TITLE:
What Forms of Violence Exist within Capitalism? Examining the Peterloo Massacre and the Flint Water Crisis
AUTHORS:
Michael Zhang
KEYWORDS:
Violence, Capitalism, Ideology
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.16 No.5,
October
27,
2026
ABSTRACT: In pursuit of conventional research on capitalism, this ideology shall be viewed as “a way that enables us to produce novel goods; it also grants us liberty, which enables the economy to prosper.” Through conjugation with the denotation of this word, capitalism reflects an impression that the general public has misinterpreted; capitalism addresses a second layer of function which is closely related to the use of violence as one of its foundations. It was used to establish the entity known as the capitalistic market. The paper solely concentrates on Karl Polanyi’s statements about how the governments were required to “enforce compliance” to “make the markets work.” Thus, the concept of violence as part of its mechanism is a side effect of capitalism. It is never an accidental event that occurs along with other events that lead to its development. The Peterloo Massacre was initiated in 1819. The Flint Water Crisis started in 2014. The evaluation of the Flint Water Crisis and the Peterloo Massacre demonstrates how capitalism employs both structural and direct forms of violence in order to sustain its dominance over the populace. People in positions of authority can harm others without really using physical force, as seen in the Flint Water Crisis. These choices are made by racists who have an impact on the environment, bureaucrats, and politicians who simply worry about conserving wealth. The Flint Water Crisis argues that although there may be differences in appearance, the Flint Water Crisis and other comparable issues persist operating with the same fundamental systemic flaws. As long as we understand these dynamic components for identifying issues: wealth disparity, injustice regarding the environment and potential democratic accountability, it would play an essential role in critically reassessing traditional denotation of capitalism.