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Challenges the currently fashionable periodization of history since the 18th century into two major phases -- modernity & postmodernity -- questioning the conception of modernity & emphasizing the specificity of capitalism in opposition to other aspects of modernity with which it is conventionally associated. It is argued that, if we are now witnessing an epochal shift, it is not a transition from modernity to postmodernity, but the maturation & universalization of capitalism. The universalization of capitalism is distinguished from globalization, & the latter concept is contended to obscure more than it reveals. Adapted from the source document.

THIS ARTICLE CLAIMS THAT CAPITALISM HAS NO MORE ESCAPE ROUTES. NOW, AFTER REACHING ITS GEOGRAPHICAL LIMITS, IT CAN ONLY FEED ON ITSELF, CONSUMING HUMAN AND NATURAL SUBSTANCE. THE ARTICLE SUGGESTS SINCE CAPITALISM IS ALMOST UNIVERSAL, NOW IS THE TIME FOR MARXISM TO BECOME PREVELANT.

THE AUTHOR CONSIDERS WHAT IS INVOLVED IN PERIODIZING THE HISTORY OF CAPITALISM INTO THESE TWO MAJOR PHASES, MODERNITY AND POSTMODERNITY. THEN SHE LOOKS AT WHAT SEEMS WRONG WITH THE CONCEPT OF MODERNITY ITSELF. HER MAIN OBJECTIVE IS TO CONSIDER WHETHER THIS PERIODIZATION HELPS OR HINDERS THE READER'S UNDERSTANDING OF CAPITALISM. CAPITALISM, EVEN IN SO-CALLED ADVANCED CAPITALIST SOCIETIES, HAS FOR THE FIRST TIME TRULY PENETRATED EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE; THE STATE, THE PRACTICES AND IDEOLOGIES OF RULING AND PRODUCING CLASSES, AND THE PREVAILING CULTURE.