Late capitalism (or late-stage capitalism) is a concept in Marxist political economy, political science and sociology. It is used by social critics to describe the current or contemporary phase of capitalist civilization. The idea was first used by the German economist and sociologist Werner Sombart (1863-1941) to name the new social order which emerged in the aftermath of World War I. However, beyond some brief comments and outlines, Sombart never provided a systematic or comprehensive theory of late capitalism.
From the 1930s to the 1970s, the idea of "late capitalism" was used by European socialists as a label for a new form of state-regulated capitalism, with a meaning similar (but not identical) to the Marxist-Leninist theory of state monopoly capitalism. Gradually, terms like "neo-capitalism" and "late capitalism" were accepted by many Western Marxists and members of the Frankfurt School to describe the post-World War II social order. The Belgian economist and philosopher Ernest Mandel provided a comprehensive Marxist analysis in his 1972 book Late Capitalism and other writings, without however referring explicitly to Sombart's ideas. In Mandel's vision, late capitalism is the epoch of the bourgeois world society that unexpectedly arose out of World War 2, as a new phase in the global history of capitalist imperialism.
In the 21st century era of the global Internet, mobile telephones and artificial intelligence in social media, the idea of "late capitalism" is again used in left-wing political discussions about the decadence, degeneration, absurdities and ironies of contemporary business culture, often with the suggestion that capitalism is now getting near the end of its existence (or is already being transformed into a post-capitalism of some sort).
Initial use of the term The term late capitalism (), sometimes also translated as late-stage capitalism, was first used in a 1925 publication by the German social scientist Werner Sombart (1863–1941)Günther Chaloupek, "Spätkapitalismus". Stagnationstheorien deutscher Ökonomen zwischen den Weltkriegen", in: Volker Caspari (ed.), Stagnations- und Deflationstheorien. Studien zur Entwicklung der ökonomischen Theorie XXXVIII. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2021, pp. 113- 140, at p. 116; Werner Sombart, "Prinzipielle Eigenart des modernen Kapitalismus". In: C. Brinkmann et al., Grundriss der Sozialwissenschaft, Band IV.1. ("Spezifische Elemente der modernen kapitalistische Wirtschaft", 1 Teil) Tübingen: Verlag J.C.B. Mohr, 1925, pp 1-26, at p. 26. Reprinted in: Alexander Ebner & Helge Peukert (eds.), Werner Sombart, Nationalökonomie als Kapitalismustheorie. Ausgewählte Schriften. Weimar bei Marburg: Metropolis Verlag, 2002, pp. 377-421. to describe the new capitalist order emerging out of World War I.The German empirical sociologist René König (1906-1992) claimed in 1979 that the term "late capitalism" was originally coined by Werner Sombart "in the very first version of his work on 'The History of Capitalism,' a lecture in Zurich in 1912" (see: René König, "Gesellschaftliches Bewusstsein und Soziologie. Eine spekulative Überlegung". In: Günther Lüschen (ed.), Soziologie seit 1945. Entwicklungsrichtungen und Praxisbezug. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1979, p. 358). As evidence for this claim, König cited the 1902 German edition of the first volume of Sombart's Modern Capitalism, without however providing any exact page reference. So far, neither the supposed 1912 lecture in Zurich, nor the supposed "late capitalism" quote in the first volume of Modern capitalism have been tracked down. What is true, is that in his 1913 work Der Bourgeois (republished in English as The quintessence of capitalism in 1967), Sombart already stated his belief that the "capitalist spirit" would eventually break up and decay (Werner Sombart, The quintessence of capitalism. New York: Howard Fertig, in 1967, p. 358). Sombart claimed that it was the beginning of a new stage in the history of capitalism.Günther Chaloupek, ""Werner Sombart's 'Spätkapitalismus' und die langfristige Wirtschaftsentwicklung'". Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Vol. 22, Issue 3, 1996, pp. 385-400, at p. 386. His vision of the emergence, rise and decline of capitalism was influenced by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels's interpretation of human history in terms of a sequence of different economic modes of production, each with a historically limited lifespan.Eric J. Hobsbawm (ed.), Karl Marx: Pre-capitalist economic formations. New York: International Publishers, 2007.
As a young man, Sombart was a socialist who associated with Marxist intellectuals and the German Social Democratic Party. Friedrich Engels praised Sombart's review of the first edition of Marx's Das Kapital Vol. 3 in 1894, and sent him a letter.Friedrich Engels, "Supplement to Capital Vol. 3", in: Karl Marx, Capital Vol. 3, Penguin edition 1981, p. 1031. Werner Sombart, "Zur Kritik des ökonomischen Systems von Karl Marx". In: Heinrich Braun (ed.), Archiv für soziale Gesetzgebung und Statistik, Vol. 7, No. 4, 1894, pp. 555-594 (Berlin: Carl Heymann's Verlag). (English translation: Werner Sombart, "A contribution to the critique of Karl Marx's economic system" (1894), in: Richard B. Day & Daniel F. Gaido (ed.), Responses to Marx's Capital: from Rudolf Hilferding to Isaak Illich Rubin. Leiden/Boston: Brill Publishers, 2018, pp. 162-210. Friedrich Engels, "Letter to Werner Sombart", London, March 11, 1895. Marx/Engels Selected Correspondence, Moscow: Progress Publishers edition, 1975, pp. 454-456.. As a mature academic who became well known for his own sociological writings, Sombart had a sympathetically critical attitude to the ideas of Karl Marx — seeking to criticize, modify and elaborate Marx's insights, while disavowing Marxist doctrinairism and dogmatism.Friedrich Lenger, Werner Sombart 1863–1941: eine Biographie, 3rd edition. Munchen: Verlag C.H. Beck, 2012, chapter 4. This prompted a critique from Friedrich Pollock, a founder of the Frankfurt School at the Institute for Social Research.Friedrich Pollock, Sombarts "Widerlegung" des Marxismus. Leipzig: Hirschfeld, 1926 (a pamphlet). Sombart's clearly written texts and lectures helped to make "capitalism" a household word in Germany and beyond, as the name of a socioeconomic system with a specific structure and dynamic, a history, a mentality, a dominant morality and a culture.Francis X. Sutton, "The social and economic philosophy of Werner Sombart: the sociology of capitalism", in: Harry Elmer Barnes (ed.), An introduction to the history of sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1948, pp. 316-331.
Later modern uses The use of the term "late capitalism" to describe the nature of the modern epoch existed already for four decades in continental Europe, before it began to be used by academics and journalists in the English-speaking world — via English translations of German-language Critical Theory texts, and especially via Ernest Mandel's 1972 book Late Capitalism, published in English in 1975.Ernest Mandel, Late capitalism. London: New Left Books, 1975; Robert Rowthorn, "Late capitalism" [review essay]. New Left Review, July–August 1976. Reprinted in: Robert Rowthorn, Capitalism, conflict and inflation: essays in political economy. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1980, pp. 95-128. Mandel's new theory of late capitalism was unrelated to Sombart's theory, and Sombart is not mentioned at all in Mandel's book.
For many Western Marxist scholars since that time, the historical epoch of late capitalism starts with the outbreak (or the endDuring World War II, there were no battlefields in the North American continent itself (there was only the Attack on Pearl Harbor and a few other incursions). This advantaged American and Canadian economic development vis-a-vis Europe and other regions in the world, the latter which suffered heavy economic and infrastructural war damage. Some historians prefer to date the emergence of a new capitalist era in North America already before World War II began, during the days of the New Deal or else from the start of a war economy in 1941 (see War Powers Act of 1941).) of World War II (1939–1945), and includes the post–World War II economic expansion, the world recession of the 1970s and early 1980s, the era of neoliberalism and globalization, the 2008 financial crisis and the aftermath in a multipolar world society. Particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, many economic and political analyses of late capitalism were published. From the 1990s onward, the academic analyses focused more on the culture, sociology and psychology of late capitalism.For example, Jonathan Crary, Late capitalism and the ends of sleep. London: Verso, 2013; Benjamin Y. Fong, Death and mastery : psychoanalytic drive theory and the subject of late capitalism. Columbia University Press, New York, 2016; Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late Capitalism. London: Verso, 2023.
According to Google Books Ngram Viewer, the frequency of mentions per year of the term "late capitalism" in publications has steadily increased since the 1960s. Sociologist David Inglis states that "Various species of non-Marxist theorizing have borrowed or appropriated the general notion of historical 'lateness' from the original Marxist conception of 'late capitalism', and they have applied it to what they take to be the current form of 'modernity'." This leads to the idea of late modernity as a new phase in modern society. In recent years, there is also a revival of the concept of "late capitalism" in popular culture, but with a meaning that is different from previous generations.See the Humans of Late Capitalism website. In 2017, an article in The Atlantic highlighted that the term "late capitalism" was again in vogue in America as an ironic term for modern business culture.Annie Lowrey, "Why the Phrase 'Late Capitalism' Is Suddenly Everywhere". In: The Atlantic, 1 May 2017. See also: Kimberley Amadeo, "What is Late Stage Capitalism?". The Balance (New York), 17 June 2024.; David Aviles, "We live in a time of 'late capitalism'. But what does that mean? And what's so late about it?" The Conversation, December 7, 2022 ; David Elias Aviles Espinoza, "Unpacking late capitalism". University of Sydney News, 20 December 2022.
In contemporary academic or journalistic usage, "late stage capitalism" often refers to a new mix of: Strong growth of the digital, electronics and military industries as well as their influence in society. Economic concentration of corporations and banks, which control gigantic assets and market shares internationally. Transition from Fordist mass production in huge assembly-line factories to Post-Fordist automated production and networks of smaller, more flexible manufacturing units supplying specialized markets. Increasing economic inequality of income, wealth and consumption. Consumerism on credit and the increasing indebtedness of the population.Harry R. Targ [Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN], Challenging late Capitalism, Neoliberal Globalization, & Militarism: building a progressive majority. Chicago: Changemaker Publications 2006, p. 15–28.
In 2024, a Wall Street Journal writer complained that "Our universities teach that we are living in the End Times of 'late capitalism.'"Dominic Green, "'Naples 1925' Review: The Birth of Critical Theory". Wall Street Journal, 8 November 2024. Living in the End Times is a book by Slavoj Žižek, published by Verso Books in 2010. In January 2026, a political campaign ad from Zack Polanski's UK Green Party advised viewers to “stop running, and look around...while the rest of us are killing ourselves to create wealth, hardly any of it is coming back to our communities, it's going upwards to the super-rich”.”UK Green Party stuns with huge & brilliant new political ad”, The rational national, 23 January 2026 (on YouTube).
Skepticism about late capitalism