what is late stage capitalism

Late stage capitalism is a term used to describe the latest stage of capitalist development, characterized by a mix of high-tech advances, the concentration of financial capital, post-Fordism, and growing income inequality. The term was first used in print by German economist Werner Sombart around the turn of the 20th century, but it wasnt widely used until Belgian Marxist economist Ernest Mandel's treatise "Late Capitalism" was published in English in 1975. Since its conception, the idea of late capitalism has chiefly referred to the latest stage of capitalist development, which has been bestowed on almost every period following a moment of economic crisis. The term "late capitalism" is again in vogue to describe modern business culture, although with a semantic change or an ironic twist. It has become a catch-all term for various phenomena that express capitalism's distortions of human life and psyche, which is often used in critique and satire. The phrase "late stage capitalism" is commonly used as a critique of the allegedly fascistic qualities that contemporary capitalism allegedly has.