• SheeEttin@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    How does something predate capitalism? I feel like capitalism happened as soon as one ape had something another didn’t.

    • gowan@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      Capitalism, like many philosophies, is a response to a previous system eg Marx was responding to Smith’s works, Mussolini was responding to Marxists etc. Capitalism’s notion that the ideal involvement of the state in private enterprise should be limited was not a commonly held view until the later 1700s.

      Mercantilism was the popular system of the time and it featured a lot of direct involvement from the crown.