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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
“The Origin of Capitalism” is an excellent work of history and historicizing. It is highly concerned with historiography, rightly so due to the myths used to justify capitalism and the stakes in dismantling it that understanding its origin allows insight into. Woods spends a great deal of ink contextualizing her arguments in previous Marxist historians and explaining the Marxist historiography that she agrees and disagrees with. Wood also has no qualms with repeating herself to make sure her point is understood, which as I understand it is that capitalism is a historically specific economic system that emerged in England during the late fifteenth to early sixteenth century and, contrary to feudalism which extracts surpluses from producers using taxes and extra-economic force, uses market pressures to compel ever-increasing productivity. Wood gives no hints as to how we might escape capitalism herein other than to say that the market imperatives which make capitalism unique also make market socialism an impossibility due to the need for workers to self-exploit under such a system. This book is a great expansion on her 1998 article “The Agrarian Origins of Capitalism” published in Monthly Review. I would recommend that any readers read that article first as a primer, or read it if you have only the time to read 17 pages instead of 200. It is obviously does not go as in depth as the book, but you’ll get the important gist.
“The Origin of Capitalism” is one of the best books of history I’ve ever read alongside the likes of the acclaimed “The Fall of the House of Labor”. I would highly recommend that people, socialist or otherwise, read this book.
“The Origin of Capitalism” is one of the best books of history I’ve ever read alongside the likes of the acclaimed “The Fall of the House of Labor”. I would highly recommend that people, socialist or otherwise, read this book.
While this book definitely has ups and downs in the sense that some parts seem rather boring and repetitive, other chapters with crystal clear and sharp arguments will definitely make up for it. From a very thorough look at the logical fallacies of the commercialization model explaining the rise of capitalism to a very short and entertaining bashing of post-modernity, this book keeps every young leftist covered on the puzzle of what to do with this society we live in on a theoretical level in only 200 pages. Additionally, there are some eye-opening discussions of the difference between commerce and capitalism, various forms of imperialism and the contradiction of global capital's need for a political system based on the rather outdated idea of nation states. The last part - stating that modernity and capitalistic ideas of improvement are two concepts to be separated - implicitly opens up the big question of how we can live as modern human beings in an economy designed towards people not profit.
I give this book 5/5 stars on the condition that I'll try to look up some of Wood's other work as well as the data her arguments are based on.
I give this book 5/5 stars on the condition that I'll try to look up some of Wood's other work as well as the data her arguments are based on.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
Pretty cool ideas in this one. Capitalism is not a natural or inevitable part of human society. It emerged quite recently and out of specific historical conditions in the English countryside.
challenging
slow-paced
