''The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality'' is a book written by

Austrian School The Austrian School is a heterodox school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result exclusively from the motivations and actions of individuals. Austrian school ...

economist and libertarian thinker Ludwig von Mises. It is an investigation into the psychological roots of the anti-capitalistic stance that Mises saw as widespread in the general populations of the capitalist world. Mises suggests various reasons for this mentality, primarily his claim that free competition in the market economy allows for no excuses of one's failures.

Frustrated ambition

'In a society based on caste and status, the individual can ascribe adverse fate to conditions beyond his own control. or instanceHe is a slave because the superhuman powers that determine all becoming had assigned him this rank. ..It is quite another thing under capitalism. Here everybody's station in life depends on his own doing ..The sway of the principle, ''to each according to his accomplishments'', does not allow of any excuse for personal shortcomings' (pp. 11–12) According to the author, faced with this burden many who have fared poorly in the market economy seek a scapegoat to shift the blame from themselves and restore their self-image.

Common misunderstandings

According to von Mises, Marxian philosophy has heavily influenced the way the general public interprets its economic condition and perceives of capitalism. The average wage-earner's high standard of living is viewed as an inevitable result of 'self-acting progress', akin to Marx's 'material productive forces'. It is believed that these material productive forces (e.g. technological innovations) are not only independent of capitalism but will eventually force capitalism to yield to more advanced forms of socialist organisation. Until that day the capitalists will continue to refuse workers their fair share of this progress. The notion of 'fair share' is devoid of meaning, because both capital and labour are necessary to produce goods and it is impossible to assign a proportion of the end product as belonging to either labour or capital. He also argues that even more importantly the historical increase in the average wage-earner's rewards is due solely to the accumulation of capital, and in particular to "the fact that the rate of capital accumulation exceeds the rate of increase in population' (p. 88). According to von Mises, "All pseudo-economic doctrines which depreciate the role of saving and capital accumulation are absurd ..What has improved the wage earners' standard of living is the fact that the capital equipment per head of the men eager to earn wages has increased. It is a consequence of this fact that an ever increasing portion of the total amount of usable goods produced goes to the wage earners" (p. 89)

Criticism

'' The Economist'' called it a "resoundingly silly"

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

of economic liberalism and "a sad little book" that is simplistically dogmatic and displays " cocksure superficiality" in an abusive tone. The review suggested that the book would receive "low marks if presented by a second-year undergraduate to his tutor," and that "the case for freedom ... is ill served" by such a book. It accused von Mises of attacking

straw men A straw man (sometimes written as strawman) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead replaced with a false o ...

and having contempt for the facts of

human nature Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or w ...

, comparing him in that respect to

Marxists Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectic ...

. Conservative commentator and former Communist Whittaker Chambers published a similarly negative review in the '' National Review'', stating that Mises's thesis that anti-capitalist sentiment was rooted in "envy" epitomized "know-nothing conservatism" at its "know-nothingest."Quoted in

Sam Tanenhaus Sam Tanenhaus (born October 31, 1955) is an American historian, biographer, and journalist. He currently is a writer for '' Prospect''. Early years Tanenhaus received his B.A. in English from Grinnell College in 1977 and a M.A. in English Liter ...

, ''Whittaker Chambers: A Biography'', (Random House, New York, 1997), p. 500. .

Publication history

* D Van Nostrand Company, 1956 * Libertarian Press, 1981 * Liberty Fund, 2006, (cloth), (paperback) * Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2008 (reprint of the Van Nostrand edition)

Translations

* German: ''Die Wurzeln des Antikapitalismus'', Frankfurt am Main: Knapp, 1979 * Italian: ''La mentalità anticapitalistica'', Roma: Armando, 1988 * Korean: 자본주의정신과반자본주의심리 / ''Chabonjuŭi chŏngsin kwa panjabonjuŭi simni'', 한국경제연구원, Sŏul Tʻŭkpyŏlsi : Hanʼguk Kyŏngje Yŏnʼguwŏn, 1995 * Polish: ''Mentalność antykapitalistyczna'', Kraków: Wydawnictwo Arcana, 2005 * Spanish: ''La mentalidad anticapitalista'', Valencia: Fundación Ignacio Villalonga, 1957 * Swedish: ''Den antikapitalistiska mentaliteten'', Stockholm:

Natur & Kultur Natur & Kultur is a Swedish publishing foundation with head office in Stockholm known for an extensive series of teaching materials. Its logotype is an apple tree. Overview The publishing house was founded in 1922 by Johan Hansson and his wi ...

, 1957

References

External links

* Ludwig von Mises Institute ''The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality'', 1956 edition: *
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