How do you draw an abstract economic system?
Historically, political cartoons have provided the most iconic visual representations. The “Pyramid of Capitalist System” from the early 1900s is perhaps the most famous. It depicts a stratified society with wealthy elites and rulers at the top (“We rule you”, “We fool you”), supported by the military (“We shoot at you”), and resting entirely on the backs of the working class at the bottom (“We feed all”, “We work for all”).
Modern economic textbooks use much drier, but more precise, diagrams. The Circular Flow Model drawing is fundamental. It shows households providing labor to firms in exchange for wages, and firms providing goods to households in exchange for money. This continuous loop, facilitated by markets, is the beating heart of a capitalist economy.
Both drawings—the critical, hierarchical pyramid and the objective, flowing cycle—capture different truths about how capitalism functions and how it is experienced.