Academic Publication

Author Profile

Joseph Alois Schumpeter was born in 1883. He was an Austrian-American economist and political scientist. Schumpeter studied law and took his Ph.D. in1906. He became a professor of economics in 1909. He joined the University of Graz in 1911 and remained there until First World War He served as the Finance Minister of Austria in 1919-1920 and after that he became the president of the Biedermann Bank and remained there till 1924. From 1925 to 1932, he was associated with the University Of Bonn, Germany. He delivered lectures in Harvard in 1927, 1928 and 1930. He settled in the United States in 1932 where he taught up to his death in 1950.

About The Book

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy was an attempt by Schumpeter to encourage socialists to achieve self-recognition of the problems with socialism in the light of this book. The first section of the book is devoted to an analysis of Marxian thought and is split into four roles of Karl Marx. These are - Marx as an economist, Marx as a prophet, Marx as a teacher and Marx as a sociologist. The next section includes the following topics - The Rate of Increase of Total Output, Plausible Capitalism, The Process of Creative Destruction, Monopolistic Practices, Closed Season, The Vanishing of Investment Opportunity, The Civilisation of Capitalism, Crumbling Walls, Growing Hostility and Decomposition. The next section contains a comparative analysis of known theories of Socialism. The five chapters in this part of the book are-Clearing Decks, The Socialist Blueprint, Comparison of Blueprints, The Human Element and Transition. The next section of the book includes Socialism and Democracy, A Historical Sketch of Socialist Parties & Capitalism and Socialism.

Table of Contents

Introduction PART I: The Marxian Doctrine Prologue I. Marx the Prophet II. Marx the Sociologist III. Marx the Economist IV. Marx the Teacher PART II: Can Capitalism Survive? Prologue V. The Rate of Increase of Total Output VI. Plausible Capitalism VII. The Process of Creative Destruction VIII. Monopolistic Practices IX. Closed Season X. The Vanishing of Investment Opportunity XI. The Civilization of Capitalism XII. Crumbling Walls XIII. Growing Hostility XIV. Decomposition PART III: Can Socialism Work? XV. Clearing Decks XVI. The Socialist Blueprint XVII. Comparison of Blueprints XVIII. The Human Element XIX. Transition PART IV: Socialism and Democracy XX. The Setting of the Problem XXI. The Classical Doctrine of Democracy XXII. Another Theory of Democracy XXIII. The Inference PART V: A Historical Sketch of Socialist Parties Prologue XXIV. The Nonage XXV. The Situation that Marx Faced XXVI. From 1875 to 1914 XXVII. From the First to the Second World War XXVIII. The Consequences of the Second World War Prefaces and Comments on Later Developments