The author developed a chart, table 4.1 of the chapter to succinctly provide an overview of the structures of capitalism. These include characteristics, institutions, subjects, and objects. More specifically, what this chart does is provide an ontology of capitalism that observers can use to understand their observations of this economic system. For the majority of developed nations, capitalism is seen as a goal as it relates to reaching this status on the continuum from developing to developed. In modern contexts, there are not only national-level organizations that provide support for this economic activity, but as the chapter notes, there are large international organizations that provide support for these activities as well. Quite frankly, in order to be a member in organizations like WTO, a nation has to be on the progressive path toward fully adopting capitalist ideals. This complicates the improvements of trade with nations that do not inherently adopt the ideas of capitalism, and have more of a collectivist idea of how markets work within their own borders. This is not to specifically suggest that nations that are collectivist are somehow lesser or greater than nations with capitalist system, it just is a notion that can provide context for the interaction between the nations regarding trade systems, and protection of intellectual property rights, copyright laws, and a host of other protections for the production of goods and media.
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