomed to fail.

Anti-capitalists view capitalism as an inhuman, anti-democratic, unsustainable, deeply exploitative system that must be dismantled. They see it as inherently at odds with democracy because of how capitalist bosses hold power over workers in the workplace and the fact that, the more capital one accrues, the more power they have. Capitalism and socialism are generally seen as polar opposites, and discussions of either system are often framed as in opposition to the other.

The modern idea of socialism has roots in Greek philosopher Plato but emerged as a popular political idea in the early 19th century among German radicals like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. There are many forms of socialism, but at its core, socialism is an economic system in which a whole community — not just bosses or private companies — control the means of production equally. It assumes that people are naturally cooperative, instead of competitive. The goal of socialism is an egalitarian society run by democratically elected representatives for the benefit of all in accordance with a set of collectively determined parameters; unlike under capitalism, industry and production is run by the state, and the acquisition of private property is seen as counterproductive.

Capitalist critics of socialism believe that the system slows economic growth, rewards worker laziness, and can stifle individual rights and free expression.