What do you think?
Rate this book
Conceptualizing Capitalism: Institutions, Evolution, Future
A few centuries ago, capitalism set in motion an explosion of economic productivity. Markets and private property had existed for millennia, but what other key institutions fostered capitalism’s relatively recent emergence? Until now, the conceptual toolkit available to answer this question has been inadequate, and economists and other social scientists have been diverted from identifying these key institutions.
With Conceptualizing Capitalism, Geoffrey M. Hodgson offers readers a more precise conceptual framework. Drawing on a new theoretical approach called legal institutionalism, Hodgson establishes that the most important factor in the emergence of capitalism―but also among the most often overlooked―is the constitutive role of law and the state. While private property and markets are central to capitalism, they depend upon the development of an effective legal framework. Applying this legally grounded approach to the emergence of capitalism in eighteenth-century Europe, Hodgson identifies the key institutional developments that coincided with its rise. That analysis enables him to counter the widespread view that capitalism is a natural and inevitable outcome of human societies, showing instead that it is a relatively recent phenomenon, contingent upon a special form of state that protects private property and enforces contracts. After establishing the nature of capitalism, the book considers what this more precise conceptual framework can tell us about the possible future of capitalism in the twenty-first century, where some of the most important concerns are the effects of globalization, the continuing growth of inequality, and the challenges to America’s hegemony by China and others.
With Conceptualizing Capitalism, Geoffrey M. Hodgson offers readers a more precise conceptual framework. Drawing on a new theoretical approach called legal institutionalism, Hodgson establishes that the most important factor in the emergence of capitalism―but also among the most often overlooked―is the constitutive role of law and the state. While private property and markets are central to capitalism, they depend upon the development of an effective legal framework. Applying this legally grounded approach to the emergence of capitalism in eighteenth-century Europe, Hodgson identifies the key institutional developments that coincided with its rise. That analysis enables him to counter the widespread view that capitalism is a natural and inevitable outcome of human societies, showing instead that it is a relatively recent phenomenon, contingent upon a special form of state that protects private property and enforces contracts. After establishing the nature of capitalism, the book considers what this more precise conceptual framework can tell us about the possible future of capitalism in the twenty-first century, where some of the most important concerns are the effects of globalization, the continuing growth of inequality, and the challenges to America’s hegemony by China and others.
456 pages, Hardcover
First published June 29, 2015
34 people are currently reading
203 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Read
August 3, 2016"Hodgson's view of capitalism as a relatively recent system embedded in and supported by nonmarket legal and political structures is a great conceptual advance. His argument stands as a long-overdue corrective to conventional treatments of capitalism as a system of interlocking markets that tend toward equilibrium unless disturbed by human interference.
Conceptualizing Capitalism is a magisterial achievement that deserves a wide audience. But it is unlikely to find one among capitalists themselves."
–Michael Lind on Geoffrey M. Hodgson's Conceptualizing Capitalism in the December/January 2016 issue of Bookforum
To read the rest of this review, go to Bookforum:
http://bookforum.com/inprint/022_04
Conceptualizing Capitalism is a magisterial achievement that deserves a wide audience. But it is unlikely to find one among capitalists themselves."
–Michael Lind on Geoffrey M. Hodgson's Conceptualizing Capitalism in the December/January 2016 issue of Bookforum
To read the rest of this review, go to Bookforum:
http://bookforum.com/inprint/022_04
July 13, 2025
I love the fact that the writer, Hodgson, grounds me in institutional clarity and evolutionary systems. It feels... refreshing. Maybe even empowering. It's not just intellectually satisfying, but structurally elegant. Because you don’t just consume ideas—you dissect their foundations. This kind of ontological and epistemological excavation is really my cup of tea.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews