Abstract
Capitalism at the close of the 20th century Since 1980s all the world has been undergoing the predominance of neo-liberalism, which encourages economy to be more active by reducing government goverment's s interventions and leaving market-mechanism to take its own course. By that time the economy had come to a deadlock in which expansion of market was facing the limit and economic growth had begun to slow down so much that economic competition would, by nature, simply "competition for survival". This was to be followed by the appearance of raw logic of severe competition in both economy and politics. Wedged by the economic deadlock and decrease in investment opportunities, capitals had been wandering to seek chances of higher earnings. All this triggered off speculative characteristics. With the rise of neo-liberalism toward the end of last century were seen such phenomena as Casino Capitalism, increase in socio-economic instability, expansion of income differentials, and enhancement of oligopoly. Capitalism at the close of the 20^<th> century was to driven by indiscreet consumption, especially excessive consumption in America. Features of the 21^<st> century : Problem and Prospects Gaps between the logic of private firms and that of human society have been rapidly widening. There are more and more bankruptcies, jobless people, instability of employment, crises of social security systems, growing gaps between the rich and poor, and serious global environmental problems. All this not only remains within a country but goes beyond it as well. Should this keep going, our society will suffer serious crises in this century. The fundamental problem to be settled in this century is to probe such a socio-economic system as will be sustainable regardless of economic growth. For a system of the sort, plans should be made based on the reason of humans and control be set to realize them. It is not how market rationally functions but how the logic of market is suppressed and counter logic is ensured in the socio-economic system, that is the inevitable question of the 21^<st> century.
