Success of Capitalism through Mass Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Success of Capitalism through Mass Media - Essay Example The word ‘capitalism’ appears to have its origin in long-distance trade in the past where ships went to different islands in search of pepper or spices, with the expectation that those making the movement of the goods would benefit from the scarcity of goods in one place and abundance in another place. Since the ships need to travel and there were costs to the goods and transporting same, revenues above costs or profits from the price of sold goods were expected in return (Fulcher, 2004). However, there are also risks in not being able to recover the cost due to other factors that may come into the picture (Fulcher, 2004). Â  Capitalism may have evolved in magnitude from the old times but it is essentially referring to an economic order where there is private property ownership. It could be considered as a consequence of democracy because of the nature of political and economic rights given to individuals. Along with private ownership, the market or the law of supply and demand must be allowed to operate which entails assigning a price to each of the factors of production including land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship (Slavin, 1996). Â  The term capitalism is distinguished from communism where the means of production is owned by the state. In the capitalistic system, the market forces of supply and demand dictate what gets produced and how much it gets produced. In communism, the government as planning agency dictates what gets produced and how much it gets produced (Slavin, 1996). Capitalism is also compared to socialism as an alternative economic order. Socialism is closely related to communism since both concepts entail massive government or state intervention in terms substantial degree of government planning instead allowing market forces to function freely (Slavin, 1996).