Capitalism: The Reemergence of a Historical Concept

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Capitalism has been a controversial concept. In the second half of the 20th century, many historians have either not used the concept at all, or only in passing. Many regarded the term as too broad, holistic and vague or too value-loaded, ideological and polemic. This volume brings together leading scholars to explore why the term has recently experienced a comeback and assess how useful the term can be in application to social and economic history. The contributors discuss whether and how the history of capitalism enables us to ask new questions, further explore unexhausted sources and discover new connections between previously unrelated phenomena. The chapters address case studies drawn from around the world, giving attention to Europe, Africa and beyond. This is a timely reassessment of a crucial concept, which will be of great interest to scholars and students of economic history.

Reviews

De Grazia brilliantly uses her empirical research into the history of the Italian apparel industrys commodity chains to illustrate the interaction between the global and the local ... The authors provide useful and insightful overviews. * European Review of History *
Capitalism, in its various forms, in a central theme of modern and contemporary history, with ramifications for almost every aspect of life. This is an extraordinarily wide-ranging collection of essays by leading historians exploring the remarkable breadth of topics that have been, and ought to be, considered under the rubric of capitalism. Written from a variety of methodological and ideological perspectives, the essays not only survey the rich recent historical literature on the subject, but suggest new paths for future inquiry. A volume that will be a great aid to all those who write and teach about the subject. * Jerry Z. Muller, author of The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Western Thought and Capitalism and the Jews *
We cannot understand our world and its past without questioning capitalism. With no preconceptions, and with the greatest clarity and skill, leading world historians come together in this volume to produce a new global history of capitalism. Key topics such as finance, labour, business and enterprise in Europe, the USA, Africa, Asia and Latin America and the connections between them are carefully presented. A must-read! * Alessandro Stanziani, cole des hautes tudes en sciences sociales, France *

Author Bio

Jrgen Kocka is Professor Emeritus at the Free University and the Social Science Center, Berlin, Germany, as well as a Permanent Fellow of the Center Work and Life Course in Global Historical Perspective at Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. Marcel van der Linden is Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Social History, holds a professorship at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands and is President of the International Social History Association.