Two main economic systems have been developed since the Industrial Revolution, these are Capitalism and Socialism. Both systems have advantages and disadvantages, this essay will explain these, and also give my proposals for a mixed system for the whole society of the United Kingdom. Capitalism generally started as an economic system in the United Kingdom at the time of the Industrial Revolution. The basic explanation of Capitalism would be to say that ‘the economy is left to its own devices with no Government intervention’.
A Capitalist economy is a market economy where all economic decision making is decentralised, and the Government will only supply national defence, administer justice and provide certain public works. The goods that are provided in a Capitalist economy are decided by individuals who choose how to use their labour and spend their income. All resources are privately owned and will only be used for obtaining the highest profit. There are many advantages to a Capitalist economic system which could make it very appealing to society.
The system allows the powers of market forces to operate which in turn gives the consumer a wider range of goods and services. Also because producers are always seeking the highest profit they must try to please the consumer and win their custom. This leads to innovation and greater quality and variety. The firms which produce the correct goods and services will win custom and make profit, those which don’t will go out of business and therefore release their resources to the successful firms. This will lead to the expansion of the economy and greater prosperity.
In summing up the advantages, it is clear to see that the consumer has the power to dictate the goods in the economy. As discussed in the advantages of Capitalism the consumer has all the power in the economy. However individuals purchasing power is drastically unequal because of the inequality of wealth within the economy. This is due to the fact that some people will always be able to work harder, be more innovative and be more talented than others, and therefore be more profitable and promote themselves higher in the economy whilst others will fail.
Because of the inequality of wealth in a truly Capitalist society with no Government welfare great poverty will occur. This will lead to homelessness, slums, disease, etc. Forced migration will also increase these problems in large cities and towns. The people who cannot make any money in the countryside will move to the towns and cities with the belief of finding work and making money. In reality they will just add to the ever growing population of the poor classes. In a Capitalist society the rich get richer and the poor stay poor.
In the end this will lead to great unrest and low morale in the society. Socialism or Communism is the result of a planned economy. In this type of economy all the resources are owned by the state, and wealth is divided equally. The state will plan what is needed to be produced to cope with the societies demands, and how to distribute goods. Socialism emerged in response to the great inequality produced through Capitalism during the 1800s, and there were three main theories which people believed would solve the Capitalist society’s problems, they were:
Democratic Socialism – Socialism through peaceful reform. Revolutionary Socialism – Revolting against the existing system to achieve Socialism. This theory was put forward by Karl Marx who said that the proletariat will take control of the factories. This means the down trodden working class in the Capitalist society will revolt against their employers and form a Communist state, where people will work for each other to provide equality. Anarchists – This theory involves rejecting Government authority and living in small groups or communes with no Government influence.
In 1917 the first major Socialist revolution occurred, this was in Russia and led to the birth of the Soviet Union. Since then Socialism has spread to other countries, such as China and Cuba and in 1988 included about one third of the worlds population. However the Soviet Union has collapsed and split into independent states, which are all trying to move to a more Capitalist society, but other countries are still Socialist. Theoretically wealth is distributed equally in a Socialist society and jobs are provided for everyone, even though some are not productive.
This provides personal security. Also because the economy is planned the amount of goods and services which are needed are forecast in advance, this should meet necessary demand. Socialism is a very idealistic theory and, as proved in many examples, such as the Soviet Union, doesn’t always follow all the rules of pure Socialism and therefore creates many disadvantages. For a start wealth isn’t always distributed equally, the rulers of the state will live in luxury while others will not. The economy will also suffer from excessive amounts of bureaucracy and will be slow and cumbersome.
Also there will be a lack of innovation, and goods will be of a poor standard because effort will not be rewarded. A doctor could earn the same as a street cleaner, this wouldn’t make seven years at medical school a very appealing option Socialism oppresses many aspects of human nature which, however good or bad, make us the individuals that we are, these aspects could include; ambition, greed and generosity. For both Capitalism and Socialism the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages but they are the basis of most economic systems in the world.
In the United Kingdom both theories have been used, Capitalism was about at the time of the Industrial Revolution as explained earlier, and aspects of Socialism could be seen at the time of the second world war. At this time all people worked for the state in one way or another, whether it was fighting at the front-line or working in a factory to produce arms. Goods and services could be seen to be distributed fairly, this was done using ration books. This form of socialism was successful because everyone believed in the same cause, and that was winning the war.
Since the war the Government has still kept a lot of control but the opportunity for entrepreneurship is available. The economy in the United Kingdom is, as far as I can see, the only way a society can flourish. The Government tax people but provide, health care, infrastructure, education and welfare as well as owning certain industries to keep some form of economic planning available to them. However recently the Government has sold off a lot of nationalised industries and this has allowed for more competition and moves the economy in to a more Capitalist state.
In a Capitalist society there is great suffering because of the great inequality but in a Socialist society it seems that, even though the idea of everyone living equally in harmony is appealing, the fact of the matter is that the only equality that people will share is the equality of no choice and oppression. True Socialism can never work in any society because it is human nature to want mare than you have and to strive to achieve this. Countries that say they are socialist seem to me to be more of a dictatorship. A true mix between the two must be achieved to sustain a healthy economy and a happy society.
Summary of Pages 65-74, A Nation of Immigrants: An Overview of the Economic and Political Conditions of Selected Racial and Ethnic Groups. The North American economic development has seen several stages of development. The first stage of economic development was a plantation-slave economy mixed with mercantilism, the second stage of development was a competitive industrial economy, and the stage third stage of economic development is multinational capitalism. Economic institution and related governmental actions have formed the tides of migration and the resulting patterns of immigrant adjustment.
The original groups of inhabitants in North America were Native Americans. These Native people lost much of their land and many of their lives to the vicious European invasions. Many groups of immigrants came to America, yet each group had left their native country for various reasons and under various circumstances. Some immigrant groups entered America as slaves, others came to work at low paying labor jobs, and some came as entrepreneurs. These various groups were discriminated against at varying level, depending on the resources the group brought with them.
Those immigrants who made the journey to America on their own freewill with economic resources found that it was much easier to find good jobs than those immigrants with less than such freewill and resources. Small business opportunities unfortunately were not available for most immigrants. The waves of immigrant migration to the North America are highlighted in phases. With phase one came English colonists from the 1600s to the 1800s. The English created colonies and forced land from the native people. The English also established a form of capitalism.
During this same time Africans were seized from their native lands and were shipped to America involuntarily in the form of property, to be used as slave labor. Also, phase one brought an era in which Irish Catholics immigrated to America, driven from their native land from the 1830s to the 1860s, due to famine, oppression, and poor living conditions. These Irish immigrants were able to obtain low wage jobs. Phase two began with the immigration of Chinese people from the 1850s to the 1870s; these people came due to recruitment efforts by the United States and in hope of obtaining better living conditions.
The Chinese became employed mostly in construction, and menial service jobs. The Italians arrived between the 1880s and the 1910s. The Italian people were recruited for construction and other related low wage labor jobs. The Japanese immigrants came to live in Western America after migrating from their land to Hawaii from the 1880s to the 1900s. The Japanese people had also been recruited as laborers. The third phase of immigration to the United States began with the Mexican people from the 1910s to the 1990s, due to labor shortages from Europe and Asia.
The Puerto Rican people started arriving in the 1940s and continue to arrive into the 1990s. These people accessed labor jobs in farms and jobs in blue-collar occupations. Recent Asian and Caribbean groups started arriving in the 1960s to the 1990s, mostly as political refuges, and also for political reasons. Commercial capitalism and the slave society were the effect of the East Coast colonial expansion of English land. The early economy was derived of a combination of enterprises under English rule and independent entrepreneurs. Included in this system was Slave plantations.
The goal of English colonial settlement was to secure raw goods and markets for English products. In England merchants invested in the colonial industries. Other people from Europe began to immigrate into the colonies with the hope of becoming small farmers. In the colonies there were two types of major production, small farms, and plantations and merchants. From the 1600s to the mid 1800s African people were used for slave labor in colonial plantations. Around the time of 1860 there were as many as 3. 9 million slaves in the united States due to a strong demand for their labor.
The Southerners in the United States had held nearly all political and economic power in the government until the end of the civil war, which granted the Northern Industrialists the majority of governmental power in the United States. In the Northern Industrial society and in small farms immigrants from Ireland, Germany and Scandinavia were among those in the labor force. These Europeans had been recruited from their countries, and they had also left for other reasons such as famine, political and economic problems and the hope of a better life.
The immigration of Europeans laid the foundation of patterns of racial conflict. The African people that were now free from slavery began working as low wage laborers for entrepreneurs. In some cases African Americans were used as strikebreakers, which raised racial pressure even more. Eventually African workers began losing their jobs to arriving immigrants from Europe. The English had oppressed the Irish people in their native land but after a few generations in America were considered part of the white dominant race.
Western expansion brought the loss of many Native and Mexican peoples land, not to mention the horrendous loss of lives. The white people felt that that these races should be subordinates to them. The Mexican people did not altogether migrate to the United States their land was brought into the United States as a result of the victory over Mexico in the Mexican-American war. After the civil war the Industrial capitalistic economy bloomed, large enterprises began to take over the major economy. As industrialism grew Asian workers were recruited for labor from China and Japan.
The United States victory in The Spanish-American war had granted the United States annexation Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Cuba. Many people from these countries immigrated into the United States mainland. The actions that were taken by the government had an influence on racial and ethnic relations. One action that effected racial and ethnic relations was the Homestead Act, which granted land to many people but made it difficult for African Americans to get such land. For the most part, African families were not given the opportunity built up their wealth.
The newly rebuilt South had a need for low wage workers and mostly the now free slaves performed these jobs. This, in effect, kept the African Americans in the South where it was difficult if not impossible for them to gain wealth. The moving of African Americans to the cities is similar to that of the transition of European immigrants. Eventually the African people should be able to move up on an economic level, as did the European settlers. This argument is challenged because Europeans had, had greater group mobility. Among the most mobile groups are the Jewish people.
The African Americans that had moved to the North were losing their jobs to the recent arriving European immigrants. African American migrants were subject to much more racial discrimination than their white European counterparts. Also, during this time racial tensions were increasing due to economic competition between European and African groups, which led to hostility and discrimination toward the African Americans from the European Americans. Modern Mexican immigrants came after WWI and immense industrialization had brought a decrease in the number of laborers available.
Mexican workers migrated to the United States to fulfill these new labor needs. International corporations have been the major influence on U. S. politics and the economy since the 1920s. When the depression hit African and Latino Americans struggled because white people took over many of the low wage jobs. After WWII the United States began to dominate the world economy, for many decades. During this time many white Americans moved to the suburbs of major cities and traveled to the city for employment, while most of the subordinates lived in the inner city.
This separated the two groups and brought them further apart from each other. Until the 1960s discriminatory quotas against Asians had limited the number Asian immigrants. When the quotas were lifted the United States received many new Asian immigrants from China, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam. These Asians generally migrated to the United States in hope for better opportunities. Many immigrants from Cuba arrived after Fidel Castro came to power. Most of the Cubans were considered political refuges and were accepted by the U. S. government.
During this time many Haitian refugees came to the United States, but were treated differently than the Cuban refugees because the Cubans had been fleeing a communist government, because of the U. S. opposition to communism. Many groups of immigrants still enter the United States for the same reasons that Europeans and other groups entered the United States. Among the new immigrants Mexicans make up a large portion of undocumented immigrants. The decline of European immigrants to the U. S. has brought an increase in Asian and Latino immigration.
Native-born Americans have considered these new immigrants a problem and therefore immigration restrictions have been placed on these groups. The Latino and Asian population is steady growing throughout the United States and in some areas the majority of the population is or soon will be made up of people of color. As these people grow in population they will press for equal treatment and political, social, and economic opportunities. This introduction has examined the economic and political ways in which people have immigrated to the United States and how that immigration has been adjusted.
It has been suggested that several factors effect a groups economic and political success including time of arrival and the amount of resources brought with them upon migration. A greater understanding to the rivers of migrations into the United States requires analysis of political and economic aspects as well as group mobility. The government and its subsequent actions have shaped the way in which migration has occurred and also has shaped the ethnic and racial relations between groups, and has also effected the distinct development of cultures. Analysis, problems, and Remedies.
After analysis it is my belief that the modern problems concerning racial and ethnic groups do stem from the authors reasons, such as political and economic conditions, time of arrival and reason for migration. I feel that there is a stigma that has resulted from these past experiences that people of color are inferior to the white race. I feel that the relations between different ethnic groups have been very poor in the past and do still remain poor in many areas. I also feel though, that it is important to see how far ethnic relations have positively improved in modern America.
I for see that an egalitarian society is in the near future for the United States, but it will not happen “over night” and it will take a lot of work on the part of modern American society. I feel that the way, in which an egalitarian society will become a reality in America, is through education of all Americans about all other Americans, interaction between all ethnicitiys in a positive atmosphere, and finally the removal of all stereotypes, stigmas, oppression, discrimination, and labels. With this the people of America can share this great land in peace and with a degree of harmony.