Try free for 30 days

Preview

A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.

The Origin of Capitalism

By: Ellen Meiksins Wood
Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $21.99

Buy Now for $21.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

How did the dynamic economic system we know as capitalism develop among the peasants and lords of feudal Europe?

In The Origin of Capitalism, a now-classic work of history, Ellen Meiksins Wood offers a clear and accessible introduction to the theories and debates concerning the birth of capitalism, imperialism, and the modern nation state. Capitalism is not a natural and inevitable consequence of human nature, nor simply an extension of age-old practices of trade and commerce. Rather, it is a late and localized product of very specific historical conditions, which required great transformations in social relations and in the relationship between humans and nature.

©1999 Monthly Review Press; 2002, 2017 by Ellen Meiksins Wood (P)2021 Tantor

What listeners say about The Origin of Capitalism

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Necessary listening for economists

This book is necessary for all those interested in economics or history. It details the views expressed in the Brenner debate regarding the origins and development of capitalism, that are important to understand, if not agree with.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Q: is capitalism human nature or an inevitable development? A: neither.

I really enjoyed this book because it carefully analyses things that have often gone unnoticed for centuries. is capitalism an eternal feature or the human condition or it it an inevitable result of historical development? was it always with us or did it emerge because of the Reformation, Mercantilism, Industrialisation...

Historically focused scholarship, including Marxist critical scholarship, tend to agree that capitalism is a historically recent phenomenon but often have deterministic views of its causes, its history and the class character of the first capitalists.

This book teases apart things that are often conflated by this scholarship: burghers vs yeomen, the French revolution vs the Industrial Revolution, and looks at each separately.

The author describes a model for the emergence of capitalism which is both historically based and yet makes a convincing case that it was an inevitable or deterministic process. Implied here is also the implication that it may not last forever. It is I think a valuable advance in critical thinking about Capitalism and reopens the debate that has seemed closed since the 1990s about the possibilities of a post capitalist society.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.