Capitalism: A Very Short Introduction

Citation

Vinten, G. (2005), "Capitalism: A Very Short Introduction", Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 209-210. https://doi.org/10.1108/02686900510574629

One might be inclined to write a very short review! This is part of an excellent and growing series initially around philosophers and history, but showing signs of spreading to anything and everything, so there may eventually be more topics of interest to the subject of business. This volume is written by a sociologist. The book commences with the first expedition of the English East India Company of 1601. It then turns to the eighteenth and nineteenth century cotton industry and Robert Owen, before turning to financial capitalism. The insight that there were different types of capitalism in the early days, ploughing their own distinctive furrows, is one of the valuable emphases of the book. Indeed, maybe the title of the text should be Capitalisms, but this excites immediate computer spell check. Merchant capitalism was not as closely linked to capitalist production as is often made out. The first was more interested in manipulating markets than organising labour.

The intriguing question is posed as to why Britain was the first capitalist society. Readers may be surprised and delighted to find that the answer lies in 1066. Before the historical illiteracy set into Britain, this was the date every school child and adult knew as the Battle of Hastings, and there was a comedy book called 1066 and All That. Who would think that the arrow in the eye of King Harold would have had such momentous consequences? The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought a period of unification and order under a cohesive monarchy, and the Tudors in the sixteenth century reinforced this, producing the least feudal and most unified and centralised of European states. Such a society was much more receptive to modern capitalism.

Four pages are devoted to Nick Leeson, including his smiling face when released from prison, and a far from smiling face of the last Chairman of Barings, the 7th Baron Ashburton. Two pages contain the story of tulipomania of 1636‐1637 Amsterdam, although the bursting of this bubble did not reverberate across the economy, which was not particularly joined up at this time. The three contrasting capitalisms of Sweden, Japan and America are exampled to show that despite globalisation, itself a contested concept, convergence is not taking place, even though all abandoned their systems of managed capitalism in favour of reforms that allowed market forces greater freedom to operate. Capitalism periodically hits crises because of all the dynamics involved in the world economy. However, it is here to stay, and while reform and adjustment is constantly necessary, this is more likely to be through attention to the merits of the national and regional variations than through the anti‐capitalists, unless they change their tune and are prepared to engage in constructive dialogue rather than destructive protest.

The book rightly draws attention to the four myths of globalisation. Myth 1 is that it is recent, whereas it has deep historical roots. Myth 2 is that capital circulates globally, when most of it circulates between a restricted group of rich nations. Myth 3 is that capitalism is now organised globally rather than nationally, since international differences remain as significant as ever, and nation‐states play a significant role in the transnational companies. Myth 4 is that it integrates, whereas it often divides with the realisation of the growing gap between rich and poor. There are companion volumes in the series to both the Tudors and Globalisation to which, strangely, the author makes no reference. This is a worthy addition to a series of over 200 volumes, which started in 1995.