The conservative mind can't understand that if you add up a bunch of little things it can become a big thing.

One person throwing one piece of trash on the ground doesn't do that much, but if dozens of people do it then the area starts to look like shit. Take a conservative and show them such an area and they'll agree it looks like shit. Ask them if they want the place they live to look like that and they'll say no. But try to explain that's why they shouldn't litter and it doesn't click.

That's not to say "oh, they're actually super nice and its just this one mental hitch that's causing them to act like shitheads". No, they're extremely selfish, mean spirited, and immature. Its just that they're also very stupid and will act against their own interests because they can't comprehend this concept.

See: wearing masks during covid / trying to limit the spread, and herd immunity from vaccines. Or believing in "micro evolution" while thinking that "macro evolution" is impossible. Or global warming. Or even the idea that animals can go extinct. Or the idea that oil or coal could run out some day. You'd think, conceptually, a person could understand that if there's demonstrably a finite amount of something (oil fields have dried up, mines run dry, and there are only so many of these things on the earth) and you keep taking chunks out of that thing then eventually it'll run out. But somehow that chain of logic just doesn't work. And things like nonlinearities, tipping points, or emergent effects and its just impossible.

The only way stuff like that somewhat gets through their minds is by conceptualizing it as some kind of nefarious 'plan' by an enemy. Which is why conspiracy theories are so common on the right. Why do you see more gay people in media now than you used to? Well, in the conservative mind it can't be because of complicated societal changes that took place over decades which eventually hit a tipping point in acceptance. No, obviously its some social engineering plan by some kind of powerful and shadowy elite.

This is the Christian worldview too. Is the world the way it is because of a bunch of complicated interacting emergent processes? No, its Gods's good plan vs Satan's evil plan.

EDIT: the thought process for the specific thing you're talking about is that if capitalism does anything bad to you its because of a plot by crony capitalism / the illuminatii / the jews. The idea that capitalism as a system inevitability concentrates power into the hands of a tiny elite, and both selects for and incentivizes bastard behavior, relies on the mental ability to conceptualize a bunch of small things adding up into a big thing. Add in the idea that capitalism is just "human nature" / "the way things have always worked" and if there's any problems its not the system's fault, its the fault of one specific person or group.