POLITICS

Scenario submission for POLITICS Competition

“Collaborative Learning and Sharing about Politics”

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Capitalism: Good or bad?

28 February 2011, Athens, Greece

Nikolaos MarianosGreek

Researcher

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Scenario DescriptionTopicEconomy

TitleCapitalism: Good or bad?

Short descriptionThis scenario provides information about capitalism. A

lot of people argue that capitalism is the appropriate system for the development of a nation and its people, while other suggest that this system leads in widening the gap between the poor and the rich. There is a lot of debate.

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Scenario DescriptionList of activities

Activity 1: Find a related article on the Internet and comment on the presented opinions.

Activity 2: Find a video that presents a view on the debate about capitalism and provide your comments.

Activity 3: Find a blog that discusses capitalism and comment on the opinions presented.

Activity 4: Search an image related to capitalism (with a license that allows free use, remix and sharing, e.g. Creative Commons) and describe it.

Activity 5: Find a Wiki page that discusses capitalism and comment on the content.

Activity 6: Find a Facebook group that discusses capitalism and comment on the opinions presented.

Activity 7: Create a Word Cloud using the text of your comments for each activity.

Activity 8: Create a Poster to express your opinion on capitalism and describe it.

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Activity 1

Learning tasks: Find a related article on the Internet and comment on the presented opinions.

Tools/resources: Internet

Duration: 30 minutes

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Screenshot of Article http://kasamaproject.org/2009/09/27/michael-moore-interview-

of-capitalism-a-love-story

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Comments on Article

This is an interview of Michael Moore about his movie "Capitalism: A Love Story”. He explains that the core of his movie is the fact that the economic system we have is unjust and it’s not democratic at all. He proposes to deal with this economic system and try to restructure it in a way that benefits people and not the richest one percent. He talks about the official position of the American Congress which states that we don’t need to get rid of capitalism, just change a few rules, and we’ll get everything back in shape. He pinpoints that they didn't change a thing since the big economy crash.

While I agree with their position, I can't agree with their lack of action. We need to change a lot of rules and regulations and it would be advisable to make these changes the soonest possible.

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Activity 2

Learning tasks: Find a video that presents a view on the debate about capitalism and provide your comments.

Tools/resources: YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/) or other video sharing web space.

Duration: 30 minutes

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Screenshot of Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76frHHpoNFs

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Related video

This video shows an interview about capitalism and whether it is directly associated with greed. Phil Donahue equates greed with capitalism and the late economist Milton Friedman argues that greed is not related to any specific economical system. Friedman regards free enterprise as the best economic system ever developed by civilization and cites history as the proof of his contention.

His thoughts make absolute sense to me. A system can not be greedy, people are. In my opinion the only examples where the lower income classes were happy, can be found when fair people where leading them and setting the rules. A different system is not the solution to the problems of the people, if the people in charge are greedy and selfish.

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Activity 3

Learning tasks: Find a blog that discusses capitalism and comment on the opinions presented.

Tools/resources: a blog

Duration: 30 minutes

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Screenshot of blog http://sociocapitalist.net/

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Useful Information

This blog discusses subjects such as capitalism and culture and how the two seemingly disparate subjects connect.

In the author’s opinion, the widest and fairest distribution of freedom exists in a society with a limited government whose role should limit to mediating direct conflicts between more entities' individual freedom. In this society, the simplest definition of freedom would be the lack of limitations and restraints. This society would inherently use capitalism as its economic fuel.

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Activity 4

Learning tasks: Search an image related to capitalism (with a license that allows free use, remix and sharing, e.g. Creative Commons) and describe it.

Tools/resources: Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/) or other image sharing web space

Duration: 15 minutes

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Picture http://www.flickr.com/photos/badjonni/2333970839

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Related image

The image depicting the word Capitalism makes reference to the Coca Cola beverage company and the Coca Cola soft drink, called by some the “flavour of capitalism” originating from the United States.

The multi-national giant Coca Cola Company and its marketing strategies mirror the reality of capitalism, being a giant brand that influences culture all over the world. Nowadays, Coca Cola and its products is advertised and can be found all over the world, symbolizing globalism, mass marketing and production and consumerism.

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Activity 5

Learning tasks: Find a Wiki page that discusses capitalism and comment on the content.

Tools/resources: a Wiki page

Duration: 30 minutes

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Wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism

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Useful InformationCapitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for a private profit; decisions regarding supply, demand, price, distribution, and investments are made by private actors in the market; profit is distributed to owners who invest in businesses, and wages are paid to workers employed by businesses and companies. Capitalism as a deliberate system of a mixed economy developed incrementally from the 16th century in Europe, although proto-capitalist organizations existed in the ancient world, and early aspects of merchant capitalism flourished during the Late Middle Ages. Capitalism became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. Capitalism gradually spread throughout Europe, and in the 19th and 20th centuries, it provided the main means of industrialization throughout much of the world. Today, the capitalist system is the world's most dominant economic model.

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Activity 6

Learning tasks: Find a Facebook group that discusses capitalism and comment on the opinions presented.

Tools/resources: Facebook (www.facebook.com)

Duration: 15 minutes

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Facebook grouphttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Capitalism/125658591574

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Useful InformationThe Facebook group Capitalism with more than 5000 supporters defines itself as a group for those who believe in the true free-market capitalism.

Based on the theories cultivated by the Austrian School of Economics and Libertarian Political and Social Theory, the creators of the group state that the government’s intervention in the market should be minimal, since there is no service or product that the government provides that the free market could not provide at a lower cost and better quality.

The group posts mostly make reference to the present economical and political situation in the USA.

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Activity 7

Learning tasks: Create a Word Cloud using the text of your comments for your activities.

Tools/resources: Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/)

Duration: 15 minutes

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Word cloud

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Comments on Word cloud

The Word Cloud highlights the most common and relevant words on the topic of Capitalism, according to the input from this scenario.

These words are: Capitalism, system, economic, government, people, need, market, rules, freedom, society, greed, need, rules, group, Cola. The words presented illustate how capitalism is a system characterized by its both dimensions, the economic and the social one. Moreover, the system is depicted by words such as greed, need, free, dominant and giant that portrey its potentially controversial dimension.

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Activity 8

Learning tasks: Create a Poster to express your opinion on capitalism and describe it.

Tools/resources: Glogster (http://www.glogster.com)

Duration: 45 minutes

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Poster http://madalinaungur.glogster.com/Glog-7886/

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Comments on Poster

The poster “Capitalism: Good or Bad?” presents the definition of capitalism according to the Oxford Online Dictionary and invites the users to take the “Political Philosophy Quiz” and understand more about their political views.

It also include a RSA Animate lecture on YouTube “Crises of Capitalism” created by renowned academic David Harvey that discusses whether people should start searching for a new social order and look beyond capitalism.

Finally, it presents a Flickr image starting that “Without money we’d all be rich”.

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Wrap up – Expression of Personal View/ Opinion

My personal opinion is that there is not an easy answer to the question whether capitalism is the best economic system or not. While the people in my country feel that there is great injustice in the economic system that we have, it is not clear whether this is due to the system itself or the people that are implementing it and set the rules and regulations of the market.

Do we need a different and more fair system or do we need more fair people to implement capitalism in the form it was intended?