This term was first coined by Karl Marx to describe a system in which small group of people own large amount of money, land, resources. It puts all the economy is the hands of wealthy business people with the only aim of maximizing profits. Such economies remain free of government intervention with all the policies being determined by private individuals. The result is monopoly, and a huge gap in the earnings among the employer class and the worker class. Though its very good for trades and industries to flourish, it can lead to worker exploitation and unethical business pratices. “Laissez-Faire” capitalism which means pure capitalism with no government intervention is said to have never existed in practice.
SOCIALISM
It is considered to be the transitional phase between the capitalism and communism. Thus, you would find all communists advocating for socialism because it lays the foundations for communism. It advocates an egalitarian society where everyone shares equal wealth and power. There is a considerable disagreement over how the distribution should take place. Hence, socialism can be said to be between extreme capitalism and extreme communism with it being nearer to communism.
Socialism is liberal. More people have say in how the economy works.
COMMUNISM
According to Karl Marx, this is the final stage towards development of egalitarian society. Here all the resources are state-owned and it determines its distribution based on the needs