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bedsidearchive 's review for:
The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View
by Ellen Meiksins Wood
challenging
informative
slow-paced
“ [...] the capitalist system’s unique capacity, and need, for self-sustaining growth has never been incompatible with regular stagnation and economic downturns [...] the very same logic that drives the system forward makes it inevitably susceptible to economic instabilities, which require constant ‘extra-economic’ interventions, if not to control them then to at least to compensate for their destructive effects.” (193)
This book follows the origin of capitalism from the various economic, social, and political conditions that enabled it. Wood extensively covers European feudalism, agrarian capitalism, industrial capitalism, and capitalist imperialism. Much of this is supported with comparatives of relevant scholars and economic systems throughout the centuries. Concepts of private property, productivity, wealth, and wage-labor are present in many different historical periods, but influenced the formation of capitalism in very distinct & specific ways. There are many chapters that certainly do well-articulate the specific characteristics of capitalism versus other systems and relationships of exploitation and greed.
I had initially thought this book was going to be written with more of an introductory approach—it really isn’t that. This book requires its reader to be familiar with Marxism and other economic theories. I believe wholeheartedly that this book could have talked about what they did, while also avoiding unnecessary wording and while they explained these concepts through the book. I don’t even think it needed to be as dense as it was to fulfill its mission.
Despite these faults, I was still pleased to see instances in which concepts I had understood in practice were defined on paper. I do think Woods has an incredible understanding and has a good collection of references, as well as some engaging commentary. Unfortunately, this falls short when she doesn’t lean on her own analysis enough.
This book was both very draining and informative. It does not need to be as dense as it is, and it could’ve been written in a way that was so much more engaging.
I would love to hear more from Woods herself. 🥲 A larger understanding throughout this book is by describing the conditions that created capitalism, readers can see that capitalism is not inevitable, and it is not unstoppable. This was a powerful point and should have been honed on.
This book expects you to come to it with extensive knowledge on European economic systems and scholars through the centuries it covers. While this pushed me to look into information I hadn’t known of before, it often just becomes a drag to re-read something solely because of the author’s obtuse language. The writing style is oftentimes very stagnant. I don’t think that academic language itself is inherently harmful, but many of this author's choices were unnecessary to me.
Also: Fuck John Locke 🖕
This book follows the origin of capitalism from the various economic, social, and political conditions that enabled it. Wood extensively covers European feudalism, agrarian capitalism, industrial capitalism, and capitalist imperialism. Much of this is supported with comparatives of relevant scholars and economic systems throughout the centuries. Concepts of private property, productivity, wealth, and wage-labor are present in many different historical periods, but influenced the formation of capitalism in very distinct & specific ways. There are many chapters that certainly do well-articulate the specific characteristics of capitalism versus other systems and relationships of exploitation and greed.
I had initially thought this book was going to be written with more of an introductory approach—it really isn’t that. This book requires its reader to be familiar with Marxism and other economic theories. I believe wholeheartedly that this book could have talked about what they did, while also avoiding unnecessary wording and while they explained these concepts through the book. I don’t even think it needed to be as dense as it was to fulfill its mission.
Despite these faults, I was still pleased to see instances in which concepts I had understood in practice were defined on paper. I do think Woods has an incredible understanding and has a good collection of references, as well as some engaging commentary. Unfortunately, this falls short when she doesn’t lean on her own analysis enough.
This book was both very draining and informative. It does not need to be as dense as it is, and it could’ve been written in a way that was so much more engaging.
I would love to hear more from Woods herself. 🥲 A larger understanding throughout this book is by describing the conditions that created capitalism, readers can see that capitalism is not inevitable, and it is not unstoppable. This was a powerful point and should have been honed on.
This book expects you to come to it with extensive knowledge on European economic systems and scholars through the centuries it covers. While this pushed me to look into information I hadn’t known of before, it often just becomes a drag to re-read something solely because of the author’s obtuse language. The writing style is oftentimes very stagnant. I don’t think that academic language itself is inherently harmful, but many of this author's choices were unnecessary to me.
Also: Fuck John Locke 🖕