Only 9 percent of Americans younger than 30 have a “very positive” view of capitalism, according to a new CBS/YouGov poll.
That shows a stark generation between Generation Z and older generations.
The data arrives amid a surge in democratic socialist victories across the U.S. — and not just in progressive corners of the country. Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon (D) on Tuesday beat out the more moderate Alex Vindman (D) in the Democratic Senate primary in Florida, a state known for its sunshine, not socialism.
I don’t think capitalism is new, even if the word itself was only coined in the 17th century. Private property has existed on small scales throughout nearly all of human history, but our current state of affairs where it is the dominant force in the global economy and the basis of nearly all trade is relatively new. Prior to the 16th century most commodity production was done by artisans, guilds, and subsistence farmers, not wage laborers. Agrarianism changed the property relation to land from one governed by custom and feudal obligation to one governed by market forces, and Mercantilism led to merchant traders forming corporations and becoming a power that can influence and rival that of monarchs. Even in the age of Mercantilism commodity production was still mostly done without wage labor, but the new companies that arose from that era eventually took over commodity production themselves through the enclosure of the commons, marking the beginnings of modern capitalism.