Capitalism

Capitalisme

America, unsuccessful, failing

awesome, not perfect,

competition, gain, economy

competition, opulence, poverty, practical

consumerism, united states, fast food.

default
investment
risk

factories, made in china, sweatshops

free market, rich, hard work

free market; trade; corruption

freedom, involvement, good

freedom, success, wealth, fair

greed, power, poor, class

incentives, free-market, effective, private enterprise

individual, wealth, power

individualism, efficiency, wealth

misunderstood, buzzword, money

money, businesses, power

money, competition, industrialism

money, doctrine, ideological

Money, greed, competition

money, greed, pursuing power, power

money, individualism, greed

money, power, american

necessary, greed, selfishness

socialism, labor, social system

stocks, Wall Street, competition

success, money, recession, freedom

supply and demand, monopolies, greed

USA, Companies, Monopoly

A.Smith, partout

accumulation de richesse permettant la croissance économique

actions, propriétaire

argent, économie, entreprise

économie, propriétaires, droite

bourgeoisie, consommation

bourse, investissement, individuel, liberté

Destruction du Lien social

discrimination sociale, affaires, développement

entreprise, egoïsme, pouvoir

entreprises, système monétaire, Etats unis

Gagner plus

individualisme; productivité

investissement avec intérêt

Investissement, Argent, Libre, Système, Américain

krach boursier, actions, profits, trader

maximun de profit, terme économique, prolétaires et bourgeois.

méfiance, pas trop confiant, en retard

Monaie; le maximum de profit

occidental

ouverture des marchés.

Ouverture du marché. Gagner plus.

Production/Entreprise/Ouvrier/Boss

société de consommation

société, économie, entreprise

toujours plus de profit

Discussion

Many of the associations from American students are either negative or can be perceived as both negative and positive, depending on the context. The obviously negaive responses were greed, monopoly, poverty, consumerism, sweatshops, and selfish. The more ambiguous entries include competition, power, and money, all of which have both negative and positive connotations to them. 

The responses from the French students were also mostly negative, with even fewer outright "positive" connotations.

I believe that the responses are negative because the current global recession highlights the failures of a deregulated market--the failures of capitalism. Even words like "money" and "power," which are seen as good things to have, are basked in negative connotations. The similarities in responses across continents is a reflection of the current economic status. Maybe the American responses would have been different during the Reagan era, however, when deregulation was all the rage.

Je suis d'accord avec toi Alexandra.

Si les mots associés au Capitalisme sont relativement négatifs, c'est surtout explicable par le cadre géo temporel : que nous venons d'essuyer une crise économique planètaire ; Cette crise souligne le fait que le Capitalisme est un système défaillant.

En reponsse à Alexandra. Il est vrai que les mots associé au capitalisme sont souvent négative mais cela s'explique sans doute avec la crise économique mondiale. En cela je suis d'accord avec toi.

Hello Maxime and Marina,

Do you think there are other reasons that capitalism is viewed negatively in France? Could the negative associations be due to the fact that captialism is individualistic? The responses to the word "individualism" were very negative, so I assume that individualism is not preceived as a good thing in France. In the United States, however, it is admirable for someone to help himself, or to succeed without the help of others. I think that this is why capitalism is regarded somewhat more positively in the US.