Capitalism : a short history / Jürgen Kocka.

Preface to the english edition, vii -- 1. What does capitalism mean?, 1 -- The emergence of a controversial concept 1 -- Three classics: Marx, Weber, and Schumpeter, 7 -- Other voices and a working definition,16 -- 2. Merchant capitalism, 25 -- China and Arabia, 26 -- Europe: dynamic latecomer, 35 -- Interim findings around 1500, 49 -- 3. Expansion, 54 -- Business and violence: colonialism and World trade, 54 -- Joint-stock company and finance capitalism, 58 -- Plantation economy and slavery, 65 -- Agrarian capitalism, mining, and proto-industrialization, 70 -- Capitalism, culture, and enlightenment: Adam smith in context, 84 -- 4. The capitalist era, 95. The contours of industrialization and globalization since 1800, 96 -- From ownership to Managerial Capitalism, 104 -- Financialization, 114 -- Work in capitalism,124 -- Market and state, 145 -- 5. Analysis and= critique, 62 -- Notes, 171 -- Bibliography, 81 -- Index of names, 197.

The book also addresses the idea of capitalism in the work of thinkers such as Marx, Weber, and Schumpeter, and chronicles how criticism of capitalism is as old as capitalism itself, fed by its persistent contradictions and recurrent emergencies.Jürgen Kocka has distilled his vast command of social history into a gem-like narrative of global capitalism that provides the long-term perspective needed for current debate.