TL;DR: Capitalism is an economic system where most things—land, businesses, factories, housing—are privately owned, and people have to sell their labor to survive. It’s all about profit, competition, and constant growth. But that has real consequences for working people and the planet.

🔑 The Basics

Capitalism is the system we live under today, whether you’re in the U.S., U.K., or most parts of the world.

At its core, it’s built around three key ideas:

  1. Private Ownership
    • Things like businesses, factories, housing, land, and tech platforms are owned by individuals or corporations—not by the people who actually use or need them.
  2. Wage Labor
    • Most people don’t own much, so we survive by selling our time and labor to someone who does (your boss, for example).
  3. Profit Motive
    • The goal of production isn’t to meet needs—it’s to make money. If something isn’t profitable, it usually doesn’t get made.

👷 A Real-Life Example

Let’s say you work at a coffee shop:

  • You make $15 an hour.
  • The shop sells your lattes for $6 each.
  • In a busy hour, you help make $200.

Where does the rest of that money go?

➡️ The owner keeps the profit. You created the value, but you don’t own the place—so you don’t get the rewards.

That’s capitalism in action.

🧩 Other Features of Capitalism

  • Competition – Companies fight to be #1, which can lead to innovation—but also layoffs, exploitation, and cut corners.
  • Markets – Prices and production are driven by supply and demand, not by collective planning or human need.
  • Growth Obsession – Capitalism needs constant expansion. More sales, more production, more profits—even if it harms people or the planet.

💣 Consequences

  • Inequality – A small group gets extremely rich, while most people live paycheck to paycheck.
  • Precarity – You can lose your job, your home, or your healthcare overnight.
  • Climate Crisis – Constant growth and profit motives ignore ecological limits.
  • Alienation – Many people feel disconnected from their work, community, and even themselves.

🤔 But Isn’t Capitalism “Freedom”?

You’ll often hear that capitalism = freedom. But for who?

  • Freedom to buy? Only if you have money.
  • Freedom to choose your job? Only if you’re not desperate.
  • Freedom to succeed? Maybe—but success usually depends on inherited wealth, access, and privilege.

Capitalism gives freedom to those who already have power. The rest of us get freedom to hustle—or suffer.

🛠 Alternatives Exist

Capitalism hasn’t always existed. It’s not “just human nature.” Other ways of organizing life and labor have existed—and still do.

People around the world are building:

  • Worker co-ops
  • Mutual aid networks
  • Public services run by communities
  • Campaigns for democratic control over housing, energy, and healthcare

That’s not just theory—it’s solidarity in action.

🔚 Wrap-Up

Capitalism is the system we were born into—but we don’t have to accept it as the only option.

Understanding how it works is the first step to imagining something better.

💬 Common Terms:

  • Wage Labor – Working for a paycheck instead of owning your own means of survival.
  • Profit Motive – The drive to make money above all else.
  • Alienation – Feeling cut off from your work, your power, or your community.