ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the historical contexts in which hegemonic and counter-hegemonic discourses of capitalism have dialogically co-evolved with one another. The discourses of capitalism have been in part about representing historically specific economic system of production, appropriation, distribution, and accompanying social relations as a triumphal arc of unending progress, modernity, inevitability, invincibility, and permanence. Capitalism's self-celebratory discourses repeatedly highlight its enviable successes around the world: overall increased wealth of many nations, and longer life expectancies and higher standards of living in those countries compared with 100 years ago. Marx observed that capitalism's revolutionary nature goes beyond the mere constant changes in technologies – as impressive as these may be – because these advances involve both the relations of production and its ensuing social relations. The chapter draws upon the discursive analytic framework of the Bakhtin Circle and their notions of language, ideology, and discourse by examining how hegemonic discourses of capitalism are taken up, co-constructed, and mediated by everyday people.
