I am a Capitalist, and I am currently interested in the various Leftist political ideologies. My main concern is, how would a non-Capitalist ideology benefit me? I can provide details on anything as needed.
Converting a non-Leftist
We would need more information on you, specifically, to understand how Leftism would benefit you, specifically.
Are you a worker, NEET, or what?
Nothing will benefit you. You're going to be dead in less than a hundred years. Your name will be forgotten within two hundred.
If you're purely interested in personal gain, I suggest embracing capitalism, becoming an investment banker, and living the rest of your life in hedonistic pleasure. Might as well make the most of those 100 years.
Unless you are one of the few people in the world who are filthy rich, it would benefit you in a lot of ways.
Let's just take one aspect of Socialism: Worker ownership. If the workers owned the business - which means that they decide what path the company takes and split the profits among them, rather than work for a wage and have no say at all - they would not only earn more (because there's no owner who takes the money), but we would also remove a lot of the systemic problems we have in our society, such as unemployment (which is among other things caused by companies moving to the third world, and acts as a way to keep wages low, neither of which would happen if the workers owned things).
I am a white, male, middle class student in the Midwestern United states. I value loyalty, generally. I am also non-straight.
That is essentially my plan, currently, However, I am interested in other options.
Fool! Submitting yourself to the pursuit of profit is not an egoist thing to do.
No. You aren't. Capitalist is the one who owns a lot of property that generates income for him. I.e. upper 0.1% (if not less).
What you are thinking about is known as Liberalism.
If you are Capitalist (i.e. filthy rich) it is in your (short-term) interest to suppress any Socialist ideologies. Or, at least, support the most distorted ones.
If you are a Liberal, than - yeah. There is a reason to try Socialism. In fact, I'm quite certain, you are already practicing it, simply considering it "common sense".
Socialist ideologies can either give you better connections (social function), allow you better leverage against employer and give better understanding where or how to invest your time.
What's your income method? I.e. how do you earn (and intend to earn) your living?
Everything is irrelevant except this:
"Independently wealthy"-middle class, or "I own a car"-middle class? People tend to confuse those.
I should specify, I am a Laissez-Faire Capitalist (in the sense of a supporter of the economic system of Capitalism). I intend to work in Business Administration. I am the latter sort of middle class.
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Whoops.
If you have a job and if a business works as a co-op it gives you a fair say over the way the place you work functions. Say for example you work in a factory and they want to choose between two substances one gives off dangerous gasses and another is safer to work around.Normally you have absolutely no say but i co-ops you do get a say over something that directly effects you. If you do not have a job it won't cripple your life. You will still be able to live at a tolerable or even pleasant level (depends). Also no longer would your value as a human being be judged by the size of your paycheck. Bonus that means no more gold diggers too. Because you would not need to work to live it will give you the ability to work for enjoyment whether it is enjoyment of the job itself or the enjoyment of what you do with that money or both.
Looks like it's Freud poster who slipped up today.
Socialism probably dosnt have much to offer you outside of emancipation from your boss and a stop to the alienation you and your friends experience in today's society.
In terms of if you would actually be better off or not, probably slightly worse, if not the same. I know you're higher middle class but, people underestimate just how much the ruling class are hoarding.
What bullshit is this? Anyone who privately owns the means of production is a capitalist. The owner of the local general store is just as much of a capitalist as Bill Gates. Just because one is richer than the other or owns more land, doesn't mean that he is more capitalistic. if I decided to open a restaurant I would also become a capitalist.
take me to your means of production fam :^)
Yep. Economic Liberalism. It's currently called Libertarian in US, IIRC.
Well, that makes Marxism actually useful to you.
I'd also recommended you Soviet works on management (especially Gastev's SOL theories - expanded and reworkerd Taylorism - should be universally useful), but it's unlikely you'll get credits for it or even find a good translation.
That makes you proletariat. I am endlessly amused by the innocent belief of Americans that they are all rich.
No. Read some theory.
Capitalist is the one whose main income comes from (massive) exploitaition of the labor of others. Simply owning MoP can make you only petit-bourgeois (i.e. middle class). You need to actually hire people to work for you. And hire enough that your own contribution will be minor.
I.e. capitalist's income comes from his capital. Not from his own actions.
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Thank you for the information. Do you have any literature recommendations, on any subject?
Any? Why would you need anything, but useful stuff?
Well, Manifesto/Capital wouldn't hurt even for the general education, so i'm recommending those (even if that's mostly theory and a springboard to other concepts).
What textbooks on organization/labor/commerce are already part of your courses?