The capitalist system, from its origins in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, has suffered different transformations, going from a transitory model of the crisis of feudalism to a complex model of economy and society. Such transformations caused profound productions and socio-spatial transformations, which, in part, reflected both the changes in techniques and production models, as well as the legacy of this dynamics.
For didactic purposes, the main analyzes divide history based on three phases of capitalism: commercial, industrial and financial. There are authors who still claim that there is a fourth phase: “informational capitalism” — a term developed by Manuell Castells in his work “A Sociedade em Rede”. In this text, some efforts are gathered to characterize this periodization, with Emphasis on the transformations caused on the geographic space.
commercial capitalism
Commercial Capitalism was leveraged thanks to the beginning of the formation of the capitalist system and the consequent expansion of international trade in the context of Europe. This phase was marked by commercial and also colonial maritime expansion, with the formation of colonies European countries in various parts of the world, with emphasis on the Americas and also on the African continent.
During this period, the practice of mercantilism, an economic system generally conceived as “a set of unplanned practices”. This system was based on the search and control of raw materials and precious metals (metallism), in addition to intensive international trade exchange, in which each state sought to maintain a balance of trade. favorable.
Another important development during this phase of capitalism was manufacturing, which was later developed from the industrial revolutions. The result on the geographic space was the constitution of many cities and the growth of some others, although the population remained largely rural both in the central imperialist countries and in the colonies and lesser nations. developed.
Industrial Capitalism
The second phase of capitalism is called Industrial Capitalism because it was a direct effect of the emergence, expansion and centrality exercised by factories thanks to the process of Industrial Revolution started in the mid-18th century in England. With this, the struggle for raw materials, later transformed into industrialized goods, intensified across the globe, and the Division Labor International was structured as follows: on the one hand, the colonies acting as suppliers of raw materials and primary products in general; on the other side, the metropolises and industrialized countries as suppliers of goods.
In developed countries, notably in Europe and in some parts of North America, cities have experienced a boom population, marked by the intensive rural exodus and the disorderly expansion of the peripheries in places like London and Paris. The large number of workers employed in factories and the spread of liberal economic thought, developed by Adam Smith, were also characteristic elements of this context, which lasted until the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
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Financial Capitalism
For many, this is the current phase of capitalism, marked by the leading role played by speculation financial and the stock exchange, which became a kind of "thermometer" on the economy of a parents. Basically, this phase of capitalism is structured with the formation of the stock market and its speculation in terms of values, rates, interest and others.
In some approaches, it is said that in Financial Capitalism there was a kind of fusion between banking capital and industrial capital. This occurred because companies started to be divided into shares traded based on values and calculated based on the profitability potential offered by such companies.
Some critics call this period Monopolistic Capitalism, as one of its competences is the possibility of union (fusion, also called trust) between one or more companies, or even the purchase of one by the other through investment in shares. In this sense, a large part of the market, instead of being managed by the law of free competition, would be condemned monopoly or oligopoly, although the major mergers of the current market have not extinguished competition.
An example of a merger between two companies was the union between healthy and the Perdigão, or the purchase of Yahoo and of the Nokia by Microsoft, in addition to numerous other cases. This configuration has also allowed the expansion of some brands around the world, companies that are called multinational or global.
The main effect of this dynamic on geographic space was the industrialization of emerging countries, with a consequent and accelerated urbanization throughout the 20th century, like Brazil and the so-called Tigers Asians. Some peripheral countries are also industrializing, largely due to the migration of these foreign companies to their areas in search for cheaper taxes, easy access to raw materials, cheaper labor and broader market contemplation consumer.
By Me. Rodolfo Alves Pena
