Difference Between Capitalism and Feudalism
Difference Between Capitalism and FeudalismCapitalism vs Feudalism
In economics, there are two related
models that have shaped standards of living and social classes today.
These are Feudalism and Capitalism. In fact, renowned economists like
Karl Marx, would recognize some correlation in the two constitutions
such that in both structures, the power of the dominant class is based
on the exploitation of the subordinate class. Despite the said
similarity though, a great deal of differences exist between Feudalism
and Capitalism.
Feudalism is a political and military
system between a feudal aristocracy (a lord or liege), and his vassals.
In its most classic sense, feudalism refers to the Medieval European
political system composed of a set of reciprocal legal and military
obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key
concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs. The group of feudalism can be
seen in how these three elements fit
together. The obligations and relations between lord, vassal and fief
form the basis of feudalism. A lord granted land (a fief) to his
vassals. In exchange for the fief, the vassal would provide military
service to the lord. The land-holding relationships of feudalism
revolved on the fief. There were thus different ‘levels’ of lordship and
vassalage. In a typical feudal society, the ownership of all land was
vested in the king. Servicing him was a hierarchy of nobles, the most important nobles
holding land directly from the king, and the lesser from them, down to
the seigneur who held a single manor. The political economy of the
system was local and agricultural, and at its base was the manorial
system. In the manorial system the peasants, laborers, or serfs, held
the land they worked from the seigneur, who granted them use of the land
and his protection in return for personal services and
for dues. Throughout the medieval years, increase in communication and
the concentration of power in the hands of monarchs in France, Spain,
and England broke
down the structure and facilitated the emergence of burgess class. The
system broke down gradually and was eventually replaced by a more
contemporary approach to resource management, which is Capitalism.
Capitalism is one of the most influential
factors that define economic classes today. It is a structure in which
the means of production and distribution are privately owned and
operated for profit. Capitalists are conventionally composed of private
entities that make and implement market decisions regarding supply,
demand, price, distribution, and investments without much intervention from the public or government bodies. Profit, the major goal of
any capitalist, is distributed to shareholders who invest in
businesses. Salaries and wages, on the other hand, are paid to workers
employed by such businesses. Capitalism, being an influential and
flexible system of a mixed economy, drove the main means of
industrialization throughout most of the world. There are different
types of capitalism. These are anarcho-capitalism, corporate capitalism,
crony capitalism, finance capitalism, laissez-faire capitalism, late capitalism, neo-capitalism, post-capitalism, state capitalism,
state monopoly capitalism and technocapitalism. However varying, there
is general agreement that capitalism encourages economic growth while
further extending disparities in income and wealth. Capitalists believe
that increasing GDP (per
capita), the main unit in measuring wealth, is set to bring about
improved standards of living, including better availability of food,
housing, clothing, and health care. They deem that a capitalist economy
holds better practical potentials in being able to raise the working
class’ income through new professions or business ventures as compared
to other types of economies. Unlike Feudalism though, it doesn’t
maintain lords and serfs. Rather, it recognizes corporations and
businesses to be the ruling body above the working class. What makes it
distinct from Feudalism is that the subordinate class has freedom to
demand from its employer and the employer hold limited authority, mostly
professional in nature, over the subordinate.
