Sign-In
Cart
The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation
Paperback
EconomicsGeneral Political Science
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN10: 0822324911
ISBN13: 9780822324911
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: May 3 2000
Pages: 424
Weight: 1.40
Height: 1.00 Width: 5.90 Depth: 9.20
Language: English
ISBN13: 9780822324911
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: May 3 2000
Pages: 424
Weight: 1.40
Height: 1.00 Width: 5.90 Depth: 9.20
Language: English
The originators of classical political economy-Adam Smith, David Ricardo, James Steuart, and others-created a discourse that explained the logic, the origin, and, in many respects, the essential rightness of capitalism. But, in the great texts of that discourse, these writers downplayed a crucial requirement for capitalism's creation: For it to succeed, peasants would have to abandon their self-sufficient lifestyle and go to work for wages in a factory. Why would they willingly do this?
Clearly, they did not go willingly. As Michael Perelman shows, they were forced into the factories with the active support of the same economists who were making theoretical claims for capitalism as a self-correcting mechanism that thrived without needing government intervention. Directly contradicting the laissez-faire principles they claimed to espouse, these men advocated government policies that deprived the peasantry of the means for self-provision in order to coerce these small farmers into wage labor. To show how Adam Smith and the other classical economists appear to have deliberately obscured the nature of the control of labor and how policies attacking the economic independence of the rural peasantry were essentially conceived to foster primitive accumulation, Perelman examines diaries, letters, and the more practical writings of the classical economists. He argues that these private and practical writings reveal the real intentions and goals of classical political economy-to separate a rural peasantry from their access to land.
This rereading of the history of classical political economy sheds important light on the rise of capitalism to its present state of world dominance. Historians of political economy and Marxist thought will find that this book broadens their understanding of how capitalism took hold in the industrial age.
This rereading of the history of classical political economy sheds important light on the rise of capitalism to its present state of world dominance. Historians of political economy and Marxist thought will find that this book broadens their understanding of how capitalism took hold in the industrial age.
1 different editions
Also available
The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation
Perelman, Michael
Hardcover
$181.93
Also in
General Political Science
Capitalism and the Camera: Essays on Photography and Extraction
Coleman, Kevin
James, Daniel
Paperback
$28.45
Playing Oppression: The Legacy of Conquest and Empire in Colonialist Board Games
Flanagan, Mary
Jakobsson, Mikael
Hardcover
$52.50
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
Anderson, Benedict Richard O'Gorman
Paperback
$12.99
The Craftivist Collective Handbook: Projects, Stories and Methods for Your Gentle Protests
Corbett, Sarah P.
Hardcover
$19.99
Guerrilleros and Neighbours in Arms: Identities & Cultures of Anti-Fascist Resistance in Spain
Marco
Paperback
From $24.99
Battling the Big Lie: How Fox, Facebook, and the Maga Media Are Destroying America
Pfeiffer, Dan
Hardcover
$10.99
Urban Revolutions: Urbanisation and (Neo-)Colonialism in Transatlantic Context
Kipfer, Stefan
Paperback
$43.50
Nonstate Warfare: The Military Methods of Guerillas, Warlords, and Militias
Biddle, Stephen
Hardcover
$67.50
By the Light of Burning Dreams: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Second American Revolution
Talbot, Margaret
Talbot, David
Hardcover
$27.54
An Enemy Such as This: Larry Casuse and the Fight for Native Liberation in One Family on Two Continents Over Three Centuries
Correia, David
Hardcover
From $12.99
Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism
Wolin, Sheldon S.
Paperback
$11.99
Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico: Men, Women, and War
Wasserman, Mark
Paperback
$44.93
With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful
Greenwald, Glenn
Hardcover
$35.14
Doing History from the Bottom Up: On E.P. Thompson, Howard Zinn, and Rebuilding the Labor Movement from Below
Lynd, Staughton
Paperback
$18.95
Broken News: Why the Media Rage Machine Divides America and How to Fight Back
Stirewalt, Chris
Paperback
From $9.99
China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power
Wudunn, Sheryl
Kristof, Nicholas D.
Paperback
From $8.99
The Clash of Globalizations: Neo-Liberalism, the Third Way and Anti-Globalization
Kiely, Ray
Paperback
$30.00
Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump
Swan, Jonathan
Haberman, Maggie
Hardcover
$30.60
American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn's Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump
Goldmark, Susan
Bird, Kai
Hardcover
$28.80
The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader
Murray, Melissa
Hardcover
$27.00
Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made
Kobes Du Mez, Kristin
Hardcover
$28.79
Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds
Fugelsang, John
Hardcover
From $17.99
Wtf America?!: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy
Meiselas, Ben
Meiselas, Brett
Meiselas, Jordy
Hardcover
$30.88
Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times: How to Reclaim Your Power, Fight for Freedom, and Reimagine Democracy
Perryman, Skye
Paperback
$16.14
The Counterrevolution: The Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and the Maga Movement
Hanson, Victor Davis
Hardcover
$32.30
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017
Khalidi, Rashid
Paperback
$17.99
The Elijah Mandate: A Call to Courageous Faith in a Hostile World
Piflaks, Tolik
Tsarfati, Amir
Paperback
$18.04
American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union: An Anthology
Meacham, Jon
Hardcover
$34.20
Not Today, Fascists: The Lies That Got Us Here, and the Truths That Will Reunite Us
Welch, Jennifer
Hardcover
$26.09
The Steal: Four Right-Wing Hard-Liners, One Republican Presidency, and the Raid on America's Courts
Wagner, Alex
Hardcover
$26.99
The Crooked Places Made Straight: Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America
Warnock, Raphael G.
Hardcover
$27.00
Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded Usaid
Enrich, Nicholas
Hardcover
$26.10
Pay Attention: How the Algorithms and Media Wars Are Suppressing Truth and Rewiring Your Brain
Pakman, David
Hardcover
$28.50
The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People's Constitution
Wegman, Jesse
Hardcover
$27.00
So Ordered: An Originalist's View of the Constitution, the Court, and Our Country
Alito, Samuel A., Jr.
Hardcover
$30.40
There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
Goldstone, Brian
Paperback
$18.00
The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World
Bevins, Vincent
Paperback
From $12.99
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All
Yudkowsky, Eliezer
Soares, Nate
Hardcover
From $19.99
The New Dark Ages: The Death of Reading and the Dawn of the Post-Literate Society
Marriott, James
Hardcover
$23.40
Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today's Supreme Court
Isgur, Sarah
Hardcover
$28.80
Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed Bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East
Cole, Matthew
Hardcover
$28.50
Country of Lords: Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight Against Equality in America
Phillips-Fein, Kim
Hardcover
$31.50
The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon
Schweizer, Peter
Hardcover
$30.88
All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump
Scaramucci, Anthony
Hardcover
$26.99
The Last Free Women: A Daring Escape from Afghanistan and Coming of Age in America
Blumenstein, Rebecca
Kapp, Diana
Hardcover
$28.50
Anti-Fascist Economics: In Defense of Affordability, Dignity, and Democracy
Weber, Isabella
Hardcover
$28.80
The College Scam: How America's Universities Are Bankrupting and Brainwashing Away the Future of America's Youth
Kirk, Charlie
Hardcover
$35.99
The Origins of Totalitarianism: With a New Introduction by Anne Applebaum
Arendt, Hannah
Applebaum, Anne
Paperback
$19.79