The Pros And Cons Of Free Market Capitalism

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Neoliberalism is the concept by which liberalism is modified attending to favor free market capitalism. Free market capitalism is an economic system that is contingent on the principles of supply and demand. A neoliberal state is fixated on the concept of free market capitalism, which is fixated on the concept of laissez-faire. Laissez-faire is a policy of letting the market, the free-market, take its course, absent from government interference or regulation. As a result of free market capitalism, government interference being absent from the economy, social reproduction is established. Social reproduction is the transmission of social inequality, in that of financial capital, education, health and class, from one generation to the next. The…show more content…
Gentrification is the process by urban housing is transformed to attract more affluent individuals to join the neighborhood. The concept, the pure concept, of gentrification seeks positive outcomes such as, "increasing the number of residents who can pay taxes, purchase local goods and services, and support the city in state and federal political processes." (Loretta, Slater & Wyly, pg. 210). Gentrification in practice, however; generates negative results, such as displacement and class conflict. Gentrification leads to human displacement, specifically, affecting the employee and ethnic minorities. Social reproduction, the concentration of wealth in than hands of a few individuals, results in wealth not being evenly distributed. As a result of an uneven distribution of wealth and the process of gentrification humans are displaced. Through gentrification lower-income individuals are bought out by affluent individuals. When ethnic minorities and lower-income individuals are bought out, they become displaced. Being displaced can lead to, at worst, homelessness and, at best, impairs a sense of community. Moreover, gentrification seeks to coalesce and blend different social economic classes, as a result, initiating class conflict. Class conflict is the competing socioeconomic interests of different classes (in essence, the differences between the working-class and the affluent class). Class conflict arises in…show more content…
26) states, "these were the early days of neoliberalism, the turn to a more virulent form of capitalism, which would result in a new wave of expansion-albeit with a growth pattern based on soaring social inequality, rising global poverty, and increased human insecurity." In a neoliberal state social reproduction persists. When social reproduction persists, accumulation of dispossession, gentrification and downloading are sustained. The consequences of social reproduction, accumulation of dispossession, gentrification and downloading all have negative effects on the working class. Possible solutions to social reproduction is a redistribution of wealth to low-income households or communities, as a result, the inequality and centralization of wealth may not be preserved. Further, the working class, as the majority, can rise against the affluent. As McNalley (Chapter 6, pg. 146) recalls, "Within a few months of the financial meltdown, one government was toppled, factories were occupied, general strikes declared." We can see historically, that there is power in the working

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