Capitalism Word List

CAPITALISM

WATCH

1. Capitalism: A Love Story — Michael Moore, 2009 · Documentary · Moore’s broadside against the financial system that crashed in 2008 and who paid the price.

2. The Big Short — Adam McKay, 2015 · Film · The 2008 financial collapse explained through the people who saw it coming and bet on ruin.

3. Sorry to Bother You — Boots Riley, 2018 · Film · Capitalism as absurdist horror; a Black telemarketer selling his voice and his soul.

4. Parasite — Bong Joon-ho, 2019 · Film · Class and capitalism in a single house; Palme d’Or and Oscar winner.

5. The Corporation — Mark Achbar & Jennifer Abbott, 2003 · Documentary · If corporations are people, a psychological profile reveals them to be sociopathic.

6. I, Daniel Blake — Ken Loach, 2016 · Film · Austerity capitalism grinding a decent man into dust.

7. They Live — John Carpenter, 1988 · Film · Capitalism as alien invasion; sunglasses that reveal the hidden messages.

8. American Factory — Steven Bognar & Julia Reichert, 2019 · Documentary · A Chinese corporation reopens a GM plant in Ohio; capitalism without borders.

9. Wealth of Nations to Wage Slavery — Various · The history of economic thought from Smith to now.

10. The Wolf of Wall Street — Martin Scorsese, 2013 · Film · Capitalism’s excess as seduction; Scorsese refuses to moralize and that’s the point.

LISTEN

1. Upstream — Richard Wolff · Marxist economics explained accessibly; capitalism examined from outside its own logic.

2. Chapo Trap House — Various · Left politics and capitalism critique with irreverence and rigor.

3. Economic Update — Richard Wolff · Weekly analysis of capitalism’s failures and alternatives.

4. Jacobin Radio — Various · Socialist perspective on capitalism, labor, and political economy.

5. Citations Needed — Adam Johnson & Nima Shirazi · How media serves capitalism and frames economic issues.

6. The Dig — Daniel Denvir · Long-form conversations on capitalism, imperialism, and political economy.

7. Profit Over People — Noam Chomsky, audiobook · Neoliberalism and its human cost read by the author.

8. Bad Faith — Briahna Joy Gray · Capitalism, democracy, and the left’s response.

9. Planet Money — NPR · How capitalism actually works; accessible economic journalism.

10. Freakonomics — Stephen Dubner · Capitalism’s incentive structures examined through surprising data.

READ

1. Capital — Karl Marx · The foundational critique of capitalism; dense but essential.

2. The Shock Doctrine — Naomi Klein · Disaster capitalism and how crises are used to impose economic ideology.

3. Winners Take All — Anand Giridharadas · How elites use philanthropy and market language to avoid real change.

4. Capitalist Realism — Mark Fisher · Why it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.

5. The People’s History of the United States — Howard Zinn · American history told from below; capitalism’s human cost across time.

6. Doughnut Economics — Kate Raworth · A new economic model that works within planetary boundaries.

7. Profit Over People — Noam Chomsky · Neoliberal capitalism and its assault on democracy.

8. Bullshit Jobs — David Graeber · How capitalism creates meaningless work and what that does to human dignity.

9. This Changes Everything — Naomi Klein · Capitalism versus the climate; the economic system that is making Earth uninhabitable.

10. The Price of Everything — Eduardo Porter · What markets decide the value of and what they get catastrophically wrong.