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Market Capitalism and Materialism

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The Global Debt Crisis and Its Socioeconomic Implications
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Abstract

Most human beings has a desire to own things; in older times, tribal man had little to acquire because he was always on the move and produced nothing of value to own. In the agricultural age, the institution of private property appeared and gained legitimacy, which enabled it to play an important role in shaping social relations and structures. Though private property facilitated the accumulation of capital, which facilitated progress, private property is partially responsible for the poverty, exploitation, inequality and racism we have today. However, history shows that every society that came after the tribal one was more materialistic and more inclined to exploit others than its predecessor.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Steven Weinberg : “Utopias,” The Atlantic Monthly, June 2000, 108.

  2. 2.

    Sophie Bessie : From social Exclusion to Social Cohesion: A Policy Agenda, 1995, 13.

  3. 3.

    Harvey Cox : “The Market as God,” The Atlantic Monthly, March 1999, 13.

  4. 4.

    See The Guardian, Libor-rigging scandal: three former Barclays found guilty, July 4, 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/04/libor-rigging-scandal-three-former-barclays-traders-found-guilty

  5. 5.

    Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin ; The Making of Global Capitalism, p. 17.

  6. 6.

    Robert Heilbroner , 21st Century Capitalism, 35.

  7. 7.

    Thomas Piketty , The Economics of Inequality, p. 26.

  8. 8.

    Joseph Schumpeter , Capitalism, socialism and Democracy, 1950.

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Rabie, M. (2018). Market Capitalism and Materialism. In: The Global Debt Crisis and Its Socioeconomic Implications. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66215-2_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66215-2_7

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-66214-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-66215-2

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