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The Origin of Capitalism

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The Origin of Capitalism

By: Ellen Meiksins Wood
Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
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About this listen

How did the dynamic economic system we know as capitalism develop among the peasants and lords of feudal Europe?

In The Origin of Capitalism, a now-classic work of history, Ellen Meiksins Wood offers a clear and accessible introduction to the theories and debates concerning the birth of capitalism, imperialism, and the modern nation state. Capitalism is not a natural and inevitable consequence of human nature, nor simply an extension of age-old practices of trade and commerce. Rather, it is a late and localized product of very specific historical conditions, which required great transformations in social relations and in the relationship between humans and nature.

©1999 Monthly Review Press; 2002, 2017 by Ellen Meiksins Wood (P)2021 Tantor Economic History Economics Politics & Government Theory Capitalism Imperialism Socialism Marxism Middle Ages Africa Latin America Classics Liberalism Economic Inequality Economic Theory History
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This book is necessary for all those interested in economics or history. It details the views expressed in the Brenner debate regarding the origins and development of capitalism, that are important to understand, if not agree with.

Necessary listening for economists

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I really enjoyed this book because it carefully analyses things that have often gone unnoticed for centuries. is capitalism an eternal feature or the human condition or it it an inevitable result of historical development? was it always with us or did it emerge because of the Reformation, Mercantilism, Industrialisation...

Historically focused scholarship, including Marxist critical scholarship, tend to agree that capitalism is a historically recent phenomenon but often have deterministic views of its causes, its history and the class character of the first capitalists.

This book teases apart things that are often conflated by this scholarship: burghers vs yeomen, the French revolution vs the Industrial Revolution, and looks at each separately.

The author describes a model for the emergence of capitalism which is both historically based and yet makes a convincing case that it was an inevitable or deterministic process. Implied here is also the implication that it may not last forever. It is I think a valuable advance in critical thinking about Capitalism and reopens the debate that has seemed closed since the 1990s about the possibilities of a post capitalist society.

Q: is capitalism human nature or an inevitable development? A: neither.

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