《资本主义、社会主义与民主》是熊彼特的代表作之一，也是作者数年来对“社会主义”这个问题进行思考、观察和研究后的集大成之作。该书探讨了马克思主义学说、资本主义未来发展以及社会主义与民主等相关问题，他所提出的“资本主义很终由社会主义制度所取代”的主张与马克思的“资本主义必然灭亡，社会主义必然胜利”的学说不谋而合，殊途同归。不同的是前者侧重于“革新式的创造性破坏”，后者则侧重于“以革命式手段为资本主义掘墓”。

约瑟夫·熊彼特（1883-1950），奥地利政治经济学家，创新经济学之父，演化经济学之神。熊彼特在经济纯理论、商业周期理论、经济学方法论、计量经济学、马克思主义经济学、经济史、经济学思想史等领域都做出了重要贡献（萨缪尔森语）。他与凯恩斯同年出生，两人一时瑜亮，同为20世纪前半叶很受推崇的经济学家。熊彼特的思想虽然在生前没有引发像“凯恩斯革命”那样的巨大反响，但是却极有可能成为21世纪的主流思潮。

导读
1.The Marxian Doctrine
Prologue
Marx the Prophet
Marx the Sociologist
Marx the Economist
Marx the Teacher
2.Can Capitalism Survive?
Prologue
The Rate of Increase of Total Output
Plausible Capitalism
The Process of Creative Destruction
Monopolistic Practices
Closed Season
The Vanishing of Investment Opportunity
Crumbling Walls
The Obsolescence of the Entrepreneurial Function
The Destruction of the Protecting Strata
The Destruction of the Institutional Framework of Capitalist Society
Growing Hostility
The So Atmosphere of Capitalism
The Sociology of the Intellectual
Decomposition
3.Can Soism Work?
Clearing Decks
The Soist Blueprint
Comparison of Blueprints
A Preliminary Point
A Discussion of Comparative Efficiency
The Case for the Superiority of the Soist Blueprint
The Human Element
The Historical Relativity of the Argument
About Demigods and Archangels
The Problem of Bureaucratic Management
Saving and Discipline
Authoritarian Discipline in Soism; a Lesson from Russia
Transition
Two Different Problems Distinguished
Soization in a State of Maturity
Soization in a State of Immaturity
Soist Policy Before the Act; the English Example
4.Soism and Democracy
The Setting of the Problem
The Dictatorship of the Proletariat
The Record of Soist Parties
A Mental Experiment
In Search of a Definition
The Classical Doctrine of Democracy
The Common Good and the Will of the People
The Will of the People and Individual Volition
Human Nature in Politics
Reasons for the Survival of the Classical Doctrine
Another Theory of Democracy
Competition for Political Leadership
The Principle Applied
The Inference
Some Implications of the Preceding Analysis
Conditions for the Success of the Democratic Method
Democracy in the Soist Order
5.A Historical Sketch of Soist Parties
Prologue
The Nonage
The Situation that Marx Faced
From 1875 to 1914
English Developments and the Spirit of Fabianism
Sweden on the One Hand and Russia on the Other
Soist Groups in the United States
The German Party and Revisionism; the Austrian Soists
The Second International
From the First to the Second World War
The “Gran Rifiuto”
The Effects of the First World War on the Chances of the Soist Parties of Europe
Communism and the Russian Element
Administering Capitalism
The Present War and the Future of Soist Parties
The Consequences of the Second World War
England and Orthodox Soism
Economic Possibilities in the United States
Russian Imperialism and Communism
术语汇编与简释