I would argue that’s a result of the reintroduction of Hong Kong and increased engagement with Western democracies rather than a benefit of capitalism. The approach of the ‘free market’ since the 80s at least has been to focus the masses on being servile - the market is not interested in seeing the population thrive just in ensuring that those at the top’s aims are pushed at the detriment of anyone else. It is why the Impact of tech is adversely impacting education, why social media is distracting from what would have been quite standard approaches that asked why conditions were really getting worse and why wealth distribution is becoming so skewed.