What is capitalism? | Ideology explained

This video is a short explanation of capitalism, I explain what capitalism means, the difference between the market and capitalism as well as why that's an important distinction.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome back to ideology explained. Today we are talking about capitalism. You can already tell that the name of this series doesn’t mean anything anymore, because, and this is true, capitalism is not an ideology but an economic system. And before you rush to the comment section, I am aware that capitalism is part of many ideologies, but it itself isn’t one.
So, let’s go over the basics, in general capitalism is just an economic system in which the means of production are owned by private individuals. Means of production is a Marxist term and just means the thing you need to work, like a PC if you are an author or industrial machinery if you produce dildos.
And what does that private ownership mean? Classically it just means that it’s not owned by the state or by the crown but by whoever bought it. That means you can buy a piece of land and build a factory there and it then belongs to you. And all of the profit it generates belongs to you as well, minus stuff like taxes.
And that’s it according to some definitions. But others put an emphasis on competition and such which I disagree with. This is because nowadays “capitalism” has become synonymous with “free market capitalism”. And free market capitalism means an economic system made up of both the free market and capitalism.
Personally I believe it’s important to distinguish between those two. The distinction I make is that capitalism dictates how things are produced, for example in a factory which is owned by a single private individual or a group of investors. So capitalism is the system of production. It produces things.
And the market is a system of distribution which transports stuff from the factories that produced it to the people who need it. I will not dwell on how markets work because that’s actually a separate video already. Click, somewhere. You need both a system of distribution and a system of production to make a full economic system.
And I believe this distinction is important because if you mix them up then you can make some silly mistakes like believing that market socialism is the same as capitalism because it has competing businesses. I just think that keeping the market and capitalism separate makes it easier to understand certain things.
So that’s the theory, capitalism is just a system in which everything is produced and owned by private entities. But how does that work in praxis? How do I get to own this piece of land and how can I make sure nobody else takes it? That’s the job of the state. The state is a core feature of capitalism because it is the entity that enforces property rights.
Practically that means you can buy a piece of land and you’ll receive a piece of paper that says that it’s your land. And if someone else comes along and tries to take your land then you call the police and they commit war crimes on the people who are trespassing. Using tear gas is a war crime, look it up.
This also has the effect that someone can own a factory and all the machines therein AND have the full dictatorial power over the people who work there. And if they try to do anything against it you can call the police and have them arrest the workers.
And this is the very first criticism of capitalism. It allows single people to take control of factories which may affect thousands of lives and businesses which may affect billions of people. An employee pretty much has to do as an employer tells them to or else become unemployed. Needless to say anarchists have a very big problem with that.

[burncitylad]

I committed war crimes on that like button

[cageybee]

things that are war crimes:
- tear gas
- pepper sprays
- targeting medics
- targeting journalists
- collective punishment (gassing a whole crowd for the actions of a couple people)
- targeting civilians (videos of random nurses not involved in protests being arrested without reason, people's cars getting surrounded smashed up and then dragged out of the car and arrested for no reason etc.)

[DiThi]

Nitpick: Capitalism is a mode of production but it doesn't "produce things", it rather dictates who produces, who decides what to produce, who gets the result of labor, etc. In any mode of production, the workers are always the ones that produce things. I would say capitalism is "how things are produced" instead of "what produce things".

[cumulus]

Would you mind posting your sources, such as the chart labelled, "Percent change in real income since 1948"? It didn't say what country that was in. I'd imagine US because we have greater levels of financial inequality since 1948, but yeah.

Also I liked the Communist gremlin you made.

[MrxstGrssmnstMttckstPhlNelThot]

And important aspect of Marx's writings on capitalism was that capitalism was about the mode of production in which private owners force workers to make things for the purpose of it becoming a commodity. Commodity exchange (or a market) is an important part of what makes capitalism capitalism in Marx. It's ridiculously dense but I'd recommend people read Capital, Volume 1 is also available on Librivox.

[elijahfordsidioticvarietys]

A response to criticisms of Market Socialism.
"BuT hOw CoUlD yOu eXpEcT tHe WoRkErS tO eFeCtIvElY RuN a BuSiNeSs?"I don't know. Maybe they could just elect a leader to help them run things.

[austinfernando]

also where the hell was the NAP in like 1757 when the east india company (one of or The first capitalist business) literally conquered india with its private army? and now the hell could the lack of an NAP be blamed on the government or any of the shit ancaps try to believe to absolve capitalism of its *inherent* violence and exploitation?

[th-ucor]

i am in favor of free market capitalism, but i still enjoy your videos

[lukei]

You're awesome bro, helping me understand things better than a lot of other youtubers. I'm leaning towards market socialism as an economic system.

[decbaa]

where can I get this fly version the international? literally looping the end of your videos :D

[danielbethke]

I know you probably have lots of videos and ideas, but I think it would be really cool if you would make a video on Democratic Socialism vs Social Democracy. Thank you!

[VictorSchmidt]

Oh, but capitalism IS an ideology as much as it is an economic system. The very notion that one can buy and sell things, not only means of production, but every type of commodity, is ideological itself.

[kanuto]

Man, if capitalism is exploitative, then I sure do love being 'exploited' by a system which allows me to earn more money than I need and spend it on whatever I personally value as an individual.
Also, if my boss is supposedly a dictator... then he sure is the friendliest, worker-respecting and open-minded dictator I've ever met.
Ok, jokes aside now, I do get the strong impression like you're doing some heavy projection on how humans would behave in a capitalist system which... sounds an awful lot like your bad experiences you had at your workplace.
Sure, there are some companies run by bad people... but claiming that every business under capitalism is run by bad people is quite a bit hyperbolic, not to mention also wrong given my own, and many other people's workplace-experience.
Maybe instead of just guessing on how a business-owner thinks or would act... try to talk to a few of them in person.
They're still people afterall... not to mention that their perspective on things can be quite interesting at times... especially if you yourself never owned a company before.

[Drawoon]

"Economc systems" heyy, you kept the typo from last video :D

[sirnikkel]

The entire lore of TF2 at 2:29 be like:
Well... actually...

[armenpetrosyan]

Thank you for your service to humanity (im a tankie)

[elijahfordsidioticvarietys]

Capitalism is when there's private ownership. The more private the ownership is, the more capitalist it is.

[leanio]

If Adam Smith were here today he wouldn't like capitalism at its current state

[VC_JohnCarloElijahPCasis]

But but using tear gas in dispersing a crowd is not a war crime because the state is not in a state of war but just dispersing a crowd

[puppetofthebourgeoisiechan]

Are there any examples of capitalist economies that don't have a free market?