Capitalism as a Form of Social Competition

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The history of humankind counts many forms of economic systems that have existed to guide the development of society. Among the many alternatives, one of the most striking economic ideologies is capitalism. Capitalism, which uses money as a valuable resource for human relations, drives society toward competition and rivalry. This paper aims to describe this thesis with the help of scholarly literature and real-life examples.

It is paramount to recognize the biological importance of competition to human communities. The essence of evolutionary relationships between species has always been about competition: for resources, territory, survival. The idea of such relationships is still relevant today, but instead of essential resources, people compete for money, with which they can then buy goods and services. This is not a direct struggle since people do not kill each other for goods, at least in developed communities, but the competition is different. Thus, the capitalist economic system that promotes private property shapes the need to compete within and between communities for personal enrichment.

At the same time, capitalism led to the emergence of an ideology of private property and thus became a catalyst for the development of individualistic social philosophies. Thus, alternative systems, whether socialism or communism, teach people to be collective and have common socio-economic goods. Such phenomena are alien to capitalism because it is based on private property. Each living in this system seeks to have his house, car, and other goods that belong only to that household. This initiates the development of individualism as a manifestation of human culture: one becomes fixated on ones well-being and rarely thinks about society (Zitelmann, 2019). One cannot, however, say that this is a negative manifestation of capitalism since this fact is a reflection of human nature.

Given the above, it can be assumed that capitalism has a destructive effect on the democratic political system. In an environment where all individuals are concerned with personal enrichment, there is bound to be a preponderance of the more adaptable, skillful, and talented. Thus, even with similar starting conditions, a limited group of people can get more resources. At the same time, more money has traditionally been known to equate with more political influence: lobbying, corruption, and criminal power that kills democracy emerge (CBC Radio, 2020). Thus, without proper political governance, capitalism itself can lead to the demise of the principles of a democratic society.