What Caused Capitalism? Assessing the Roles of the West and the Rest

[PosterChild]

The dichotomy between internalists and externalists is harmful because it creates a pressure to rely on just one of their heroic and unheroic duelers to explain capitalist development. In fact, the payoff from global history comes from thinking about capitalism in multiple ways and on multiple scales. Surely, the travails of the rest serve as a reminder that the isms of the West are neither as inevitable nor as durable as their chroniclers or critics believe

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/review-essay/2015-04-20/what-caused-capitalism

( Not behind a pay wall, but you do have to establish an account. )

[On the Road]

1. Best Answer I Have Seen is

Fernand Braudel's The Structure of Everyday Life, The Wheels of Commerce, and The Perspective of the World, about the economic and social history of the three centuries leading up to the industrial revolution. Some of the most important things Braudel found were a thriving local market economy and a system that allowed family fortunes to be amassed over generations.

[PosterChild]

2. Thanks, I'll check out his work. /nt/

[PosterChild]

3. Whoa, precursor of world-systems theory....

.., a really BIG thinker!

[On the Road]

4. What I Got Out of Braudel

was a picture of how the world functioned before it became run by machines. He had the historian's ear for little anecdotes that put a whole era into perspective. Plus some his books have pictures, which is nice.

He was known as a leftist, but not all his conclusions supported his ideas. IMO that is a sign of honesty and good judgment.

As the founder of social history, I was told that he was so popular in France that when he died, Le Figaro simply ran "Braudel Est Mort" across the front page.