“Late capitalism” explained in 10 points

The term “late capitalism” is used in an ironic way to describe the absurdities, decadence, and injustices of contemporary capitalist society – the way it can distort human life and community.

Quartz magazine says it refers to “pretty much everything ironic about money—who has it, how they get it, and who suffers—in our modern era.”

Examples of late capitalism include a £300 pair of trainers flecked with fake mud, tour groups visiting Chernobyl, and Twitter spats affecting the economy and world politics.

But the phrase is not new, and has deeper meanings. German economist Werner Sombart coined the term in a 1902 book, and going back further, Karl Marx described what he believed were the late stages of capitalism in Das Kapital.

The term gained new adherents with the 1975 book Late Capitalism by Belgian Marxist economist Ernest Mandel. He tried to explain how capitalism had become resurgent in the post-World War Two period, just when many commentators expected it to implode.

Fredric Jameson’s 1991 book Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Capitalism, argued that we live in a time that is post-ideology. Capitalism shapes people’s lives to the core through the mass media, which is powered by multinational companies. 

“[Global] corporations ruthlessly engineered for growth are able to manipulate our emotions and our sense of reality. It points to the commodification of things that were once outside the capitalist sphere.” Jameson

The idea that capitalism is doomed, or at least has limits or contradictions, is not only the preserve of the Left. Economists from Joseph Schumpeter to Paul Samuelson to Hyman Minsky have pointed out contradictions of capitalist political economy, including its inherent volatility.

The 2008 financial crisis plus environmental issues raised have further doubt about the lifespan of capitalism.

Yet global income inequality has fallen in the last 30 years, and there’s no obvious alternative for increasing opportunities and living standards. Indeed, capitalism’s success makes “late capitalism” an idea, rather than a fact.