this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2026
160 points (81.5% liked)
Memes
54631 readers
716 users here now
Rules:
- Be civil and nice.
- Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
China is not "state capitalist" or mercantilist. Its a socialist market economy with a limited / restricted private sector, where the publicly owned portion dominates the economy, and private capital is not allowed to rise to the level of political power.
To add to that, the whole idea of state capitalism is a bit of a misnomer. It basically says that while you have state owned enterprise, the internal capitalist relations within it remain largely the same. While that's true, there is a fundamental difference here. Capitalism is a system where people who own capital hire workers to exploit there labor with the purpose of increasing their capital. The goal of capitalist enterprise is to create wealth for the owners with any social benefits being strictly incidental. On the other hand, the purpose of state enterprise is to provide social value. Workers in state owned companies are producing things that the society needs. They are working for their own benefit and those of others around them. Therefore, the nature of work itself is fundamentally different from actual capitalism.
Thanks for that. Always interested in hearing different perspectives.
No probs!