Cultural Attibutes Of American Capitalism

American civilization can be in truth an “economic civilization” or “businesscivilization”. Culture and economy interact throughout the history of capitalistdevelopment in America, forging different American identity at a given time. As theinteraction evolves over the time, identity, correspondingly, also takes a new form,witnessing and manifesting the interacting forces of economy and culture. The presentdissertation is an attempt to explore and interpret the cultural attributes of AmericanCapitalism from the perspective of identity. This dissertation adopts acultural-historical approach, coupled with theories of economic sociology. It arguesthat “capitalism” defines not only a country’s economic structure, but also its culturalcontents. Just as a nation has its own identity, so does its economic system have itsown uniqueness that defines what it is. The dissertation points out that history,economy, culture and psychology interweaved in the making of American Capitalism.In particular, it highlights the historical function of American identity in the processesof economic growth. Guided by principles of Cultural Organicism and HistoricalParticularism, it examines and analyzes American economy in the historical-culturalcontext, interptreting American Capitalism from multi-dimensional approaches anddissecting it by looking into its deep-rooted underpinning forces for its rapid growth.The central thrust of this dissertation is that only when we find out the undergirdingpower of culture operating in a capitalist system like the one in the US, can wepossibly appreciate and indeed fully understand the American Capitalism, thecharacter and logic of its successful development, so far at least.To this end, the dissertation, on the one hand, argues against such assertationthat “culture is the least important” or “identity is a fuzzy concept”, held by currentmainstream economists. To prove this point, the dissertation relies on historical factsand the method of logical inference to demonstrate that not only has Americans’economic behavior been significantly shaped by values, but its economic orientation and capacity have been considerably influenced by American identity and value-basedinstitutions. At the same time, however, the dissertation refutes the notion propergatedby cultural determinists that “culture makes almost all the difference”, or “culturaldeterminer”, arguing that no matter how important culture is, it, in any economy,shapes rather than replace, much less determine, the underlying forces of a marketeconomy. In any economy, the positive effects of culture lie in its co-relativity toeconomic development, helping to harness all possible social forces to drive thegrowth of economy. Its negative effect is to stall or even deter the growth of economy,dampening any potential enthusiasm for entrepreneurship. To some extent, the currenteconomic troubles can be ascribed to the fact that in America, while the spread ofdiversity paralleled the triumph of New Economy in the1990s, these two forces travelon different tracks. On the one hand, American culture is at a crossroad: SocraticEngagement or Cartesian Detachment. On the other hand, what American Capitalismneeds now is help in integrating and synthesizing into a more comprehensive wholethe exponential increases brought about by technological advances and specialization.The co-relativity between economy and culture is essential to gooddevelopment—people have reasons for happiness and doing so under the condition ofjustice. A society that succeeds in terms of good development will naturally have justthe perfect rate of economic growth. To resume that co-relativity, democratic identityis the crux of the situation. As democratic identity comes through social attachmentand love under the condition of justice, it, compared with fragmented identity, will bemore solid, genuine, and humane. Therefore, the democratic identity may bridge thegap between economy and culture, so as to pave the way for capitalist development inAmerica.In conclusion, the dissertation argues that economy and culture are the two sidesof the coin of capitalism, and only when they function on a parallel with each other,can it, to use a metaphor, sail smoothly. In this light, the right approach to theunderstanding and interpretation of American Capitalism is and must be twofold atleast, one economic and the other cultural. And in the process of this twofoldapproach, we shall be able to discern and find out the identity of American Capitalism. Finally, it points out that since American Capitalism has been shaped and constructed,among other things, by economic elements and cultural factors embedded in its socialstructure, its unique cultural attributes can not be “exported” to the world as universalvalues, and, by extension, American Capitalism can not be patterned upon by othercountries in the world as the model of capitalist system.