GM is a 20 year-old African-American female. She is a junior at UMW with a major in History. She admitted that she does not have much knowledge of capitalism, as she hasn’t had much interaction with it both in learning and in the real world.
What is your definition of capitalism?
“Capitalism is a system where individuals own products and sell them for profit, and it is not regulated by the government.”
How does capitalism function as economic system?
“It a capitalist economic system, owners pay their workers wages based on skill. Although today we have minimum wage in the U.S., when capitalism first emerged in the U.S., there was not regulation on how much workers should be paid, which often led to exploitation. Capitalism today allows for workers, who improve their skills, to rise up and get promoted, which comes with better pay.”
So do you think that workers in a capitalist economic system fare better than those in the past?
“Yes, although there is still exploitation, it is nowhere’s near as bad as it was during the 1800s and 1900s.” money from products go to individual owners not to the states or schools, etc.
How has capitalism been taught to you at different levels of education?
“I guess not that well because I don’t think I know that much. When we talked about it in middle school, the teacher would just give brief definition of capitalism and some examples, but not spend a lot of time on it. Once I got to high school, I did not take any economics classes, and it was just glossed over in my history classes as an important aspect of history, but one that didn’t receive much attention. Since I’ve been in college I haven’t taken a class where I needed to know a lot about the history of capitalism, more than just basic details, which isn’t really any different from high school.”
What are the origins of capitalism?
“Capitalism in America originated when the European settlers came over here and had people work for them. It did not become as wide spread or prominent an economic system here in the U.S. until 19th and 20th centuries, but it’s always played a role here.”
What do you think caused capitalism to become more widespread in the 19th and 20th centuries?
“The availability of resources combined with the ability of men to exploit those resources, with inventions like the cotton gin, for example, to benefit themselves and make a profit. In some cases helped society.”
How have social issues been affected by capitalism?
“Capitalism affects the class system. It affects how people view each other based on how much money they have, especially since the 20th century. With the growing importance of class and possessions, social issues and differences have increased.”
Are there alternatives to capitalism for the United States?
“I think there should be a mix of capitalism and communism. People should be able to keep some of the money they have earned, but some should be handed out by the state, because people will not always give their money to good causes or to help society as a whole, which leads to more social issues.”
After looking at this interview as a whole, it appears that GM has not been offered a good opportunity to learn about capitalism in school, yet she somewhat believes it is a good system, but should be altered to ensure society and lower-classes are not excluded from economic success.
