Capitalism is equal

Can we expect capitalist societies to be “equal” and “just”? Its advocates portray capitalism as the triumph of the individual. The individuals in this account are not gendered or differentiated by race, religion or, for that matter, time. That is, capitalism is seen as a system equally appropriate to all people and all times. Each individual can, and indeed wishes to, advance their material interests and claim their individual freedom by participating voluntarily in the capitalist market system. Each person has an equal right to that freedom; equality here is equality to participate in the market. A further claim is that a competitive capitalist market is, to use Hayek’s (1944) word, “blind”. That is, when we buy goods we do not know who made them; we are unable to discriminate on the basis of our prejudices and, as a result, the market system is capable of delivering a non-discriminatory society in which many beliefs can be held because the means of discriminating between people are absent in the “blind” market process. The market, in the views of the Friedmans (1962) and fellow conservatives, is the friend of “minorities” and their best defence against discrimination. The “commodity fetishism” derided by some as concealing production conditions, is celebrated by others as a bulwark against discrimination.