Anti-capitalism

Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Anti-Capitalism Radicals Radical anti-capitalists have no fixed ideology through which they can promote their identity (Tormey 75). Such people are only opposed to capitalism without proposing an alternative economic system.

Radicals only demonstrate extreme opposition to a capitalistic way of life. They view capitalism as a system based on self-interest making interactions between people difficult and alienates other nature. Radicals in a sense oppose what is there while hoping for something that does not exist. While Radicals are not against the reform of the existing political system, they do not consider the approach by capitalists as credible path towards the development of the desired society construct. Ultimately, it is imperative that anti-capitalists are desperate to establish new social institutions, associations, unions, party-type formations, and coalitions to spread their philosophy. Even though many activists are working to solicit against racism, poverty and other social vices, the numbers left to project socialist politics is still quite limited. If this capacity is not enhanced, people centered on the systemic change are bound to reduce, hence weaken the struggles anti-capitalist struggles as well as efforts supporting social justice.

There are certain strands of anti-capitalists who are not comfortable with liberal capitalism. In particular, conservatives in Europe have been against the influence of capitalism on the global traditions and culture. The opposition of the French Revolution, the America Revolution, and the Enlightenment looked to maintain traditional social hierarchies, institutions, and practices. Additionally, radical anti-capitalists refer to the natural world as a simple resource body that needs to be reshaped or exploited to serve the interests and purposes of humans (Tormey 81).

They also consider capitalism as a factor that saps the relationship between the natural world and other humans. Liberal Internationalism Liberal internationalists call for the political control of economic matters. According to them a market in the hands of political power will adopt a democratic stance hence eliminate capitalism (Tormey 86). They believe that economic injustices will be better addressed from a political democratic platform rather than the capitalistic platform. In this regard, liberal internationalists for a policy doctrine that solicits for intervention of other sovereign states for the pursuance of liberal goals.

This form of intervention can be through humanitarian aid or by military invasion. Ultimately, this view is in contrast to the non-interventionist, realist, and isolationist foreign policy doctrines. Liberal internationalism has an objective of achieving global structures in the worldwide system.

These structures are inclined towards the promotion of a liberal world order. In this regard, liberal economics, liberal political systems, and global free trade are all promoted. In addition, liberal internationalists dedicate their efforts towards the development of democracy globally. Liberal internationalism is considered a convincing approach towards achieving positive international relations. This makes it possible to make an argument that this approach has succeeded in the creation and sustenance of stability.

When the key aims of liberal internationalism are taken into consideration, one can be able assess the progress gained through international relations. Liberal internationalism is praised mainly for its campaign against human rights violation. Working against the violation of human rights can be successful through the application of various international institutions. This illustrates that international institutions established are achieving their objective. Nevertheless, it can be argued that several times have seen liberal internationalism supporters becoming silent on the violation of human rights to pursue other objectives. This can be supported by America; a liberal internationalism leader chose to keep silent on the violations of human rights in China. Apparently, America chose not to act on the matter because it had to attend to other matters of fighting against Soviet communism.

Groups Advocating for Social Democracy Social democrats advocate for strategies to transform capitalism in such a way that it benefits the society rather than a few elite businesspersons and organizations (Tormey 89). Social democrats believe that capitalism is not as dangerous as some put it. They call for a strategy that would enable the redistribution of capitalist profits to all individuals in society rather than the capitalist alone. Social democrats focus on two issues: redistribution of income and market control. They insist on state intervention in capitalism in order to ensure equitable distribution of resources and economic growth. I find social democracy the most appealing of all the above alternatives to capitalism. Social democracy advocates for an elimination of self-interest in Capitalism such that capitalist profits can now be enjoyed by a greater majority rather than the few capitalists.

Social democracy is attractive in that it calls for an elimination of the capitalist market control and instead prefers state intervention in the market for equitable distribution of wealth (Tormey 97). Naomi Klein Multinationals are increasing accruing heavy expenses especially in this branding age. Such companies invest a lot of money in brand marketing and management that other items of the company such as factories people and machines become outdated. Companies, therefore, try to save finances by avoiding investment in human capital, factories and machines. As a result, they have resorted to cheap temporary workers, outsourcing and part-time workers. Klein’s ideas depict a clear picture of the situation facing multinational companies. The brand is the most valuable asset of a company.

Companies, therefore, put a lot of effort in maintaining and managing their product brands. This is a very expensive venture, and the company is faced with the choice of dropping other company assets that are least significant or are easily replaceable, hence the reliance on temporary and part-time workers. In the year 2000, Naomi Klein released her book “ No Logo”.

The book received considerable plaudits for its message; it was made a manifesto by the anti-corporate globalization movement. In this book, Klein attacks the consumer culture with brand orientation and operations carried out by large corporations. She also accused a number of corporations of the unethical exploitation of workers in poor global countries as they prioritized making profit. Klein in her book also criticized Nike Company severely that the corporation felt obligated to make a point-by-point response in its defense. The book ‘ No Logo’ became internationally renowned for its work as well as massive sales, with a sale of over one million copies published in 30 languages. Global Localization Global localization is a worldwide strategy by a company to customize its brands to suit the needs of the customer in those particular markets. The brand is, therefore, created in such a way that it appeals in a specific way to the people of that region. It involves the use of names, special ingredients, menus and other aspects of the brand.

McDonalds has adopted a brand localization strategy that enables it to appeal to every culture and lifestyle in its international market. McDonalds has perfected this strategy by localizing all its international brands. The global localization strategy adopted by McDonalds has seen the company adopt indigenous names in the markets it ventures into to create some familiarity with the locals.

In New Zealand for instance, McDonald’s outlets contain Kiwi burgers. This is the trend throughout its global branches. In India, for example, one can find the Maharaja Macs. The name given is local, and most Indians can identify with it; the ingredients are also customized to create a classic Indian meal. The brands offered by McDonalds in all its outlets worldwide are not similar, however. Most contain substantial differences other than the name.

Each country’s product is customized according to their perceived preferences. The central thesis of Klein’s philosophy revolves around democracy, capitalism, freedom and free markets. Capitalism is a serious vice and affects everyone except rich people. Klein believes that markets have a chance of performing at optimum levels when they are free from government interference. Hence, she advocates doing away with minimum wage laws, subsidies, tariffs, social security, government interference, and financial regulations. According to Klein, a population would only accept reforms of the Friedman concept under the circumstance of crisis shock- such as war, terrorist attack, or natural disaster.

A person in shock is similar to a child who needs a parent like figure to alleviate the shock (Tormey 104). Similarly, a population going through shock looks up to its authorities to mitigate the factors causing the shock. Pieterse I find the cultural hybridization theory more convincing than the other theories. The cultural hybridization theory focuses on the intermixing of cultures in order to form hybrids. This concept comprises such factors as the intermarriage of people between different races or from different parts of the world. The world is becoming more racial tolerant and people share and interact together oblivious of their racial or cultural differences. The theory as propounded by Pieterse holds a lot of truth in that the world will one day have a host of mixed cultures.

Ultimately, the notion of hybridization goes beyond the aspects of culture: the aspect of language can assume various hybrid forms. For example, for a country with a vast tradition on immigration, the United States has overseen the appearance of many hybrid languages. These hybrids come in the form of immigrant populations in their negotiating attempts to connecting their native culture with the new environment.

Hybridization will probably be enhanced by the increase in technology and globalization. Through technology, the world has become a global village. People from different parts of the world and diverse cultures are brought together by the internet. International companies sell their local products in international markets. Through social networking, individual cultures are shared.

The increased interaction and mixing also leads to the sharing of cultures and ideas that would have otherwise been impossible. The world has also become so accommodating with people moving from one part of the world in order to live in a country of their preference. Education and jobs have also enabled people to work, live or go to the same school, yet they have different racial or national origins.

This increased interactions lead to sharing of information and cultures hence the hybridization that Pieterse describes. Works Cited Tormey, Simon. Anti-capitalism: A Beginner’s Guide. Oxford: Oneworld, 2004. Print.