Word.ws English Dictionary

late capitalism

late capitalism noun: the most recent or current form of capitalism, especially as characterized by monopoly, globalization, exploitation, and excess.

Noun

late capitalism (countable and uncountable, plural late capitalisms)

  1. The most recent or current form of capitalism, especially as characterized by monopoly, globalization, exploitation, and excess.
    • The genius of late capitalism is the development of strategies for managing and profiting by its own excess.1993, Linda Singer, Judith Butler, Maureen MacGrogan, Erotic Welfare: Sexual Theory and Politics in the Age of Epidemic, →ISBN
    • The "schizoanalysis" of Deleuze and Guattari further brings the film into conversation with Gregory Bateson's analysis of schizophrenia and the environment in Steps to an Ecology of Mind, wrapping up with an examination of the film as a product of late capitalism.2008, Laura Elaine Hudson, The Apocalyptic Animal of Late Capitalism, →ISBN, page 13

Examples of late capitalism in a sentence

  • Those cerebral outlets helped to fuel renewed interest in Marx and critical theory, as well as late capitalism.2017 May 1, Annie Lowrey, “Why the Phrase 'Late Capitalism' Is Suddenly Everywhere”, in The Atlantic:
  • Are we to detect a critique of late capitalism in the fact that she works as a cashier, librarian, bus driver, helicopter rescue pilot and training co-ordinator for the local fire service?2020 March 8, Séamas O’Reilly, “Has Peppa Pig addled my brain – or is it a critique on capitalism?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Forms of late capitalism

plurallate capitalisms
alternative formlate-stage capitalism
alternative formlate stage capitalism

Origin of late capitalism

Calque of German Spätkapitalismus, attributed to German economist Werner Sombart and later popularized by Marxist economist Ernest Mandel.

Questions about late capitalism

What does late capitalism mean?
Late capitalism means the most recent or current form of capitalism, especially as characterized by monopoly, globalization, exploitation, and excess.
How do you use late capitalism in a sentence?
Those cerebral outlets helped to fuel renewed interest in Marx and critical theory, as well as late capitalism.
What part of speech is late capitalism?
Late capitalism is a noun.
What is the plural of late capitalism?
The plural of late capitalism is late capitalisms.

Words near late capitalism in the dictionary

  1. late blight
  2. late bloomer
  3. late bloomers
  4. Late Bronze Age
  5. Late Bronze Age collapse
  6. late capitalism
  7. late capitalisms
  8. late capitalist
  9. late effect
  10. late effects
  11. Late Egyptian

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: late capitalism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “late capitalism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/late_capitalism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.