Combatting Oxymoronic "Varieties" of Capitalism with Richard Salsman

Join Atlas Society Senior Scholar Richard Salsman on Wednesday, October 21 @ 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET. 

The concept “capitalism” is bandied about these days without clear definition. As such, it’s frequently and arbitrarily hybridized, with examples including “crony capitalism,”  “welfare capitalism,” “anarcho-capitalism,” laissez-faire capitalism,” “conscious capitalism,” “common-good capitalism,” “democratic capitalism,” “political capitalism,” “stakeholder capitalism,” “racial capitalism,” and even such brazen oxymorons as “state capitalism” and “totalitarian capitalism.” Rarely does anyone defend the ideal social system: constitutional capitalism. Dr. Salsman explains how the “varieties” approach generates a diverse menu of critiques of capitalism, why the system is undermined by the mass-equivocation permitted by a multiplicity of false precision, and suggests ways to combat it.

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Related readings:

• Salsman, Richard M. “Supposed ‘Varieties’ of Capitalism,” Capitalism Magazine, June 21, 2020.
• Salsman, Richard M. “Supposed ‘Varieties’ of Capitalism” (excerpt from Where Have All the Capitalists Gone? (AIER, 2021), with a 2X2 Matrix of Systems and “Pillars of Capitalism vs Statism.”
• Salsman, Richard M., “Capitalism Under Siege: Top 5 Assaults & How To Smash Them,” Atlas Society, 2024.
• Cordelli, Chiara, “Capitalism,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, August 5, 2026.
• Cordelli, Chiara, “What is the Wrong of Capitalism?” America Political Science Review (Nov. 2025), pp. 1806-1821.
• Hall & Soskice (eds), Varieties of Capitalism (Oxford University Press, 2001). Introduction.