Socialists have traditionally criticized capitalism for the ways in which it violates four central values:
1) Equality: Capitalism generates morally intolerable levels of inequality of material conditions of people. This is especially offensive in its impact on children, but more broadly the levels of material deprivation in a world of affluence generated by capitalism violates a wide range of principles of egalitarian justice held by socialists.
2) Democracy: Capitalism thwarts democracy. By placing the basic economic resources and conditions of investment in the hands of private individuals, the capacity of the democratic polity to make decisions about the fate of the community is significantly undermined.
3) Autonomy: Capitalism robs most people of meaningful control over much of their work lives. There is a deep meaning-deficit in most people’s lives because they are pawns in other people’s projects. Capitalism does not merely generate inequality and poverty through exploitation, it generates alienation as well.
4) Community: Capitalism destroys a sense of solidarity among people. As G. A. Cohen has argued, the forms of competition and conflict built into capitalism drive economic activities primarily on the basis of two motives—greed and fear.footnote1 Instead of social interaction in economic life being normatively organized around the principle of helping others, it is organized primarily around the motive of taking advantage of the weakness of others for one’s own gain. This underwrites a culture of selfish individualism and atomism.