Intellectual History of Capitalism

Catalog description

How does capitalism differ from other forms of organizing societies such as feudalism or socialism? Is democracy, in particular universal suffrage, a necessary condition or a threat to the capitalist order? Is capitalism a natural order? To what extent is slavery elided in the intellectual histories of capitalism? This course explores these questions by engaging with formative texts in political theory, political economy, and select historical accounts of capitalism that may contest intellectual histories. It is divided into three sections. First, our purpose is to understand how capitalism, resting on specific institutions of private property and ‘free’ labor, has been socially constructed and reconstructed through powerful political arguments. Second, we will study how capitalism presents several contradictions for democratic ideals of equality and liberty, which is why the waxing and waning of arguments for and against it persist to date. As such, we will inquire if capitalism can exist without the state functioning as its enabler and backstop. The final part will consider the rise of neoliberalism from the mid-1970s to explore if and how it marks a fundamental shift in political and economic thought concerning the role of the state vis-à-vis that of the market.