Is Next Stage Capitalism an Ethically Sound Development or a Pipe Dream-Nightmare?

Although many developments are occurring that have the potential both to redefine what we mean by capitalism and how companies operate within an evolving capitalistic system, there are reasons to be skeptical as to whether this potential will be realized and whether all of these developments will prove to be unambiguously ethically good. Part One provides a brief overview of earlier stages of capitalism and then touches upon the emergence of benefit corporations, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) measures of social performance, and political corporate social responsibility (PCSR) as elements in the next stage of capitalism. Part Two examines the rethinking of corporate purposes implicit in benefit corporations, ESG metrics, and PCSR. Part Three argues that any new stage of capitalism likely will manifest itself either within or as a digital market economy (DME), a form of economy that some critics have judged to be ethically problematic in its essence. If that judgment is sound, then it is misleading to focus only on developments at the meso-level of changes in corporate purpose without critically examining (1) the larger macro-level context (DME) in which all corporations as such are now operating and (2) the effect of the DME on ethical norms themselves. I conclude with some ruminations on what we as individuals might do to combat some pernicious aspects of new stage capitalism.