Capitalism

How it is used

Central to the work of Marx, who analysed the conflict between capital and labour, and of Weber, who linked its rise to the Protestant ethic. Sociologists speak of industrial, global, late and platform capitalism.

Example sentences

1. Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism first appeared as two essays in 1904 and 1905.

2. Platform capitalism describes companies that make money by connecting users through digital apps.

Common collocations

• industrial capitalism
• global capitalism
• late capitalism
• rise of capitalism
• capitalist society

Related terms

• bourgeoisieIn Marxist theory, the capitalist class that owns the means of production, such as factories, land and capital, and lives on the profit made from other people's labour.
• proletariatIn Marxist theory, the working class that owns no means of production and must sell its labour for wages in order to live.
• alienationIn Marx's theory, the separation of workers under capitalism from the products of their labour, from the work process, from other people and from their own human potential.
• social classA large group of people who share a similar economic position, such as income, wealth, occupation and education, and often similar life chances.
• globalisationThe growing interconnection of the world's economies, cultures and populations through trade, investment, migration, travel, media and digital communication.

More terms: Social Structure and Institutions

• social structure
• social institution
• status
• social role
• power
• ascribed status
• achieved status
• bureaucracy
• division of labour
• social network