advantages/disadvantages of a capitalistic society

In a capitalistic society, at birth we are at a major advantage, disadvantage, or somewhere in the middle. Our parents are the decisive factor in this, from the financial class they fall in, high, middle, or lower class. A capitalistic society gives everybody a great opportunity, however. A poor man or woman can become the next business mogul on Wall Street, earning billions of dollars in stocks, and all he or she has to do is work hard throughout their life to become this wealthy. Someone poor can do whatever they want to do, it’s a tale as old as time, like the old saying says, “From rags to riches.”

There are as many advantages as there are disadvantages in a capitalistic society, however with all the disadvantages there are, hard work can overcome anything. Some advantages are that the economy’s productivity is greater because the government does not have to decide what they need to produce. Also, everyone has a choice in what they want, for example, voting.

Some of the disadvantages that come from living in a capitalistic society would be inequality, immobility, a monopoly, and a irrational behavior. There is an inequality in the wealth of a capitalistic society, because the wealth is held by a small portion of the population. Great poverty can occur because of the lack of government welfare which leads to homelessness, slums, and disease this leads to the forced migration of the masses. Also another disadvantage of a capitalistic society is the fact that there is no limit to government control. Because of the inequality in this society people become caught up in their need to become part of the wealthy class, leading them to act irrationally because they are working to be better then the next person.

Immobility in a capitalistic society is a major disadvantage because though there is no structured classes, in theory it seems easily to transgress from one social class to another but in actuality it is not because of the difficulty and restrictions that a free market places on society. A final disadvantage caused by a capitalistic society would be a capitalistic society, is a monopoly which occurs when one firm gains control over the majority of the free market, they then have the ability to charge the prices they want giving them the power to exploit their customers. This places more restrictions of the lower class making it more difficult for them to overcome the social classes and move up the social ladder.