Black Lives Matter and Capitalism: Are Police Critics Also Anti-Capitalists?
By James Ron & Doug Guthrie
When Black Lives Matter (BLM) erupted globally in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd, it became a political Rorschach test. For some, the movement symbolized a fight for civil rights and racial justice. For others, it was an assault on the foundations of American society — freedom, democracy, and capitalism.
Conservative critics such as Rudy Giuliani labeled BLM a Marxist plot. Meanwhile, protests in Minneapolis and elsewhere sometimes targeted commercial buildings, fueling claims that the movement was anti-business.
But is this true? Does support for BLM correlate with opposition to capitalism?
The “Defund the Police” Debate and Economic Fears
The slogan defund the police was often interpreted by critics as a call to dismantle not only law enforcement but the economic system itself. Yet BLM’s official messaging never called for abolishing capitalism. Its focus has been racial justice, police accountability, and dismantling anti-Black structures — not nationalizing corporations or overthrowing markets.
Survey Evidence: Police Skeptics Often Trust Business
To move beyond speculation, I drew on a series of surveys with nearly 13,000 respondents conducted between 2012 and 2018 in the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Morocco, and Nigeria. These polls asked people:
- How much do you trust the police?
- How much do you trust local and multinational corporations?
After controlling for age, gender, income, education, and urban/rural residence, the results were striking:
- Across every region studied, mistrust in the police correlated with higher trust in business.
- In some cases, maximum police mistrust predicted up to 90% more trust in corporations compared with those who trusted the police most.
- This pattern held not just in the U.S., but globally.
In short, the people most skeptical of police power were not hostile to capitalism. They were, on average, more trusting of business than their peers.
Distinct Social Movements: Economic Justice vs Racial Justice
The findings highlight two overlapping but distinct global movements:
- The economic justice movement, which includes Occupy Wall Street, Bernie Sanders supporters, and socialist critics of inequality. This current directly challenges capitalism.
- The police reform and racial justice movement, embodied by BLM, focuses on stopping excessive force and systemic racism in law enforcement.
Although individual activists may straddle both camps, the data show that most BLM supporters are not anti-capitalists. Instead, they see business as a legitimate or even positive force, while reserving their criticism for police institutions.
Why the Confusion?
- Conservatives overstate BLM’s economic radicalism to discredit the movement.
- Far-left critics, on the other hand, worry that BLM does not go far enough toward systemic economic reform. Publications like The Socialist Appeal and Dissent have urged BLM to embrace anti-capitalist agendas.
But survey data suggest that BLM supporters and capitalism skeptics are not the same group. While both oppose injustice, they target different sources of it.
Conclusion: Business Is Not the Enemy for Most BLM Supporters
Our cross-national survey results undermine the claim that BLM = anti-capitalism. Despite accusations from both the right and the far left, most police critics worldwide do not distrust business. On the contrary, their skepticism toward law enforcement often goes hand-in-hand with higher trust in local and multinational corporations.
This means that:
- Police reform and racial justice activism are not inherently anti-business.
- Economic justice and racial justice remain distinct movements, even if they sometimes overlap.
BLM supporters are pushing to end racist policing — not capitalism.
(Earlier versions of this piece appeared on https://www.jamesron.org/post/james-ron-are-police-critics-also-anti-capitalists and https://ongloballeadership.com/f/are-today%E2%80%99s-police-critics-anti-capitalists-the-numbers-say-no).
About James Ron
James Ron is an author and social scientist who has taught sociology and political science at Johns Hopkins University, McGill University, Carleton University, and the University of Minnesota. His research has been published in International Security, International Organization, Human Rights Quarterly, and other leading outlets.
Learn more at jamesron.com | jamesron.org | jamesron.net
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To learn what I found, check out my blog post: https://www.jamesron.org/post/james-ron-are-police-critics-also-anti-capitalists
