Why did the Dutch, who owned no gold or silver mines, manage to acquire more wealth than, Spain, which despite all the treasure amassed from conquering the New World, ended up with inflation and near bankruptcy? Arguing that capitalism is a cultural—rather than purely economic—phenomenon, historian Joyce Appleby traces the strange beginnings of what we now call the market economy, and concludes that capitalism is not as inevitable as many economists and pundits believe it to be.
Capitalism, as she defines it, is not simply an economic system, but rather a cultural system based on a particular economy. It is constantly changing, constantly finding ways to enhance production through private initiatives that affect every aspect of life, and are in turn affected by every aspect of life.
Appleby is a first-rate historian, a past president of the American Historical Association, so her narration is filled with insights about the social events that played into or made possible the development of capitalism –the market’s messy entanglements with society and culture. And these are different in each country. Her narration of the rise of the market economy is not driven by economic theory or political ideology. Her assessment of capitalism’s strengths and weaknesses is balanced, stressing both the prosperity capitalism has brought, and also the social problems it creates, due to capitalism’s main feature being “change.”
In her cover feature interview on ROROTOKO, she says her curiosity about capitalism began “with a question about changing conceptions of human nature. In the beginning of the 17th century human beings were depicted in sermons and literature as fickle, impulsive, and prone to self-destructive behavior. Yet at the end, English writers started talking about the predictability of people’s actions in their market relations. Soon this economic definition became the dominant one.”
She read contemporary pamphlets, broadsides, and books examining England’s expanding market relations, and “discovered where the new definition of human nature came in and learned how central to capitalism are the ways people have analyzed their economy—first in puzzled awe, then in critical assessment, and finally through the expertise of specialists.”
“Where commerce could live within the interstices of society with its customary mores and aristocratic habits, the capitalist system forced widespread social and political change because its momentum involved more and more of society’s population. For this reason, there are in today’s world many variants of capitalist culture as different nations align economic restructuring with the basic qualities of their people.”
At a time when everyone is searching for or shouting out their opinions about the direction of the economy, it’s a treat to take a long, historical view. This is one
Recent Comments