“Capitalism” is a contested term whose meaning is often dictated by so-called “capitalism critics”.230 From a classical liberal perspective, the term “capitalism” often serves as a straw man with which ideas of a market economy are to be combated. From a classical Marxist perspective, capitalism stands for unjust “social, political, legal, and cultural relations conditioned by the rule of capital”.231
According to Marx’s dialectical understanding of history, a capitalist social order would sooner or later collapse due to the impoverishment of the proletarian masses and inevitably be replaced by socialist rule. Marx’s ideas and his philosophy of history have long been refuted, not least because of the totalitarian horror of historical socialism.232 Nevertheless, many left-leaning activists remain convinced of the alleged transitional character of capitalism. Capitalism is seen as the cause of almost all problems, including poverty, racism, colonialism, queerphobia, environmental destruction, and social inequality. Through the utopia of social justice, capitalism is to be overcome and replaced by a new form of communism (see Critical Theory).
Today, a free market economy is particularly strongly questioned by ecological activists. The free economic system is said to consume too many resources, which is not sustainable, especially with regard to our planetary climate system (see Degrowth).233
But it is not only left-wing politicians who want to end the free market economy. There are now also many capitalism critics within the private sector. State-affiliated economic lobbyists criticise the market economy model as outdated “shareholder capitalism”, in which allegedly only short-term interests are represented. The (UN-demanded) sustainable “stakeholder system” is said to be superior to the free market economy because longer-term interests are better taken into account in this stakeholder system.234 ESG regulations are intended to enforce a comprehensive societal transformation for more sustainability.235 However, due to the close networking between the private and public sectors, the corporatist stakeholder model has little to do with a free market economy.236