Far from reducing extreme poverty, the expansion of capitalism from the 16th century onward was associated with a dramatic deterioration in human welfare. This is according to a study carried out by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) in collaboration with Macquarie University, Australia, which shows that this new economic system saw a decline in wages to below subsistence, a deterioration in human stature, and a marked upturn in premature mortality.
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"This is because capitalism is an undemocratic system where production is organized around elite accumulation rather than human needs," explains Sullivan. "To maximize profitability, capital often seeks to cheapen labor through processes of enclosure, dispossession, and exploitation."
Finally, the authors find that recovery from this prolonged period of immiseration occurred only recently: progress in human welfare began in the late 19th century in Northwest Europe and the mid-20th century in the global South. Sullivan and Hickel note that this coincides with the rise of the labor movement, socialist political parties, and de-colonization. "These movements redistributed incomes, established public provisioning systems, and attempted to organize production around meeting human needs," Jason Hickel says. "Progress appears to come from progressive social movements."
