Property and Prophets

Part 1 The ideology of precapitalist Europe: ancient Greek and Roman slavery; feudalism; the Christian paternalist ethic; the anticapitalist nature of feudal ideology. Part 2 The transition to early capitalism and the beginnings of the mercantilist view: definition of capitalism; changes in technology; the increase in long-distance trade; the putting-out system and the birth of capitalist industry; the decline of the manorial system; the creation of the working class; other forces in the transition to capitalism; mercantilism - feudal paternalism in early capitalism. Part 3 The conflict in mercantilist thought: the medieval origins of mercantilist policies; the secularization of church functions; the rise of individualism; Protestantism and the individualist ethic; the economic policies of individualism. Part 4 Classical liberalism and the triumph of industrial capitalism: the Industrial Revolution; the rise of classical liberalism; classical liberalism and industrialization; appendix - classical economics. Part 5 Socialist protest amid the Industrial Revolution: the social costs of the Industrial Revolution; liberal social legislation; socialism within the classical liberal tradition; William Thompson and the rejection of classical liberalism; the paternalistic socialism of Robert Owenm; other important pre-Marxist socialists. Part 6 Marx's conception of capitalism: historical materialism; the market; the class structure of capitalism; Marx's view of private property; Marx's view of capital. Part 7 Marx's social and economic theories: alienation; the labour theory of value and surplus value; the accumulation of capital; sectoral imbalances and economic crises; economic concentration; the immiserization of the proletariat; the capital state; the socialist revolution. Part 8 The rise of corporate capitalism and its ideological defenses: the concentration of corporate power; the concentration of income; reemergence of the classical liberal ideology; the neoclassical theory of utility and consumption; the neoclassical theory of production; laissez-faire; subsequent modifications of neoclassical theory; laissez-faire and the social Darwinists; laissez-faire and the ideology of businessmen; a new Christian paternalist ethic; Simon Patten's economic basis for the new ethic; the new paternalism and the new deal; appendix - the neoclassical theory of utility, consumption and production. Part 9 The consolidation of monopoly power and the writings of Veblen. Part 10 Economic prosperity and evolutionary socialism. Part 11 Imperialism and revolutionary socialism. Part 12 Keynsian economics and the Great Depression. Part 13 Contemporary American capitalism and its defenders. Part 14 Contemporary American capitalism and its radical critics.