Schumpeter saw capitalism’s rationalization destroying the entrepreneur’s heroic social function

Evidence

More importantly for Schumpeter, this scale-shift takes a cultural toll. Whereas in the past “the rugged individualism of Galileo was the individualism of the rising capitalist class,” today, technology and bureaucracy have together removed the possibilities for such individuals to thrive. As he laments, “the capitalist process rationalizes behavior and ideas and by doing so chases from our minds … metaphysical belief” such that “economic progress becomes depersonalized and automatized.” When large firms take over production it is not the entrepreneur’s income that is replaced. After all, he gets shares in these new conglomerates. Rather, his social function is made redundant, “the stock exchange [being] a poor substitute for the holy grail.” This may lead to a material progress, to more consumption and all that Keynes thinks important, but it is for Schumpeter a morally empty future. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 350

Categorization

• XREF: Pairs with Weber’s rationalization thesis and the broader critique of economic modernity the book is building. — connects to: Schumpeter traced capitalism’s crises to a distinctive capital structure. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 322; Schumpeter predicted capitalism’s end from entrepreneurial decline. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 263; Schumpeter expected giant bureaucracies to end capitalism by crowding out entrepreneurs — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 272 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Schumpeter predicted capitalism’s end from entrepreneurial decline. #corroborates (1.00) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 263
• Schumpeter expected giant bureaucracies to end capitalism by crowding out entrepreneurs #expands (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 272
• Neoliberal thinkers reframed corporate wage-labor as entrepreneurial to counter Schumpeterian decline fears. #responds-to (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 284
• Schumpeter rejected the Ayn Rand heroic-entrepreneur view of economic progress #responds-to (0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 272
• Schumpeter predicted socialism via competition’s centralizing effects, not capital’s contradictions #qualifies (0.70) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 949
• Both Schumpeter and ordoliberals rejected Marx’s internal-contradiction thesis of capitalism #complicates (0.70) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 947