How Capitalism Undermines Democracy
Milton Friedman argued that capitalism was democracy’s natural home. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Milton Friedman said capitalism was the ideal soil for democracy. In fact, every democratic right we have was won against the objections of the capitalist class. (Universal History Archive / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Libertarian thinkers like Milton Friedman like to say that capitalism not only gave birth to democracy but also is the ideal economic system to complement democracy. But while capitalism may have created the conditions for democracy, it’s actually the main obstacle to securing full democratic rights.
On this latest episode of the Jacobin Radio podcast Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber and Melissa Naschek examine the worker struggles central to the rise of democracy and why, in a system built around profit, the ruling class opposes it. Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy and published by Jacobin. You can listen to the full episode here.
Melissa Naschek
There’s been a lot of discussion on the state of democracy, in particular in the United States but also around the world. People are very concerned about how stable democracy is in the modern capitalist world. So today, I’d like us to look at the big-picture relationship between capitalism and democracy.
Vivek Chibber
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