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The concept of late capitalism (in German: ''Spätkapitalismus''), also known as late-stage capitalism, was first used by the German social scientist
Werner Sombart Werner may refer to: People * Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name Fictional characters * Werner (comics), a German comic book character * Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...
(1863–1941) in 1928, to describe the new capitalist order emerging at that time. He claimed that it was the beginning of a new stage in the history of
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
. As a young man, Sombart was a socialist who associated with Marxist intellectuals and the German social-democratic party. As a mature academic who became well known for his own sociological writings, Sombart had a sympathetically critical attitude to the ideas of
Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
. Sombart's clearly written texts and lectures helped to make "capitalism" a household word in Europe, as the name of a socioeconomic system with a specific structure and dynamic, a history, a mentality, a dominant morality and a culture. The use of the term "late capitalism" to describe the nature of the modern epoch existed for four decades in
continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...
, before it began to be used by academics and journalists in the English-speaking world—via English translations of German-language
Critical Theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...
texts, and especially via
Ernest Mandel Ernest Ezra Mandel (; 5 April 1923 – 20 July 1995), also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter, was a Belgian Marxian economist, Trotskyist activist and theorist, and Holocaust survivor. He f ...
's 1972 book ''Late Capitalism'' published in English in 1975. For many Western Marxist scholars since that time, the historical epoch of late capitalism starts with the outbreak (or the end) of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
(1939–1945), and includes the
post–World War II economic expansion The post–World War II economic expansion, also known as the postwar economic boom or the Golden Age of Capitalism, was a broad period of worldwide economic expansion beginning with the aftermath of World War II and ending with the 1973–1975 r ...
, the era of
neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...
and
globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
, the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
and their aftermath in a multipolar world society. Particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, many economic and political analyses of late capitalism were published. From the 1990s onward, the analyses focused more on the culture, sociology and psychology of late capitalism.


Different labels and interpretations

The idea of "late capitalism" was never accepted by the majority of social scientists and historians, because it was considered that the expression was tinged with political biases about capitalism, and because it is unknowable or uncertain whether capitalism is "on its last legs", or "if and when it will end". In addition, the theory of "late capitalism" failed to explain the global resurgence of competitive market capitalism since 1980 (the era of
neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...
and
globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
) and the collapse of
state socialism State socialism is a political and economic ideology within the socialist movement that advocates state ownership of the means of production. This is intended either as a temporary measure, or as a characteristic of socialism in the transition ...
in the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and Eastern Europe in 1989–90. There seemed to be no real evidence of (1) long-term economic stagnation or prolonged negative economic growth in the advanced capitalist countries, (2) pervasive social decay and persistent cultural degeneration, or (3) pervasive and persistent popular rejection of capitalism and business culture by the population. The Russian revolutionary
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
famously declared in 1920 that there are no "absolutely hopeless situations" for capitalism; short of an anti-capitalist political revolution overthrowing the rule of the
bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...
, the system could always recover sooner or later. Lenin considered that the fate of capitalism was essentially a political issue, as it depended on the outcome of class struggles. The leaders of the
Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...
(founded in 1919) believed that with the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, a new world epoch of wars and revolutions had begun, and the
Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
programme defined
imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...
as the highest and final stage of capitalism.; John Riddell (ed.), ''Lenin’s Struggle for a Revolutionary International. Documents, 1907-1916: The Preparatory Years''. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1984; "The Platform of the Communist International", in: ''Theses, Resolutions and Manifestos of the First Four Congresses of the Third International'', translated by Alix Holt and Barbara Holland. London: Ink Links 198

Jane Degras (ed.), ''The Communist International, 1919-1943''. London: Routledge, 1971.
The term "late capitalism" was generally not used by Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninists. They used the concept of
state monopoly capitalism The theory of state monopoly capitalism (also referred as stamocap) was initially a Marxist thesis popularised after World War II. Lenin had claimed in 1916 that World War I had transformed laissez-faire capitalism into ''monopoly capitalism'', ...
(originally formulated by
Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
) to denote the highest developmental stage of capitalism. Many non-Marxist historians and sociologists, however, have preferred more neutral terms, such as the " late modern era" or " post-modern era". Some Continental and Anglo-Saxon historians refer to ''late
bourgeois society The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted with ...
'', in contrast to ''early bourgeois society'' in the 17th and 18th century and ''classical bourgeois society'' in the 19th and early 20th century. According to
Google Books Ngram Viewer The Google Books Ngram Viewer is an online search engine that charts the frequencies of any set of search strings using a yearly count of ''n''-grams found in printed sources published between 1500 and 2022 in Google's text corpora in English, ...
, the frequency of mentions per year of the term "late capitalism" in publications has increased steadily since the 1960s. In 2017, an article in ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...
'' highlighted that the term "late capitalism" was again in vogue in America, as an ironic term for modern business culture. See also: Kimberley Amadeo, "What is Late Stage Capitalism?". ''The Balance'' (New York), 17 June 202

David Aviles, "We live in a time of ‘late capitalism’. But what does that mean? And what’s so late about it?" ''The Conversation'', December 7, 202

David Elias Aviles Espinoza, "Unpacking late capitalism". ''University of Sydney News'', 20 December 202

/ref> In contemporary academic or journalistic usage, late capitalism often refers to a new mix of (1) high-tech advances, (2) the concentration of (speculative) financial capital, (3)
post-Fordism The concept of post-Fordism was originally invented by the economist Robin Murray in the British magazine ''Marxism Today'' in 1988. It referred to the emergence of new production methods defined by flexible production, the individualization of ...
(transition of mass production in huge factories, as pioneered by
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...
, towards specialized markets based on networks of smaller and more flexible manufacturing units), and (4) growing
income inequality In economics, income distribution covers how a country's total GDP is distributed amongst its population. Economic theory and economic policy have long seen income and its distribution as a central concern. Unequal distribution of income causes ...
.


Intellectual history of the concept


Sombart's legacy

The term "late capitalism" was first used by the German social scientist
Werner Sombart Werner may refer to: People * Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name Fictional characters * Werner (comics), a German comic book character * Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...
in a 1928 publication after he had completed his three-volume magnum opus ''Der Moderne Kapitalismus'' Modern Capitalism" which was published from 1902 through 1927 (only the first volume of Sombart's ''Modern capitalism'' has been translated into English so far. Sombart divided capitalism into different historical stages of development: * Pre-capitalist or proto-capitalist society (''vorkapitalistische Wirtschaft'') from the early
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
up to 1500 AD, the subject of the first volume of ''Modern capitalism''. * Early capitalism (''Frühkapitalismus'') in 1500–1800, dealt with in the second volume. * The heyday of capitalism, or advanced capitalism (''Hochkapitalismus'') from 1800 to
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the subject of the third volume. * Late capitalism (''Spätkapitalismus'') since then, discussed or referred to in a few lectures and articles. Concluding his 1928 Zürich lecture on the transformations of capitalism, Sombart stated: Beyond a few articles and lectures, however, Sombart never published any comprehensive treatise on late capitalism. His studies were disrupted by the new Nazi government when he was 70 years old (he died in 1941, when he was 78). Like many other German intellectuals, he hoped that
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
's leadership would revive Germany from more than a decade of economic woes, social decay and misery; he regarded
national socialism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequ ...
as a type of
socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
, and he supported the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
(while retaining much of his intellectual independence, as a
septuagenarian Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming older until death. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi; whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologi ...
). Because of this fact and because of his sociological portrayals of
Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
and
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
in some of his writings, he was often regarded as a "Nazi intellectual" and as
antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
. It meant that after World War II, his writings and ideas largely vanished from university curricula. Only since the late 1980s and 1990s did significant scholarly interest in Sombart's intellectual legacy begin to revive, with new appraisals and studies of particular aspects of his oeuvre.


Interwar years and World War II

Ever since the famous theoretical controversy between orthodox Marxists and revisionists in the 1890s, socialists have been discussing the decline, breakdown and collapse of bourgeois society. There were many attempts at theoretical and mathematical proofs of the downfall of capitalism, but also attempts to create a perspective on the nature of the epoch and the future of society, to guide political action. In the post–World War I reconstruction era, many of the wartime regulations in Europe continued, and the state played the leading role in repairing, rebuilding and reorganizing society. According to historian
Edward H. Carr Edward Hallett Carr (28 June 1892 – 3 November 1982) was a British historian, diplomat, journalist and international relations theorist, and an opponent of empiricism within historiography. Carr was best known for ''A History of Soviet Russi ...
, "In Europe after 1919, the planned economy... became the practice, if not the theory, of almost every state." Addressing the Kiel congress of the German Social-Democratic Party in 1927,
Rudolf Hilferding Rudolf Hilferding (; 10 August 1877 – 11 February 1941) was an Austrian-born Marxist economist, Socialism, socialist theorist,International Institute of Social History, ''Rudolf Hilferding Papers'': http://www.iisg.nl/archives/en/files/h/1075 ...
claimed that: The term "late capitalism" began to be used by socialists in continental Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, in the context of the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. At the time, this was not an especially radical turn of phrase, because many people of different political persuasions really believed that the existing social order was doomed, or was at least ripe for renewal and transformation. The European economy became highly regulated, and that reached a peak during the years of
war economy A war economy or wartime economy is the set of preparations undertaken by a modern state to mobilize its economy for war production. Philippe Le Billon describes a war economy as a "system of producing, mobilizing and allocating resources to su ...
in 1939–45. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, even leading American economists believed that the economic problems might eventually become insurmountable. In their book ''Capitalism since World War II'', Philip Armstrong, Andrew Glyn and John Harrison commented that: In his book ''Capitalism, socialism and democracy'' (1943), Schumpeter also stated:


Post–World War II era

In Russia, the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of the "general crisis of capitalism" in the imperialist epoch and the theory of
state monopoly capitalism The theory of state monopoly capitalism (also referred as stamocap) was initially a Marxist thesis popularised after World War II. Lenin had claimed in 1916 that World War I had transformed laissez-faire capitalism into ''monopoly capitalism'', ...
defined the official government perspective for the postwar era. The historian Paolo Spriano describes how this caused the dismissal of one of Russia's top economists, after he dared to suggest that there would not be a deep capitalist crisis after the end of World War II: In the West, there had been similar expectations (across the whole political spectrum) that a severe systemic crisis would very likely occur after the war. When that did not happen, it was a surprise and a relief. However, what exactly could explain this turn of events is open to debate. Different theories about the success of the postwar reconstruction effort have been proposed. The concept of "late capitalism" was used in the 1960s in Germany and Austria, by Western Marxists writing in the tradition of the
Frankfurt School The Frankfurt School is a school of thought in sociology and critical theory. It is associated with the University of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, Institute for Social Research founded in 1923 at the University of Frankfurt am Main ...
and
Austromarxism Austromarxism (also stylised as Austro-Marxism; ) was a Marxist theoretical current led by Victor Adler, Otto Bauer, Karl Renner, Max Adler and Rudolf Hilferding, members of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria in Austria-Hungary ...
. In 1965, Fritz Vilmar published ''Rüstung und Abrüstung im Spätkapitalismus'' Armament and Disarmament in Late Capitalism" Leo Michielsen and Andre Gorz popularized the term "
neo-capitalism Neo-capitalism is an economic ideology which blends some elements of capitalism with other systems. This form of capitalism was new compared to the capitalism in the era before World War II. Social and economic ideology that arose in the second ...
" in France and Belgium, with new analyses of postwar capitalism.
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...
preferred ''neo-capitalism'' to ''post-'' or ''late-capitalism''. In 1968,
Rudi Dutschke Alfred Willi Rudolf Dutschke (; 7 March 1940 – 24 December 1979) was a German sociologist and political activist who, until severely injured by an assassin in 1968, was a leading charismatic figure within the Socialist Students Union (SDS) in ...
, a leading spokesman of the German student revolt, published a pamphlet entitled "The contradictions of late capitalism, the anti-authoritarian students and their relationship to the third world."
Theodor Adorno Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * Theodor Blue ...
preferred "late capitalism" over "industrial society," which was the theme of the 16th Congress of German Sociologists in 1968. In 1971, Leo Kofler published a book called ''Technologische Rationalität im Spätkapitalismus'' ("Technological Rationality in Late Capitalism").
Claus Offe Claus Offe (born 16 March 1940) is a German political sociologist associated with the Frankfurt School. Work Offe was born in Berlin. He received his PhD from the University of Frankfurt and his Habilitation at the University of Konstanz. In ...
published his essay "Spätkapitalismus – Versuch einer Begriffsbestimmung" ("Late Capitalism—an Attempt at a Conceptual Definition") in 1972. In 1972,
Alfred Sohn-Rethel Alfred Sohn-Rethel (; 4 January 1899 – 6 April 1990) was a French-born German Marxian economist and philosopher especially interested in epistemology. His main intellectual achievement was the publication of ''Intellectual and Manual Labour: A ...
published ''Die ökonomische Doppelnatur des Spätkapitalismus''. In 1973,
Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas ( , ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German philosopher and social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere. Associated with the Frankfurt S ...
published his ''Legitimationsprobleme im Spätkapitalismus'' (Legitimacy problems in late capitalism). In 1975,
Ernest Mandel Ernest Ezra Mandel (; 5 April 1923 – 20 July 1995), also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter, was a Belgian Marxian economist, Trotskyist activist and theorist, and Holocaust survivor. He f ...
published his 1972 PhD thesis ''Late Capitalism'' in English at New Left Books.
Herbert Marcuse Herbert Marcuse ( ; ; July 19, 1898 – July 29, 1979) was a German–American philosopher, social critic, and Political philosophy, political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. Born in Berlin, Marcuse studied at ...
also accepted the term. In 1979, Volker Ronge published ''Bankpolitik im Spätkapitalismus: politische Selbstverwaltung des Kapitals?'', a study of banking in late capitalism. In 1981, Winfried Wolf and Michel Capron extended Mandel's analysis of the long recession in ''Spätkapitalismus in den achtziger Jahren''.


Ernest Mandel's analysis

Mandel aimed to explain the unexpected revival of capitalism after World War II, and the long economic boom during 1947–73, which showed the fastest economic growth ever seen in human history. His analyses stimulated new interest in the theory of long waves in economic development. According
Ernest Mandel Ernest Ezra Mandel (; 5 April 1923 – 20 July 1995), also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter, was a Belgian Marxian economist, Trotskyist activist and theorist, and Holocaust survivor. He f ...
, late capitalism involves the
commodification Commodification is the process of transforming inalienable, free, or gifted things (objects, services, ideas, nature, personal information, people or animals) into commodities, or objects for sale.For animals"United Nations Commodity Trade Stati ...
and
industrialisation Industrialisation ( UK) or industrialization ( US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive reorganisation of an economy for th ...
of more and more parts of the economy and society, where human services are turned into commercial products. Mandel believed that " r from representing a 'post-industrial society', late capitalism ..constitutes ''generalized universal industrialization'' for the first time in history". At the same time, the role of the state in the economy and society kept growing. During and after World War II, the size of enterprises, ownership concentration and the scale of mass production increased, the activities of multinational corporations expanded, and there were more and more attempts at coordinated economic planning (or "economic programming"). Until the late 1960s, Mandel preferred to use the term "neo-capitalism", which was most often used by intellectuals in Belgium and France at that time. This idea drew attention to the fact that new characteristics of capitalism had emerged in its postwar recovery. At the time, however, ultraleftist Marxists objected to the term "neo-capitalism", because, according to them, it might suggest that capitalism was no longer capitalism, and this would lead to reformist deviations rather than to the total overthrow of capitalism. The proof of this seemed to be that Mandel argued—at the zenith of the capitalist postwar boom—for "anti-capitalist structural reforms". Mandel distinguished three stages in the development of the capitalist mode of production: * ''Freely competitive capitalist production'', roughly from 1700 to 1870, through the growth of industrial capital in domestic markets. * The phase of ''monopoly capitalism'', roughly from 1870 to 1940, is characterized by the
imperialist Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power ( diplomatic power and cultural imperialism). Imperialism fo ...
competition for international markets, and the exploitation of colonial territories. * The epoch of ''late capitalism'' emerging out of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, which has as its dominant features the
multinational corporation A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...
,
globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
,
consumerism Consumerism is a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon that is typical of industrialized societies. It is characterized by the continuous acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing quantities. In contemporary consumer society, the ...
, and increasingly internationalized financial markets. The French edition of Mandel's ''Late Capitalism'' was titled ''The third age of capitalism''. In part, Mandel's analysis was a critique of Henryk Grossmann's breakdown theory, according to which capitalism would collapse after a series of business cycles, because of insufficient surplus value production. But Mandel also criticized the methodological approach of
Rudolf Hilferding Rudolf Hilferding (; 10 August 1877 – 11 February 1941) was an Austrian-born Marxist economist, Socialism, socialist theorist,International Institute of Social History, ''Rudolf Hilferding Papers'': http://www.iisg.nl/archives/en/files/h/1075 ...
,
Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg ( ; ; ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20t ...
,
Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (; rus, Николай Иванович Бухарин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ bʊˈxarʲɪn; – 15 March 1938) was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and Marxist theorist. A prominent Bolshevik ...
,
Otto Bauer Otto Bauer (; 5 September 1881 – 4 July 1938) was an Austrian politician who was one of the founders and leading thinkers of the Austromarxists who sought a middle ground between social democracy and revolutionary socialism. He was a member of t ...
, Michal Kalecki, and
Charles Bettelheim Charles Bettelheim (20 November 1913 – 20 July 2006) was a French Marxian economist and historian, founder of the Center for the Study of Modes of Industrialization (CEMI: ''Centre pour l'étude des modes d'industrialisation'') at the EHESS, ...
. Mandel argued that important qualitative changes occurred in the functioning of the capitalist system during and after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Intermediate between the periodization of business cycles and the postulated ultimate collapse of capitalism, Mandel argued, there were epochs of faster and slower economic growth. In the history of capitalist mode of production since the 1820s, "long waves" of economic growth could be observed in
time series In mathematics, a time series is a series of data points indexed (or listed or graphed) in time order. Most commonly, a time series is a sequence taken at successive equally spaced points in time. Thus it is a sequence of discrete-time data. ...
data on economic activity. These waves typically lasted about 20 to 25 years, from peak to trough or from trough to the next peak. However, Mandel did not accept the hypothesis of
Nikolai Kondratiev Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kondratiev (; also Kondratieff; Russian: Никола́й Дми́триевич Кондра́тьев; 4 March 1892 – 17 September 1938) was a Russian Soviet economist and proponent of the New Economic Policy (NEP) best ...
that there existed endogenously predetermined "long cycles" in the history of capitalism. In particular, there existed no enduring economic mechanism which automatically created an economic recovery after a severe economic depression; much depended on state policy decisions and on the outcome of political battles between warring social classes. In a series of publications, Mandel analyzed the dynamics and results of the unexpected postwar boom, the long world recession of 1974 to 1982, the debt crisis of developing countries, the 1987 stock crash and the long-term systemic crisis of late capitalism, as basis for his projections about the long-term prospects of world capitalism in the future. In the tradition of the
orthodox Marxists Orthodox Marxism is the body of Marxist thought which emerged after the deaths of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the late 19th century, expressed in its primary form by Karl Kautsky. Kautsky's views of Marxism dominated the European Marxist ...
, Mandel tried to characterize the nature of the modern epoch as a whole, with reference to the main long-run laws of motion of capitalism specified by Marx. These laws of motion were: 1. The capitalist compulsion to accumulate and invest for profit, under the pressure of business competition. 2. The tendency towards constant technological revolutions, which increase
productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...
. 3. The constant attempt to increase absolute and relative
surplus value In Marxian economics, surplus value is the difference between the amount raised through a sale of a product and the amount it cost to manufacture it: i.e. the amount raised through sale of the product minus the cost of the materials, plant and ...
. 4. The tendency toward increasing
concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', '' number concentration'', ...
and centralization of capital. 5. The tendency for the
organic composition of capital The organic composition of capital (OCC) is a concept created by Karl Marx in his theory of capitalism, which was simultaneously his critique of the political economy of his time. It is derived from his more basic concepts of 'value composition ...
to increase. 6. The tendency of the average profit rate on capital invested in industries to decrease, in the long term. 7. The inevitability of
class struggle In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...
(or class conflicts) under capitalism. 8. The tendency of the
working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
to grow in size and
social polarization Social polarization is the segregation within a society that emerges when factors such as income inequality, real-estate fluctuations and economic displacement result in the differentiation of social groups from high-income to low-income. It is a ...
to increase. 9. The tendency towards growing objective socialization of labour. 10. The inevitability of recurrent economic crises in capitalist society. Mandel thought that six basic variables were most important for the long-term global growth pattern of the capitalist mode of production and its average profitability: (i) the evolution of the general and sectoral organic compositions of capital; (ii) the division of constant capital between circulating and fixed capital; (iii) the evolution of the rate of surplus value; (iv) the development of the rate of accumulation, and more specifically the reinvestment of surplus value in production; (v) the development of the turnover of capital; and (vi) the interactions between the producer goods sector and the consumer goods sector. These variables could to an extent fluctuate semi-independently of each other.


Fredric Jameson's analysis

Fredric Jameson Fredric Ruff Jameson (April 14, 1934 – September 22, 2024) was an American literary critic, philosopher and Marxist political theorist. He was best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends, particularly his analysis of postmode ...
borrowed Mandel's vision as a basis for his widely cited ''
Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism ''Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism'' is a 1991 book by Fredric Jameson, in which the author offers a critique of modernism and postmodernism from a Marxist perspective. The book began as a 1984 article in the ''New Left Re ...
.'' Jameson's
postmodernity Postmodernity (post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is the economic or cultural state or condition of society which is said to exist ''after'' modernity. Some schools of thought hold that modernity ended in the late 20th century – in th ...
involves a new mode of cultural production (developments in literature, film, fine art, video, social theory, etc.) which differs markedly from the preceding era of
Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
, particularly in its treatment of subject position, temporality and narrative. In the modernist era, the dominant ideology was that society could be re-engineered on the basis of scientific and technical knowledge, and on the basis of a popular consensus about the meaning of progress. From the second half of the 20th century, however, modernism was gradually eclipsed by postmodernism, which is skeptical about social engineering and features a lack of consensus about the meaning of progress. In the wake of rapid technological and social change, all the old certainties have broken down. This begins to destabilize every part of life, making almost everything malleable, changeable, transient and impermanent. Jameson argues that "every position on postmodernism today—whether apologia or stigmatization—is also...''necessarily'' an implicitly or explicitly political stance on the nature of multinational capitalism today". A section of Jameson's analysis has been reproduced on the
Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive, also known as MIA or Marxists.org, is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Enge ...
. Jameson regards the late capitalist stage as a new and previously unparalleled development with a global reach—whether defined as a multinational or informational capitalism. At the same time, late capitalism diverges from Marx's prognosis for the final stage of capitalism.


Other analyses of the epoch

Immanuel Wallerstein Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein (; September 28, 1930 – August 31, 2019) was an American sociologist and economic historian. He is perhaps best known for his development in sociology of world-systems approach."Wallerstein, Immanuel (1930– )." ...
believed that capitalism was in the process of being replaced by another world system. The American literary critic and cultural theorist
Frederic Jameson Fredric Ruff Jameson (April 14, 1934 – September 22, 2024) was an American literary critic, philosopher and Marxist political theorist. He was best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends, particularly his analysis of postmodern ...
thought
Rudolf Hilferding Rudolf Hilferding (; 10 August 1877 – 11 February 1941) was an Austrian-born Marxist economist, Socialism, socialist theorist,International Institute of Social History, ''Rudolf Hilferding Papers'': http://www.iisg.nl/archives/en/files/h/1075 ...
's term ''the latest stage of capitalism'' (''jüngster Kapitalismus'') perhaps more prudent and less prophetic-soundingM. Hardt/K. Weeks eds., ''The Jameson Reader'' (2000) p. 257 but Jameson often used "late capitalism" in his writings. Hegel's theme of "the end of history" was rekindled by Kojève in his ''Introduction to the Reading of Hegel''.


See also


References


Further reading

* Jacques Derrida, ''
Specters of Marx ''Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International'' () is a 1993 book by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. It was first presented as a series of lectures during "Whither Marxism?", a conference on the ...
'' (1994) * Fredric Jameson, "Culture and Finance Capitalism" ''Critical Inquiry'' 24 (1997) pp. 246–65 * * Immanuel Wallerstein. The Essential Wallerstein (New York: The New Press, 2000), World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004).


External links


Youtube late capitalism FAQ video
by ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...
''
Video: What Is Late Stage Capitalism?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Late Capitalism Capitalism Economic ideologies Marxian economics