for all its adaptability, you have made the point well that there is no room for adaption when perpetual exponential growth is no longer viable. Maybe its back to feudalismAdamski, I have some sympathy with what you are saying and you are correct that capitalism is the only socio-economic system which has put the planet in peril.
But one thing you always have to look at is the actual history of what happened. Surely as someone who is clearly interested in societal change you should avoid glib and overly simplistic analysis of previous societal change.
The way society changes from one system to another is a huge question, especially for those of us who are not satisfied with capitalism. Not to mention that change on such a level involves changing just about everything. So, apart from looking at the current context which is different to when Feudalism shifted to Capitalism, we also need to look at examples of attempted change.
On the topic of the transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, it is important to remember that it took hundreds of years for the preconditions of such a transformation to play out. I can suggest reading the 3 Volume Civilisation and Capitalism 15th-18th centuries by Braudel, I am 1 volume in, in between other books. What this shows is that the transition was far from quick. You will notice the time period he covers starts well before the rise of capitalism from the 17th century. Add to that the time it took. In England you could say capitalism was beginning to be the main economic system from the late 17th century, we usually point to 1789 for France, similar timing for a lot of Western Europe, Eastern Europe later. Plus, you cannot just look at capitalism as a static system, compare mercantalist capitalism to the neo-liberal version we have now. Compare Adam Smith's citing of self-interest and sympathy as motivations for human behaviour against rational choice theories today. The system adapts, as Marx would tell you, this is a big feature of capitalism.
Then you can look at the attempts to move beyond capitalism, especially the attempts at socialism. Given my politics, you can look for previous posts if you want to find out, it was little surprise to me that an attempt to move beyond capitalism by transitioning from private property to state property led to what was effectively bureaucratic or state capitalism. In any case, it was an abject failure which led to authoritarian regimes. The promise of socialism is better than what the former socialist regimes delivered, but it remains a fact that when the attempt was made to transition to socialism it led to authoritarianism.
But I have digressed too far.
Marx would tell you that capitalism is the most adaptable system we have ever had. Is it adaptable enough to change in such a way as to stop climate change? On balance I think not. The driver of capitalism is constant expansion. As David Attenborough once observed: Anyone who thinks that you can have infinite growth in a finite environment is either a madman or an economist.
How we change the system and what we change it to are huge questions, with many answers, I'll leave it to Malatesta: We anarchists do not want to emancipate the people; we want the people to emancipate themselves.
DS
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