Capitalism: definition, history, and core features

Etymology of capitalism and capitalist

The term "capitalist" (meaning an owner of capital) appears earlier than "capitalism" and dates to the mid-17th century. "Capitalism" is derived from "capital," which comes from the late Latin "capitale," based on "caput" (“head”). Over time, related meanings developed from funds and money (including money carrying interest) to the capital assets of trading firms, and by the 1600s writers used "capitalists" for owners of capital. The modern sense of "capitalism" is generally attributed to 19th-century socialist and political-economic writers, including Louis Blanc (1850) and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1861). In English, the Oxford English Dictionary records "capitalism" appearing in 1854 (Thackeray’s novel The Newcomes) with the meaning “having ownership of capital.” The term later became widely used in political economy, including by David Ricardo ("the capitalist"), and in Marx’s work, where Marx frequently used "capital" and "capitalist mode of production" rather than the specific form "capitalism." Some scholars argue the word is a misnomer or disparaging label because it implies capital has inherent, stable laws of its own.

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Definition and disputed meaning of capitalism

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