Capitalism. Readings in historical sociology 3500-FAKANG-HSII

Why has the West dominated the world and what role has capitalism played in its expansion? Did capitalism start in the medieval Venice republic that developed sophisticated banking system or during the British industrial revolution and mass production? How did slavery in the Americas and serfdom in Eastern Europe add to the development of capitalism? Is it an economic system based on free labor and free market? Or does capitalism’s profit-orientation have to lead to inequality and monopolistic enterprises? Is the power of Apple, Google and Amazon a collateral damage of capitalism or its necessary product? How is war connected with capitalist competition? The course provides an overview of the classic and new explanations of how capitalism emerged, why it did so in the West and how it has expanded into the rest of the world. We will discuss the role of international trade, labor, war and ideological justifications (meritocracy, racism, religion and ‘Western values’) for capitalism.
Proposed topics:
1. Introduction and overview
2. Warming up class: lockdown, capitalism and exploitation.
The Lockdown showed how the economy exploits women. She already knew. (about Silvia Federici’s ideas), “The New York Times Magazine”, Feb 17, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/magazine/waged-housework.html
3. Shoshana Zuboff, The age of invigilation capitalism
4-5. Recent debate and New History of Capitalism in the US
4. Sven Beckert, Monied Metropolis, fragments
5. Sven Beckert, The Empire of Cotton, fragments
6. Critical account of New history of capitalism: Philip Magness, https://economic-historian.com/2020/09/a-comment-on-the-new-history-of-capitalism/
7-8. Classics on the origins of capitalism
7. Werner Sombart, The Jews and Modern Capitalism (1911), fragments
Max Weber – Protestant Ethic and Origin of Capitalism, fragments
8. Karl Marx, The Capital, volume 1, fragments
9-11. Mid-20th century debate: World-system, empire, free market, capitalism
9. Fernand Braudel, Civilization and capitalism, vol. 3, chapter 1
10. Immanuel Wallerstein, Modern World-System I, chapter 1
11. Immanuel Wallerstein, recorded lecture on the 21st capitalism:
Interview with IW on the crisis of the capitalist world system, Kontext TV, Freie Universitat Berlin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riK3dlgusrI
Fernand Braudel, Civilization and capitalism, vol. 3, selected fragments including the conclusion
12-13. Recent accounts of capitalism (with policy implications)
12. David Graeber, Bullshit jobs https://www.atlasofplaces.com/essays/on-the-phenomenon-of-bullshit-jobs/
Graeber's obituary 2020: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/sep/06/david-graeber-obituary
Graeber's autobiography: https://davidgraeber.org/about-david-graeber/
13. Thomas Piketty, Capital and ideology (Recorded lecture), March 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJUowgzGFck
Fragment of Piketty's Capital and Ideology, pp: 1, 16-35, 42-45, 51-54.
14. Silvia Federici, Caliban and the witch: women, the body and primitive accumulation, fragments; Recorded lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw5Sld1MVAU
15. Conclusion and evaluation