Socialism vs. Capitalism

Capitalism and socialism are two different economic systems that help to structure our society. However, capitalism seems to be the one that fosters sustainability the least. Capitalism shows our commitment to unlimited accumulation of capital and to an order that places artificially generated private wants over individual and social needs. Capitalism is a system that knows no boundaries and environmental exploitation is just an inevitable consequence of it. In Chapter 1 of the Dresner book, Dresner recounts Malthus stance on population and how the influx of population would "always outstrip the growth in food supply"(11).So, capitalism would say that since the population size will steadily increase, we need to make sure we have enough food to feed the beast. However, in order to have more food, more land and resources will have to be destroyed and claimed for human use. Capitalism would say that this is warranted. Capitalism does not care about preserving but rather about manipulating the environment to be in its favor.

On the other hand, socialists tended to disagree with Malthus theory by saying that the "solution is in improved social and economic organization, more advanced technology and a consequent rise in the standard of living"(12). A socialist that backed this claim was Fourier. Fourier believed that a socialist regime would increase the wealth of the British and limit the population. Although his view was flawed, as living standards rose and urbanization grew in European countries in the 20th century, the population started to level out. So, as you can see, a socialist regime would be friendlier towards sustainability.

Engels and Marx were two critics of Malthus. Engels says in Chapter one of the Dresner book that "only a third of the Earth’s land surface was cultivated and the application of agricultural improvements already known could raise the production of this third six fold"(14). Therefore, Engels along with Marx saw no natural limits to outstripping the land and proposed that increased mechanization and agricultural productivity would only make this proposition more real.

Therefore, capitalism seems to be the main culprit in stagnating the sustainability movement. Capitalism sees that the more we develop the land, the less misery and poverty we will have. Socialists see that the more we develop the land and the less we conserve resources, than the population cannot be sustained for a long period of time.