Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
More accurately, 'The Origin of Capitalism IN BRITAIN (but not other countries, soz)'. An expansion of Marx's booklet [b: Wage Labour and Capital|15369896|Wage Labour and Capital|Karl Marx|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|57433710], but much less clearly expressed, possibly a factor of the author's background in Slavic languages. Attempt it all in one chunk, not in little bits, or you'll never get through it.
Landlords were so greedy after enclosure that the Church of England felt obliged to reprimand them with a prayer:
“The earth is thine, O Lord, and all that is contained therein. We heartily pray thee to send thy holy spirit into the hearts of those that possess the grounds, pastures and dwelling places of the earth, that they, remembering themselves to be thy tenants, may not rack or stretch out the rents of their houses or lands; not yet take unreasonable fines and incomes, after the manner of covetous worldlings; but, so let them out to others that the inhabitants thereof may be able both to pay their rents, and also honestly to live, to nourish their family and to relieve the poor.”
I was not familiar with Ms. Wood before I came across this book. Throughout Part I, I felt as though I was missing a crucial background in the history of economics. That said, Ms. Wood's point, I believe, is that many contemporary economists (and most in America) presuppose that capitalism is truly the "natural order" of being. Ms. Woods does a fine job of showing that capitalism, in fact, is not the natural order, but rather arose due to very specific circumstances surrounding the Industrial Revolution in England.
Part II and III trace this history of capitalism, and explain how it arose in agrarian and industrial England. I believe Ms. Wood's central point to be that capitalism arose due to the dispossession of the peasant farmer due to enclosure. Like all history, those with the means used the power of the state to remove customary rights of usage from the land and created a wandering class of masterless men. This appropriation and consolidation of property into private property created a vast underclass of wage-laborers in London, which lead to the industrial revolution and capitalism.
Ms. Wood also traces the English philosophy of improvement, championed by Locke, which allowed for this dispossession of land, both in England and abroad. This philosophy culminated in mass colonization, which included slavery and genocide of the native peoples of Africa and the Americas.
It is unlikely that capitalism is the natural state of being (or that there even is a natural order of economics). Rather, it arose as another step along the rule by the haves against the have-nots. What once was rule by feudal lords now becomes rule by the landholders exerting economic exploitation acting in concert with the state dedicated to protecting property rights. Self-sustainment is replaced by greed, profit, and ecological destruction.
“The earth is thine, O Lord, and all that is contained therein. We heartily pray thee to send thy holy spirit into the hearts of those that possess the grounds, pastures and dwelling places of the earth, that they, remembering themselves to be thy tenants, may not rack or stretch out the rents of their houses or lands; not yet take unreasonable fines and incomes, after the manner of covetous worldlings; but, so let them out to others that the inhabitants thereof may be able both to pay their rents, and also honestly to live, to nourish their family and to relieve the poor.”
I was not familiar with Ms. Wood before I came across this book. Throughout Part I, I felt as though I was missing a crucial background in the history of economics. That said, Ms. Wood's point, I believe, is that many contemporary economists (and most in America) presuppose that capitalism is truly the "natural order" of being. Ms. Woods does a fine job of showing that capitalism, in fact, is not the natural order, but rather arose due to very specific circumstances surrounding the Industrial Revolution in England.
Part II and III trace this history of capitalism, and explain how it arose in agrarian and industrial England. I believe Ms. Wood's central point to be that capitalism arose due to the dispossession of the peasant farmer due to enclosure. Like all history, those with the means used the power of the state to remove customary rights of usage from the land and created a wandering class of masterless men. This appropriation and consolidation of property into private property created a vast underclass of wage-laborers in London, which lead to the industrial revolution and capitalism.
Ms. Wood also traces the English philosophy of improvement, championed by Locke, which allowed for this dispossession of land, both in England and abroad. This philosophy culminated in mass colonization, which included slavery and genocide of the native peoples of Africa and the Americas.
It is unlikely that capitalism is the natural state of being (or that there even is a natural order of economics). Rather, it arose as another step along the rule by the haves against the have-nots. What once was rule by feudal lords now becomes rule by the landholders exerting economic exploitation acting in concert with the state dedicated to protecting property rights. Self-sustainment is replaced by greed, profit, and ecological destruction.
reflective
slow-paced
Crazy book, the twist really caught me off guard
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
really fantastic look at the true origin of capitalism and the real definition of capitalism, something often presupposed or brushed-over by economists, including Marxist economists. I feel the most equipped I've ever felt to describe and understand capitalism as it exists today. It was a hard read for a non-academic such as myself, with lots of big words and references to other works, but it was worth every page. Strongly recommend this book to everyone, especially anti-capitalists and people feeling left behind or despondent in the world of Capitalism.
Very good, also very academic, so not the world's easiest read
The two main themes that stood out to me from this book are the historical specificity of capitalism (it is a unique economic and social system that developed due to particular historical conditions), and the qualitative shift in social and property relations that had to come about to make capitalism possible.
Woods makes a strong case that capitalism wasn't just a result of a quantitative shift (better technology + better divisions of labor = more accumulation of capital), but was due to a qualitative shift in how people related to each other and the legal constitution of property. Once the English were able to shift people's relationships to property, and allow the dispossession of huge amounts of farmers due the legal concepts of enclosure and "improvement" (productive use of land for creating exchange value), it was only a matter of time before wage labor became almost universal and market imperatives became integrated into social relations.
This was not inevitable, but the result of specific historical conditions and the enforcement of a specific view of property.
Overall, the book was more accessible than I thought, though the first section showed how much more I have to learn about history and political economy. I could spend years reading the different perspectives Woods quotes and argues against in setting up the way that many thinkers naturalize capitalism with arguments that tend to assume the conditions of capitalism have always existed, while trying to explain how it came into being.
Woods makes a strong case that capitalism wasn't just a result of a quantitative shift (better technology + better divisions of labor = more accumulation of capital), but was due to a qualitative shift in how people related to each other and the legal constitution of property. Once the English were able to shift people's relationships to property, and allow the dispossession of huge amounts of farmers due the legal concepts of enclosure and "improvement" (productive use of land for creating exchange value), it was only a matter of time before wage labor became almost universal and market imperatives became integrated into social relations.
This was not inevitable, but the result of specific historical conditions and the enforcement of a specific view of property.
Overall, the book was more accessible than I thought, though the first section showed how much more I have to learn about history and political economy. I could spend years reading the different perspectives Woods quotes and argues against in setting up the way that many thinkers naturalize capitalism with arguments that tend to assume the conditions of capitalism have always existed, while trying to explain how it came into being.
informative
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
very repetitive and barely skims the surface of its supposed subject, offering nothing of real depth
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
A masterpiece in political economy and history.