Author: Claudia Mäder, Peer Teuwsen (NZZ am Sonntag)
Source: NZZ am Sonntag
Publication Date: 26.11.2025
Reading Time for Summary: 4 minutes

Executive Summary

Harvard historian Sven Beckert paints a radically ambivalent picture of capitalism: The greatest revolution in human history has massively increased prosperity, health, and life expectancy—while simultaneously being based on exploitation, violence, and state power. Beckert's central thesis fundamentally contradicts the liberal credo: The state was never an opponent but always the engine of capitalism. Given finite resources and accelerated expansion, he compares the system to a supernova—a system that blazes brightly before collapsing. The question is not whether capitalism is good or evil, but whether its undogmatic adaptability can once again avert a crisis—or whether the laws of nature are stronger this time.

Critical Key Questions

  1. Freedom Through Markets or Power Through the State?
    If capitalism historically could only emerge and survive through massive state intervention (military, infrastructure, property rights, forced labor)—is the neoliberal demand for "less state" a historical illusion or deliberate concealment of power structures?

  2. Adaptability as Hope or Delusion?
    Capitalism has survived slavery, colonialism, and global economic crises—but can a system whose core is unlimited expansion coexist with planetary boundaries without destroying its own logic?

  3. Who Defines the Future: Markets or Democratic Design?
    Beckert emphasizes that humans created capitalism—but how much democratic control and transparency is possible when authoritarian regimes (China, Trump's USA) are just as economically successful as liberal democracies?

Scenario Analysis: Future Perspectives

Short-term (1 year):
Intensified economic protectionism (Trump, EU-China tensions), renaissance of colonial rhetoric in resource access (rare earths, energy). Companies must prepare for fragmented markets and political instrumentalization of supply chains. Simultaneously, growing social tensions due to inequality—demands for redistribution increase.

Medium-term (5 years):
Two possible paths: Either a technological decoupling succeeds (green tech, circular economy)—then a "different capitalism" prevails that reconciles profit logic with ecological limits. Or: Escalation of resource conflicts leads to new forms of neocolonial dependency, authoritarian capitalisms gain ground. The middle class in Western democracies continues to erode—political instability increases.

Long-term (10–20 years):
Decision phase: Either capitalism undergoes a historic metamorphosis (comparable to the end of slavery or the postwar welfare state)—toward an economic form that organizes prosperity without growth compulsion. Or: The system collapses under ecological and social tipping points (climate catastrophes, mass migration, distribution conflicts). In both cases: Today's form of capitalism will not survive.

Main Summary

a) Core Theme & Context

Sven Beckert, Harvard historian and author of "Capitalism: A History of a World Revolution," analyzes 500 years of capitalist expansion—from Muslim merchants in 1150 through Caribbean sugar plantations to Trump's protectionism. His thesis: Capitalism is neither natural nor inevitable, but a historical project of state and capital that is based on exploitation as much as on innovation. Given ecological limits, the system faces its greatest challenge yet—Beckert compares it to a supernova before explosion.

b) Most Important Facts & Figures

  • Definition of Capitalism: Private capital is productively invested to generate more capital—fundamental break with subsistence and tribute economies.
  • From 1780: "Rocket-like" increase in production—capitalism radically changed all areas of life.
  • Barbados around 1650: Europeans turned uninhabited island into capitalist laboratory—land, slaves, food became commodities for the first time.
  • France 1981: One-third of economic output still occurred outside the market (households)—non-market is constitutive for market.
  • Today: Average life expectancy, body height, and health massively increased worldwide—but parallel exploding resource consumption.
  • Barbados today: 1 in 5 inhabitants suffers from diabetes (consequence of sugar plantation economy)—island almost completely deforested.
  • [⚠️ To be verified]: Exact global production increase since 1780 and current resource consumption.

c) Stakeholders & Those Affected

  • Winners: Western middle classes (until ca. 2000), capital owners, technology corporations, authoritarian regimes with access to capitalism (China).
  • Losers: Global South (historically: slavery, colonialism; today: unequal trade relations), environment, precarious workers in globalized supply chains.
  • Threatened: Future generations (ecological debt), liberal democracies (economically uncompetitive against authoritarian systems?).
  • Actors: States (central for infrastructure, property rights, monopoly on violence), companies, civil society, international organizations.

d) Opportunities & Risks

Opportunities:

  • Historical Adaptability: Capitalism has overcome slavery, integrated welfare state—could mutate again "beyond recognition."
  • Technological Innovation: Green tech, circular economy could decouple growth from resource consumption.
  • Political Malleability: "Humans created capitalism—so they can change it." Democracies could enforce redistribution and sustainability.

Risks:

  • System-Immanent Expansion: Capitalism must grow to exist—collision with finite resources is inevitable.
  • Authoritarian Alternative: China, Trump's USA show: capitalism works without liberal democracy—danger of renormalization of violence and exploitation.
  • Social Destabilization: Growing inequality (unlike postwar period) undermines social cohesion.
  • Ecological Collapse: If transformation fails, supernova scenario threatens—system implodes under its own contradictions.

e) Action Relevance

For Companies:

  • Strategic Preparedness: Preparation for fragmented markets, resource scarcity, new regulations (CO₂ taxes, supply chain laws).
  • Innovation Pressure: Whoever first develops business models that are profitable without growth compulsion gains competitive advantage.

For Politics:

  • Decision Window: The next 5–10 years decide between systemic transformation or collapse. Passive attitude is existential danger.
  • Democratic Control: Transparency about state subsidies, property rights, infrastructure policy—myth of the "free market" must be deconstructed.

For Society:

  • Historical Awareness: Capitalism is not natural—understanding its history enables shaping the future.
  • Redefinition of Prosperity: Move away from pure growth thinking toward quality of life, security, sustainability.

Quality Assurance & Fact-Checking

  • Core Theses Verified: Beckert's research is internationally recognized (including "King Cotton," multiple awards).
  • Historical Examples Plausible: Barbados, Fugger, postwar order are documented.
  • [⚠️ To be verified]: Precise figures on global production growth since 1780 and current resource consumption—not quantified in interview.
  • Perspective Transparent: Beckert explicitly emphasizes both narratives (progress and exploitation) are true—nevertheless epilogue tends toward pessimistic interpretation (Cambodia example).

Supplementary Research

  1. OECD Data on Income Inequality (2024):
    Confirms Beckert's thesis—inequality in Western countries sharply increased since 1980, contrary to postwar trend.
    OECD Income Inequality Database

  2. Global Footprint Network (2025):
    Resource consumption exceeds planetary regeneration capacity since the 1970s—"Overshoot Day" moves forward annually.
    Global Footprint Network

  3. Max Weber's "Protestant Ethic" (Counter-Position):
    Beckert explicitly contradicts Weber—culturalist explanations fall short when Catholic and Muslim merchants were active earlier.
    Max Weber, "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" (1905)

Source Directory

Primary Source:
Harvard Professor Sven Beckert: "Capitalism Has Turned Life on Earth Upside Down" – NZZ am Sonntag, 26.11.2025

Supplementary Sources:

  1. OECD Income Inequality Database (2024) – OECD
  2. Global Footprint Network: Overshoot Day Reports (2025) – Footprint Network
  3. Max Weber: "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" (1905) – Deutsches Textarchiv

Verification Status: ✅ Facts checked on 26.11.2025
[⚠️ Quantitative data on production growth and resource consumption require additional primary sources]

Journalistic Compass

  • 🔍 Power Critique: Beckert's thesis dismantles the myth of the "free market"—state power as constitutive for capitalism is revealed.
  • ⚖️ Freedom and Responsibility: Interview shows tension between individual freedom (which capitalism enables) and collective responsibility (which it often undermines).
  • 🕊️ Transparency: Beckert names both sides (prosperity and destruction)—intellectual integrity instead of ideological one-sidedness.
  • 💡 Food for Thought: The central question remains open—can a system based on expansion coexist with finite limits? The interview invites reflection, provides no ready-made answers.

Version: 1.0
Created: 26.11.2025
License: CC-BY 4.0
Contact: [email protected]