Property and Prophets: The Evolution of Economic Institutions and Ideologies: The Evolution of Economic Institutions and Ideologies

by Hunt,E. K.

• ISBN13: 9780765606099
• ISBN10: 0765606097
• Edition: 7th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-02-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Property and Prophets combines a brief review of the evolution of some of the most important institutions of capitalism with analyses of recurring ideological defenses of capitalism and radical critiques of capitalism. The unique feature of the book is the method of interweaving economic history and intellectual, or ideological, history. It is Hunt's belief that neither conservative defenses of capitalism nor radical rejections of it can be adequately appreciated until one is aware of the existential context within which they arose. This book provides an introduction to the study of the relationship between economic history and intellectual history. Book jacket.

Author Biography

E.K. Hunt is professor of economics at the University of Utah

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Robert Pollin
Preface	xi
The Ideology of Precapitalist Europe	3	(11)
Ancient Greek and Roman Slavery	4	(1)
Feudalism	5	(2)
The Christian Paternalistic Ethic	7	(3)
The Anticapitalist Nature of Feudal Ideology	10	(3)
Summary	13	(1)
The Transition to Early Capitalism and the Beginnings of the Mercantilist View	14	(17)
Definition of Capitalism	14	(2)
Changes in Technology	16	(1)
The Increase in Long-Distance Trade	17	(2)
The Putting-Out System and the Birth of Capitalist Industry	19	(2)
The Decline of the Manorial System	21	(2)
The Creation of the Working Class	23	(1)
Other Forces in the Transition to Capitalism	24	(2)
Mercantilism: Feudal Paternalism in Early Capitalism	26	(3)
Summary	29	(2)
The Conflict in Mercantilist Thought	31	(10)
The Medieval Origins of Mercantilist Policies	31	(1)
The Secularization of Church Functions	32	(2)
The Rise of Individualism	34	(2)
Protestantism and the Individualist Ethic	36	(2)
The Economic Policies of Individualism	38	(1)
Summary	39	(2)
Classical Liberalism and the Triumph of Industrial Capitalism	41	(24)
The Industrial Revolution	41	(3)
The Rise of Classical Liberalism	44	(9)
Classical Liberalism and Industrialization	53	(1)
Summary	54	(1)
Appendix	54	(11)
Socialist Protest Amid the Industrial Revolution	65	(20)
The Social Costs of the Industrial Revolution	65	(4)
Liberal Social Legislation	69	(1)
Socialism Within the Classical Liberal Tradition	70	(2)
William Thompson and the Rejection of Classical Liberalism	72	(2)
The Paternalistic Socialism of Robert Owen	74	(3)
Other Important Pre-Marxist Socialists	77	(6)
Summary	83	(2)
Marx's Conception of Capitalism	85	(20)
Historical Materialism	85	(3)
The Market	88	(3)
The Class Structure of Capitalism	91	(4)
Marx's View of Private Property	95	(5)
Marx's View of Capital	100	(3)
Summary	103	(2)
Marx's Social and Economic Theories	105	(13)
Alienation	105	(3)
The Labor Theory of Value and Surplus Value	108	(2)
The Accumulation of Capital	110	(1)
Sectoral Imbalances and Economic Crises	111	(2)
Economic Concentration	113	(1)
The Immiserization of the Proletariat	113	(1)
The Capitalist State	114	(2)
The Socialist Revolution	116	(1)
Summary	116	(2)
The Rise of Corporate Capitalism and Its Ideological Defenses	118	(33)
The Concentration of Corporate Power	118	(4)
The Concentration of Income	122	(1)
Reemergence of the Classical Liberal Ideology	123	(2)
The Neoclassical Theory of Utility and Consumption	125	(1)
The Neoclassical Theory of Production	125	(1)
Laissez Faire	125	(1)
Subsequent Modifications of Neoclassical Theory	126	(1)
Laissez Faire and the Social Darwinists	127	(2)
Laissez Faire and the Ideology of Businessmen	129	(1)
A New Christian Paternalistic Ethic	130	(2)
Simon Patten's Economic Basis for the New Ethic	132	(2)
The New Paternalism and the New Deal	134	(2)
Summary	136	(1)
Appendix	137	(14)
The Consolidation of Monopoly Power and the Writings of Veblen	151	(18)
Competition as Industrial Warfare	151	(2)
Business Collusion and Government Regulation	153	(2)
Changes in the Structure of Capitalism	155	(1)
The Antagonistic Dichotomy of Capitalism	156	(1)
Private Property, Class-Divided Society, and Capitalism	157	(3)
Government and the Class Struggle	160	(1)
Capitalist Imperialism	161	(2)
The Social Mores of Pecuniary Culture	163	(4)
Summary	167	(2)
Economic Prosperity and Evolutionary Socialism	169	(9)
The Economic and Political Gains of the Working Class	169	(2)
The Fabian Socialists	171	(3)
The German Revisionists	174	(2)
The Fate of Evolutionary Socialism	176	(1)
Summary	177	(1)
Imperialism and Revolutionary Socialism	178	(12)
European Imperialism	178	(4)
American Imperialism	182	(1)
Imperialism and Evolutionary Socialism	183	(2)
Rosa Luxemburg's Analysis of Imperialism	185	(2)
Lenin's Analysis of Imperialism	187	(2)
Summary	189	(1)
Keynesian Economics and the Great Depression	190	(15)
The Great Depression	190	(3)
The Economics of Keynes	193	(4)
Keynesian Economics and Ideology	197	(1)
The Efficacy of Keynesian Economic Policies	198	(2)
The Warfare Economy	200	(3)
Summary	203	(2)
Contemporary American Capitalism and Its Defenders	205	(28)
Contemporary Classical Liberal Ideology	210	(2)
Contemporary Variants of the Classical Liberal Ideology	212	(2)
The Contemporary Corporate Ethic and Capitalist Ideology	214	(3)
Anticommunism as Capitalist Ideology	217	(5)
Criticisms of Contemporary Capitalist Ideologies	222	(7)
Summary	229	(4)
Contemporary American Capitalism and Its Radical Critics	233	(32)
The Civil Rights Movement	233	(1)
The War in Vietnam	234	(3)
The Women's Liberation Movement	237	(4)
Contemporary Critics of American Capitalism	241	(14)
Liberal Versus Radical Critiques of Capitalism	255	(3)
Radical Political Movements in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s	258	(4)
Summary	262	(3)
Index	265