Capitalism
a global history
- ISBN: 9780241269053
- Editorial: Allen Lane Publishers
- Fecha de la edición: 2026
- Lugar de la edición: London. Reino Unido
- Encuadernación: Cartoné
- Medidas: 24 cm
- Nº Pág.: 1344
- Idiomas: Inglés
No other phenomenon has shaped human history as decisively as capitalism. It structures how we live and work, how we think about ourselves and others, how we organise our politics. Sven Beckert situates the story of capitalism within the largest conceivable geographical and historical framework in this fascinating new book.
Capitalism, argues Beckert, was born global. Emerging from merchant communities across Asia, Africa and Europe, capitalism's radical recasting of economic life rooted itself only gradually. Then it burst onto the world scene, as European states and merchants built a powerful alliance that would propel them across the oceans. This epic drama corresponded at no point to an idealised dream of free markets. All along, state-backed institutions and imperial expansions shaped its dynamics.
Capitalism decentres the European perspective, highlighting agency, resistance, innovation and ruthless coercion around the world through to the present with the rise of Asian economies, particularly China. Sven Beckert doesn't merely add up capitalism's debits and credits in this monumental book, but allows us to think afresh about the past to help us re-imagine the future.
Introduction
Islands of capital
Capitalists without capitalism
Part I: Building capitalism. The great connecting, 1450-1650
Transforming the countryside, 1550-1750
Intensifying industry, 1600-1750
The perfect storm
Part II: The great leap. The rise of industrial capitalism, 1760-1850
Capturing the hinterland, 1780-1860
A capitalist civilization, 1830-1880
Rebellions: the crisis of old-regime capitalism, 1830-1870
Part III: Global reconstructions. Reconstructing capital, 1870-1914
Reconstructing labor, 1870-1920
Enclosures
A time of monsters: industrial capitalism, 1918-1945
Insurgents
Taming industrial capitalism, 1945-1973
Part IV: The future of capitalism. Riding the tiger: a neoliberal age, 1973-2008
Epilogue: The possibilities of an island and the future of capitalism
