_________is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and organised to accumulate profits within a market system.

Capitalism

Option 1: Socialism — Incorrect. Socialism is an economic system where the means of production are generally owned or controlled by the state or society rather than being primarily privately owned for profit.

Option 2: Liberalism — Incorrect. Liberalism is a political and social ideology that supports individual freedoms and rights. It is not an economic system defined by private ownership and profit accumulation.

Option 3: Capitalism — Correct. Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and economic activities are organised through markets with the aim of generating profits.

Option 4: Communism — Incorrect. Communism advocates collective ownership of the means of production and aims to eliminate private ownership of productive resources.

NCERT: This magnitude and depth of the structural changes that colonialism unleashed can be better grasped if we try and understand some basic features of capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and organised to accumulate profits within a market system. Capitalism in the west emerged out of a complex process of European exploration of the rest of the world, its plunder of wealth and resources, an unprecedented growth of science and technology, its harnessing to industries and agriculture. What marked capitalism from the very beginning was its dynamism, its potential to grow, expand, innovate, use technology and labour in a way best assured to ensure greatest profit. What marked it too was its global nature. Western colonialism was inextricably connected to the growth of western capitalism. This had a lasting impact on the way capitalism developed in a colonised country like India.