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Capitalism being actions conducted with an extensive motive such as business profit or religious domination (Gilje, 2009) therefore what could have been before profitable actions but simply living a simplistic life with just enough for what is needed. So to me, the only time America was ever pre-capitalist was before Christopher Columbus’ arrival for which he brought capitalism in merchant businesses and in conversion of religion to that of his King. Pre-capitalism, before Columbus’ arrival would have been the natives living off of the land with no monetary gain but potential even trades.
Adam Smith justified his capitalist actions by distinguishing the morals behind the acts as being either “selfish or self-interested” (Collins, 2012). For instance, merchants were very important to the establishment of America and if there was only one seller of a particular item it would be very easy to capitalize on the product by selling it for a higher price because there was no completion thus being selfish but if the raising of price is due to the contents of the product being sold being of better quality than a competitors therefore the consumer would be getting a better product than it could be considered self-interested making sure that consumers got a quality product for a reasonable price (Collins, 2012).
The articleIs Capitalism Ethicalby Suciu (2009), was very relevant to the topic of capitalism and ethics. The article was broken down into three areas of how ethics and capitalism evolved. Starting with Moral Capitalism just as did human nature and Kohlberg’s first stage of moral development the idea behind moral capitalism was just that; rewards and punishments. Rewards in terms of profit is what stimulated personal and business life and to do so with the avoidance of wrong doing to others. But as we enter Suciu’s second stage, Amoral Capitalism, unethical processes were more dominate as we industrialized along with the governments strive for power of the citizens. And it is with the profits earned from industries that created a segregation of wealth. The main separation here is the strive to be more wealthy or remain average to earn only what is needed however each decision made to get to one place or another is going to be one of two types either involuntary or deliberately (Suciu, 2009). Whether the act was unconscious or conscious is the leading determinant of whether the decision made was ethical or unethical. Which brings the article to discuss a truly Immoral Capitalism where, in a corporate sense, business and governmental acts are going towards using immoral/unethical processes using greed, dishonesty, corruption, abuse, and aggressive rivalry to sustain a wealthy threshold (Suciu, 2009).
Reference
Collins, D. (2012). Business Ethics.Hoboken,NJ: Wiley
Suciu, T. (2009). IS CAPITALISM ETHICAL?. Bulletin Of The Transilvania University Of Brasov. Series V: Economic Sciences, 2237-244.
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