http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/capitalism Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Sat, 30 May 2026 04:55:39 -0400 Sat, 30 May 2026 04:55:39 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1924/ethics-of-the-far-future-why-longtermism-does-not-imply-anti-capitalism By Nathaniel Peutherer - It has recently been argued that longtermism it at odds with capitalism. It is said that while longtermism places great emphasis on the value of far future benefits, capitalism neglects the future by favouring short-term gains. Therefore, those who are sympathetic to longtermism should support an anti-capitalist solution. In this article, I argue that after we make this claim more precise it becomes clear that anti-capitalism is not the only solution for longtermists. Instead, they can adopt Schwartz’s capitalist reforms centred around the legal basis for a corporation to act as an immortal... Tue, 30 Nov 2021 09:42 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1924/ethics-of-the-far-future-why-longtermism-does-not-imply-anti-capitalism http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1903/from-flourishing-industrial-slavocracy-to-restrictive-tenancy-and-re-enslavement-the-southern-labor-force-before-and-after-the-civil-war By Mang Lu - Some scholars of American history suggest the institution of slavery was dying out on the eve of the Civil War, implying the Civil War was fought over more generic, philosophical states' rights principles rather than slavery itself. Economic evidence shows this conclusion is largely incorrect; the industrial slavocracy of the south was thriving—Southern aristocrats had every reason to fight the prospect of abolition, for the Southern economy and capital structure was almost exclusively on the ownership of Black men and women. After the war, repression continued through economic means, as... Tue, 25 May 2021 09:44 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1903/from-flourishing-industrial-slavocracy-to-restrictive-tenancy-and-re-enslavement-the-southern-labor-force-before-and-after-the-civil-war http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1902/biologization-of-capital-and-capitalization-of-biopower-connecting-foucault-and-marx By Tianhao Hou - Foucault raised the concept of biopower in the first volume of The History of Sexuality and placed its emergence in the context of capitalism, but he did not fully tackle the relationship between biopower and capitalism. In this article, the author fills this gap through a careful reading of Foucault and Marx, arguing that perpetual spirals are formed between biopower and capitalism and their techniques intersected on the human body. The author first traces the definitions of each concept in order to show that they can be discussed and drawn connection with each other. After that, he expands upon... Tue, 25 May 2021 09:33 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1902/biologization-of-capital-and-capitalization-of-biopower-connecting-foucault-and-marx http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1856/problems-and-solutions-in-factory-farming-the-role-of-institutions-capital-and-rhetoric By Cael Jones - This paper examines the intricacies of factory farming by analyzing its social, political, economic, and environmental impacts in an age of capitalist consumption. Factory farming has become a pervasive institution with which most Americans engage on a daily basis by consuming meat and other animal derivatives. This mode of food production has vastly exacerbated the effects of climate change while creating a plethora of health, ecological and social problems. My research utilizes sentiment analysis to reveal the nature of factory farm discourse. Understanding the use of rhetoric is important because... Mon, 04 Jan 2021 01:25 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1856/problems-and-solutions-in-factory-farming-the-role-of-institutions-capital-and-rhetoric http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1785/womens-erotic-consumption-articulating-the-sexual-self-under-late-capitalism By Ella Agoos - From a very young age, women are taught to suppress their sexuality. Sex, we are told, is deeply personal; a private act that must be sequestered within the four walls of a bedroom and never see the light of day. However, as we grow up we are steeped in a culture of sex that permeates Western society. Gyrating hips in music videos, subtle and not-so-subtle innuendos peppered throughout song lyrics, hardcore internet pornography available at the click of a mouse, sexy fembots complete with large titanium breasts as the faces of vodka advertising campaigns– sexual imagery of women and their... Tue, 14 Jul 2020 08:41 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1785/womens-erotic-consumption-articulating-the-sexual-self-under-late-capitalism http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1462/can-marxist-thought-successfully-accommodate-radical-feminism By Bohdana Kurylo - The relationship between feminism and socialism is extremely intimate but also immensely intricate. According to feminist poet Adrienne Rich (1977, p. 285), ‘the repossession by women of our bodies will bring far more essential change to human society than the seizing of the means of production by workers. Indeed, it is work that has a special significance in the socialist tradition, playing a key role in making people who they are and shaping social relations. In the capitalist world, class becomes its structure, production its aim, and alienation its consequence. In the alternative world... Tue, 18 Oct 2016 04:20 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1462/can-marxist-thought-successfully-accommodate-radical-feminism http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1451/rethinking-microcredit-in-bangladesh-does-grameen-bank-serve-the-neoliberal-agenda By Mehran Shamit - Grameen Bank, translated as "rural bank" in the Bangla language, is a grassroots microcredit organization founded in 1983 by Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus to provide new financial opportunities to the poor. Grameen Bank and Muhammad Yunus were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their development efforts through microcredit. As of October 2011, Grameen Bank has over 8 million borrowers, 97% of whom are women (Grameen Bank, n.d.). The Bank provides services to more than 97% of villages in Bangladesh with 2,565 branches across the country and is especially well known around... Tue, 20 Sep 2016 09:07 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1451/rethinking-microcredit-in-bangladesh-does-grameen-bank-serve-the-neoliberal-agenda http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1371/book-review-planet-of-slums-by-mike-davis-2006 By Florence Lee - In essence, Davis blames neoliberalism for these problems. The ‘villains’, or driving forces behind modern slum creation, are the World Bank and the IMF. And Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) – conditions attached to provisional loans that poor countries are subjected to whereby neoliberal market policies (opening up of the market, removing trade barriers and excess state control) are promoted – have been the reason. By encouraging less trade subsidies and privatization, SAPs lead to borrowers having to cut back on public taxation and spending. Davis states that millions... Sat, 27 Feb 2016 02:29 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1371/book-review-planet-of-slums-by-mike-davis-2006 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1353/book-review-a-brief-history-of-neoliberalism-by-david-harvey-2005 By Florence Lee - Michael Thompson, reviewing A Brief History of Neoliberalism by David Harvey, calls it ‘the world according to David Harvey’ (2005). This is an accurate remark: although erring slightly on the side of conspiracy, the book is a breathtaking overview of the ‘neoliberal world’ through Harvey’s neo-Marxist and anti-capitalist lens. The book is aimed at the general reader and is a non-technical, concise introduction to many of the key features of neoliberal theory: the economic practices proposing that human wellbeing can be attained by reducing state intervention, promoting... Fri, 12 Feb 2016 03:11 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1353/book-review-a-brief-history-of-neoliberalism-by-david-harvey-2005 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1315/globalization-inequality-and-the-concentration-of-wealth-in-the-uk By Shaun Docherty - Stories like these, exposing the avarice of capitalism, are becoming an almost daily feature of British broadsheets and are testimony to the fact that extreme wealth polarisation and inequality are now major issues for poverty campaigners and economists alike. These trends are both morally repugnant and a reflection of major flaws in the assumptions that underpin free-market economic theory. The free-market is both a mechanism that has facilitated unprecedented growth and development in human history and a wrecking-ball with no morals and the potential to tear societies apart. As inequality spirals... Mon, 30 Nov 2015 09:32 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1315/globalization-inequality-and-the-concentration-of-wealth-in-the-uk http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1120/pottermania-capitalist-eye-candy-viewed-through-a-neo-marxist-lens By Tinatin Japaridze - “Beware: Capitalist-Consumerism poses a danger to our Socialist ideals,” the Soviet-propaganda papers such as Pravdaand Izvestyahad proclaimed since the harrowing days of the Cold War. But by the early 1990s, the evergreen motto of the USSR, “We have everything,” had been supplanted for a new post-communist mantra: “Everything can be bought for money.” The hard currency shops in the USSR that exclusively catered to foreign visitors had finally lifted the iron curtain for their own citizens. Arbat Irish House, one of Moscow’s first Western-style grocery... Fri, 11 Sep 2015 08:55 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1120/pottermania-capitalist-eye-candy-viewed-through-a-neo-marxist-lens http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1013/capitalist-hegemony-the-political-challenge-of-alter-globalization By Jessica C. Bridges - Commonly associated with the economic principles espoused by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her US counterpart Ronald Reagan, neoliberal globalization conceives of the market and private capital as the main drivers for the “restructuring of economic, political and life” (Bangura 1994: 787). After a decade of TINA (There is No Alternative) indoctrination, a momentous backlash emerged in the 1990s (Ramos 2006: 3). Intent on exposing the internal conflicts and failures innate in a system that allowed the propagation of global stratification, activists representing... Mon, 16 Mar 2015 08:53 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1013/capitalist-hegemony-the-political-challenge-of-alter-globalization http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1000/the-contemporary-global-public-sphere-as-reincarnation-of-habermas-bourgeois-society By Shaun Docherty - Our contemporary global public sphere is made up of a tiny proportion of the world’s population. Affluent, exclusive, and concerned only with perpetuating its own economic advancement, this contemporary global public sphere is an anachronism that possesses all the constituent elements of the early eighteenth century bourgeois public sphere identified by Jürgen Habermas in his seminal work, “The Structural Transformation of the Global Sphere.” This is a particularly bold statement considering Habermas was heavily criticised for his theory, was believed to have been unhappy... Mon, 16 Feb 2015 11:40 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1000/the-contemporary-global-public-sphere-as-reincarnation-of-habermas-bourgeois-society http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1611/karl-marx-and-the-fair-trade-chocolate-industry-in-the-ivory-coast By Caitlin McGonnigal - The research completed aimed to show that the idea of fair trade, using the example of goals for the chocolate industry of the Ivory Coast, can be described as an example of the economic ideal which Karl Marx imagined. By comparing specific topics discussed by Karl Marx's philosophy on capitalism and its failures, and the ideals purported by fair trade organizations and partners, parallels can be made. This analysis showed that Karl Marx's philosophy coordinates with fair trade ideals in topics such as the importance of history, the eradication of child labor and environmental degradation, and... Mon, 31 Dec 2012 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1611/karl-marx-and-the-fair-trade-chocolate-industry-in-the-ivory-coast http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/318/the-equivocal-nature-of-exploitation-how-poor-workers-in-developing-nations-exploit-capitalist-greed-for-a-profit By Colin R. Fraser - Learning to play guitar is painful. For the first months, the coarse steel of the guitar strings shreds the soft skin of the player’s fingertips into a disgusting bloody mess. A reasonable person who does not play guitar would be entirely justified in thinking that the guitar student ought to take it a little bit easier on his poor fingers. Nonetheless, if the guitar student wants to some day be able to play without the pain, his best move is to play as much as possible. In the developing world, sweatshop labour might be viewed in a similar light as the mutilated fingertips of the guitar... Mon, 08 Nov 2010 09:42 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/318/the-equivocal-nature-of-exploitation-how-poor-workers-in-developing-nations-exploit-capitalist-greed-for-a-profit http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/269/book-review-the-shock-doctrine-by-naomi-klein-2007 By Delia M. Harrington - Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine ties together history, economics, globalization, natural disasters and geopolitics into one bleak picture. Klein’s thesis is that the Shock Doctrine, also called Disaster Capitalism, has been put into practice all over the world, supported by Milton Freidman and his Chicago Boys. The shock doctrine is a theory that in order to put into practice the highly unpopular tenets of a free market economy, the implementation of such policies must happen directly after a shock to the national conscious. Such shock can take the form of a terrorist attack, national... Fri, 09 Jul 2010 07:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/269/book-review-the-shock-doctrine-by-naomi-klein-2007 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/241/the-universal-prayer-how-money-became-the-worlds-first-shared-religion By Maria T. Otero - As something so natural to us, money is part of our lives from the moment we are born. Our interpretation of it continues to evolve until the day we die. In our childhoods, we encounter our first economic decisions, like what to spend our allowances on. We also start to understand that things have certain value, and since we do not have the means to attain them, we behave properly in order to be rewarded by our parents with what we want. Then, when we grow a little more, we may get a job and start becoming more independent, even though our parents are still accountable for us. The more independent... Mon, 03 May 2010 08:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/241/the-universal-prayer-how-money-became-the-worlds-first-shared-religion http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/164/using-social-business-to-reshape-the-capitalist-economy-and-support-environmental-awareness By Gabrielle Micheletti - During his Inaugural Address, President Barack Obama resonated with the ideals of many Americans—prosperity, freedom, good will, faith, and determination. He spoke of the market as having "umatched" power, "to generate wealth and expand freedom" (Obama). However, the market also has deeply complex roots in our society, where corporatism, consumerism, corruption, and exploitation all play a role, and together these more negative aspects have helped shape the current environmental crisis. The solutions to be carried out by the Obama administration must address first the extreme influence and... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 10:09 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/164/using-social-business-to-reshape-the-capitalist-economy-and-support-environmental-awareness http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/78/contrasting-views-of-money-in-ayn-rands-atlas-shrugged By Lindsay D. Clark - Atlas Shrugged’s presentation of money departs from the traditional dichotomy of the “haves and have-nots.” In fact such a characterization of money succinctly captures the ultimate evil, in conflict with the ultimate good. The separation it insists on instead may be called “the makers and the maker-nots.” The latter comprises both the haves and the have-nots, while the makers are the golden examples of the good, whose every cent was earned through their own effort.  These, the makers, the builders, the achievers, hold the belief that “the words ‘... Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:48 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/78/contrasting-views-of-money-in-ayn-rands-atlas-shrugged http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/37/equitable-capitalism-the-rebirth-of-american-business By Louis Tigh - The desire to earn and receive proportionate and just profits has been cast into a dark corner of the American marketplace and the swinish face of greed has been allowed to dominate, pulling American business into a grim period. Examples of this greed relating to our current economic situation are everywhere: the adjustable rate mortgages that many banks were all too willing to hand out, even to unqualified and irresponsible buyers; the collateralized debt obligations (many of which were heavily comprised of the risky mortgages mentioned earlier) that banks were quick to sell to investors; the... Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:17 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/37/equitable-capitalism-the-rebirth-of-american-business