Late capitalism can be equated to modern capitalism. Late capitalism have been used to describe absurdities of capitalism, inequality that has been experienced due to capitalism, injustices and economic crisis that is brought about by capitalism. Late capitalism can be traced back to western capitalism, though late capitalism began after the Second World War. In itself, capitalism is used to refer to an economic system that focus on private ownership of means of production rather than the communion ownership of means of production. The main characteristics under capitalism are private ownership of property, capital accumulation and a price system in the society. In the early years, capitalism was a good way to seek liberation for people but after the second war, capitalism have been portrayed as an oppression system. Late capitalism have been used to describe the horrible things that capitalism has forced people do terrible things in order to survive. The essay will elaborate why late capitalism has been compared to a sporting activity and its resemblances of its features to a sport like character and reasons why the writer seconds Weber’s opinion that late capitalism today is a void of spirts. The first part will discuss the attributes that late capitalism portrays that has been compared to a sport like character (Lapavitsas, 2013).
The injustices, the absurdities and the inequality that late capitalism has brought about to people have resembled a sporting activity features. For instance in the NBA, there are players that earn double what their colleagues earn and their teams perform better than other teams. Better performances by team players lead to endorsements and sponsorship deals for players in top teams leaving players at the bottom of the league nothing to bite. Capitalism is exactly the way the NBA league is structured. People continue to do worse things including robbing and killings in order to survive while people that own means of production continue receiving more money and resources. Inequalities have brought about huge gaps between the rich and the poor causing massive cycle of endless poverty. The rich continues to gather more riches and the poor continue suffering and getting poor. There is a small possibility that a person from a poor background will eventually rise and be on top of the food chain. Sporting activities portrays such characters, for instance a player like LeBron James receive a huge salary per game compared to Mychal Green’s salary per game. Sporting activities requires people to compete in order to acquire the top prize, the competition gets greasy and messy and players will do anything to win the top prize. Late capitalism portrays the same character; people have been left on their own to compete for the top prize, which is getting a piece of means of production, people are willing to do anything to get the top prize. In real life, late capitalism has caused absurdities in life while seeking the top prize of capitalism. People have engaged in weird activities and politicians have engaged themselves in corruption and embezzlement of funds in order to achieve the top prize. People have also engaged in killing each other with the main motive to seek money and enrich themselves (Kemple, 2007).
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High unemployment rates have continued to be rampant all over the world due to the inequalities brought about by late capitalism. Top winners and top achievers in sporting activities get recognition no matter what they might have done in the process, late capitalisms has a way of recognizing the rich no matter how the riches were acquired, the poor have been left to struggle and even the best talent within the poor cannot be recognized (Harvey, 2009) .
Late capitalism have seen the rise of oligarchs and monopolies who have shifted the prices in the market to favor themselves Just like in sporting activities where teams will do anything to reduce their competition, late capitalism has created a system where big corporations can do whatever it takes to cut down competition from the market. This has been seen where corporations have battled cases with small firms to either merge with them or eliminate them from the market. The playing ground has been not been fair for small firms in a capitalist market, too much resentment from within the industry and too much competition by big firms that have the ability to channel all their resources to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. Late capitalism has wrecked thousands of business ventures due to its unfairness. The government and other institutions that gain massively from capitalism has made people to believe in capitalism as the only way to seek economic liberation. Inequalities that have been created by capitalism has become unsustainable. For instance, late capitalism has been experienced in the shipping industry where shipping routes now pass through the artic cutting down the ice without considering the environmental implication of melting the artic. Congress spends more than $700 billion in defense per annum while it is unable to allocate sufficient funds to restore Caribbean islands problems especially Haiti and Puerto Rico after Hurricanes or cyclones. The riches of the wealthiest person in the world can afford to feed homeless Americans and still have a balance of more than $ 20 billion. These are examples of how late capitalism has created inequalities and huge absurdities in life (Ghosh, 2009).
The creation and establishment of capitalism originally was to eradicate communism and to liberate people economically by allowing the latter to own the factors of production and gain from the profits made. The aim was to do away with social structures and divisions that confined people to a certain social class. Weber opines that capitalism was born with a unique spirit to liberate people economically. The spirit of capitalism would allow and give the opportunity to everyone to rise above his or her social class. Late capitalism has robbed the original capitalism of its spirt and purpose in life. The spirit that originally existed was to liberate people economically and make people rise above social class and divisions but these have been robbed away by late capitalism. Late capitalism have gone rogue and has encouraged unorthodox means of acquiring the factors of production. It has negatively affected the lives of people deviating away from its original purpose to serve the people and separate them from harmful government policies. Late capitalism lacks spirit and has been corrupted by selfish people who wants to gain profits by oppressing other people. It has become more of survival for the fittest than economic liberation for everyone. Opportunities to succeed have been squashed preventing the poor to rise above their social class (Love, 2006).
Conclusively, capitalism compared to other ideologies is a best way to impact positive changes in the society and lead to economic liberations. However, capitalism can also act as a tool for creating inequalities and absurdities in the society when misused and misinterpreted by people. Capitalism should therefore be used in favor of everyone and create an environment where everybody has the opportunity of owning the means of production.
References
Ghosh, P. (2009). From the ‘spirit of capital’ to the “spirit” of capitalism: The transition in German economic thought between Lujo Brentano and Max Weber. History of European Ideas , 35 (1), 62-92. doi:10.1016/j.histeuroideas.2008.07.002
Harvey, D. (2009). From Managerialism to Entrepreneurialism: The Transformation in Urban Governance in Late Capitalism. Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography , 71 (1), 3. doi:10.2307/490503
Kemple, T. M. (2007). Spirits of Late Capitalism. Theory, Culture & Society , 24 (3), 147-159. doi:10.1177/0263276407075961
Lapavitsas, C. (2013). The financialization of capitalism: ‘Profiting without producing’. City , 17 (6), 792-805. doi:10.1080/13604813.2013.853865
Love, J. (2006). Max Weber and the Theory of Ancient Capitalism. History and Theory , 25 (2), 152. doi:10.2307/2505303
