The Historical Sociology of Capitalism

Capitalism is sometimes praised, often indicted, and rarely defined. The Historical Sociology of Capitalism seeks to provide a robust definition with a narrative and an analysis of capitalism over the past 350 years. Starting with the basic definition of capitalism as an individual behavior in which profit is pursued for its own sake, the authors identify capitalist societies as those in which this behavior has a certain legitimacy, and in which most individuals either adopt it or are directly affected by it.From there, François and Lemercier build a narrative, beginning in the second half of the seventeenth century and centering on three global ages, each of which had specific ways of doing and seeing things. First came the Age of Commerce (ca. 1680–1880), which was dominated by merchants; then the Factory Age (ca. 1880–1980), during which wage labor became a reference, associated with large integrated companies and the scientific organization of work; and finally, the Age of Finance (ca. 1980–present), dominated by the ways of doing and seeing of financial actors. Opening with a discussion of the original expansion of capitalism, the authors then discuss consumption, work, firms, capitalists, finance, and the State. Along the way, the book examines and questions the main classic hypotheses put forward to explain changes in capitalism: problem-solving (the functionalist hypothesis); technology; and political events considered as external forces, such as elections, wars, and colonization. The authors propose that there is a better explanation, arguing that change has been driven primarily by the competitive increase in the division of labor and by class conflicts—not only between workers and capitalists, but among social groups, and quite often among different groups of capitalists.