The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism

The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism
AuthorMichael Novak
LanguageEnglish
PublisherSimon & Schuster
Publication date
1982
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)

The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism is a 1982 book[1] by philosopher Michael Novak, in which Novak aims to understand and analyze the theological assumptions of democratic capitalism, its spirit, its values, and its intentions. Novak defines democratic capitalism as a pluralistic social system that contrasts with the unitary state of the traditional society and the modern socialist state. He analyzes it as a differentiation of society into three distinct yet interdependent power centers: a political sector, an economic sector, and a moral-cultural sector. Democracy needs the market economy and both need a pluralistic liberal culture. Against the continuing growth of democratic capitalism, modern socialism has contracted from a robust utopian program into vague "idealism about equality" and overwrought criticism of capitalism, most notably in the "liberation theology" of Latin America. Novak ends with the "beginnings of a theological perspective on democratic capitalism" illuminated by the journey from Marxism to Christian realism of Reinhold Niebuhr.

Irving Kristol described Novak's book as "unquestionably a major work for our times." The Spanish translation of the book served as inspiration for the Chilean lawyer and politician Jaime Guzmán where he was not satisfied by Hayek's thought.[2]

  1. ^ Novak, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, 1982, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-0-8191-7823-7
  2. ^ Moncada Durruti, Belén (2006). Jaime Guzmán: una democracia contrarevolucionaria : el político de 1964 a 1980 (in Spanish). Santiago: RIL editores. pp. 28–29. ISBN 978-956-284-520-5.