Capitalists are as bound by market imperatives as workers are

Evidence

Technological innovation is integral to our system because it is a necessary means to advance in competition. It might seem like capitalists have the freedom to decide whether they should invest in technology to boost productivity. But this is not so. Rather, companies feel market pressure to increase productivity just to keep up with their competitors. Thus it is not just workers who are bound by impersonal forces but also the owners of the means of production. Those who do not innovate fail to secure profits, and therefore do not survive as capitalists. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 124

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: This overturns the ‘capitalists have freedom’ frame and grounds the ‘invisible order’ thesis in the impersonal compulsion binding both workers and owners — a core structural insight for reconstructing Mattei’s argument.
• XREF: The impersonality of capitalist compulsion connects to Milgrom’s analysis that institutions arise where no single actor controls outcomes. — connects to: Capitalism calibrates incentives to make workers risk death for subsistence — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 194; Capitalists themselves are compelled to innovate by impersonal market forces — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 124; Market dependence makes workers hope for capitalist success. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 368 (+1 more)