The Internationalization of Capital

Abstract

The operations of TNCs should not be treated in isolation but seen as part of a wider process of internationalization of capital, of which they themselves are primary protagonists. The homogenization of production and consumption patterns is a characteristic of the internationalization of capital everywhere, but in the socioeconomic context of Latin America, it has effects which are very different from those in the advanced capitalist countries. Most of the so-called “distortions” which are identified in Latin America are the result of the internationalization of capital interacting with the specific, local socio-economic structure to generate patterns which are in significant ways different from those found in the advanced capitalist countries.