The Anti Capitalist Mentality - Books | Mises Institute
In 1954, after a lifetime of serious theoretical work in economic
science, Mises turned his attention to one of the great puzzles of all
time: discovering why the intellectuals hate capitalism. The result is
this socio-psycho-cultural analysis informed by economic theory.
Mises
explores answers from a wide variety of angles, and discusses the
nature of academic institutions, popular culture, and how vices like
jealousy and envy affect theory. All play a role in preventing people
from seeing the self-evident benefits of economic freedom relative to
controls. His comments on the resentment of the intellectuals cut very
deeply. Mises shrewdly teases the anti-capitalist bias out of
contemporary fiction and popular culture generally.
In the course
of his narrative, he explains aspects of the market that have generally
eluded even its defenders. For example, is it true that markets dumb
down the culture, exalting trashy novels and movies over higher-brow
fare? Mises points out that the tastes of the masses will always and
everywhere be lower than those educated and cultivated to love higher
culture. But, he says, the glory of capitalism is that it brings to
every sector what it wants and needs, and more of it than any other
system. So, yes, there will be more trash, but also more great work as
well. It is a matter of availability: Under socialism, nothing is
available. Under capitalism, choice seems nearly infinite.
The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality_3.pdf
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