Last year, Kate Raworth put together a definition of capitalism. She prefaced it with:
“Let’s open up the black box of capitalism. I discussed what it means and what it does with Bernie Sanders and Martin Wolf on BBC Radio 4. Here’s how I defined it – how would you put it differently?”
Unfortunately, she put it in an image without an image description, so here follows the text in this image…
1/4
“What is capitalism?
It’s an economic system based on private property and markets, yes – but these have existed for millennia. Capitalism is more specific than this.
It depends on many people having nothing to sell but their labour and, above all, it prioritises delivering profit for the owners of wealth, whether that profit is:
- dividends
from owning a company or corporate shares
- rent
from owning land, housing and other real estate
- interest
from owning other people’s debt.
2/4
…“The key consequence is not just the obvious – that [capitalism] enriches the already rich – but that it systematically puts a squeeze on everything else that we value. And in doing so it:
- underpays and undermines waged workers
- exploits the care provided by families and communities
- expropriates land and culture from indigenous communities
- privatises public goods, such as transport and healthcare
- degrades the living world on which all life depends.
3/4
…“Crucially, [capitalism] also captures media, legal and political systems to secure and reinforce its privileges.”
—Kate Raworth, 6 March 2023
Kate went on to say:
“This definition was particularly inspired by the works of Nancy Fraser, Marjorie Kelly and Katharina Pistor.”
And linked to the BBC Radio 4 discussion: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001jkjn?partner=uk.co.bbc
4/4
…Having typed out the text above, I thought I might as well on Twitter repost Kate’s original tweet with the text (as post text, not image description) https://x.com/schofeld/status/1788184168506999003
I’ll see if it gets any interest at all from accounts that aren’t bikini bots.
And then it can pretty much be my parting shot before Twiiter account deactivation :)
@urlyman
That’s one *hell* of a mic drop
Every word 
(Expect a few cordial crypto bro invites off that on Twitter. )
@blabberlicious Thanks Steve. But I’m a nobody over there and so far not even the bikini bots are interested 
@urlyman
I had 1000s of followers, and zero engagement.
If you wanted a scrying sphere into the worst recesses of people’s imaginations, it was great!
Discourse, not so much.
@blabberlicious it wasn’t always so :(
@urlyman
Perhaps I’m lucky, but mastodon feels like there’s some impluse control in play. More respect for diversity in thought and expression.
@urlyman thanks for sharing this. I'm pretty sure it was Kate Raworth who conceived doughnut economics?
@wall0159 it was :)
@urlyman I love that R4 carries this sort of stuff!
@marnanel me too. Though I wish its news coverage had even a smidgen of that courage.
I’m not suggesting that its news coverage should be partisan, but it most definitely is partisan by omission
@urlyman Very good. And thank you for posting the text instead of just an image of the text. So much easier to read!
I love that healthcare is designated a public good. Now I know my right words for explaining why for-profit healthcare is immoral.
It's axiomatic, but the capitalists are masters at spin on this.
(Eyes, hearing and teeth all also come under healthcare)