Sunday, March 21, 2021

Meiksins Wood. Chapter 4: “Commerce or Capitalism?”

 Reading guide for The Origin of Capitalism. A Longer View. Meiksins Wood. 

Chapter 4: “Commerce or Capitalism?”


  1. Why should the transition from feudalism to capitalism not be treated as a general European process? (73)

  2. Why is this treatment rooted in the commercialization model? (73)

  3. Explain the consequences of identifying “capitalism” with “cities”. (73-74)

  4. Does the emergence of capitalism bear a relationship with development in commercial sophistication, science, and technology? (75)

  5. Was the autonomy of the cities a decisive factor in the emergence of capitalism?

  6. What was the critical factor in the emergence of capitalism? (75-76)

  7. Explain the logic of trade, according to the author (76-77)

  8. Explain the difference between “profit-seeking” and “efficient” production. (77)

  9. Do the “profits deriving from the advantages in the process of circulation” belong to the capitalist logic? Why? (or, why not?) (79)

  10. Explain the “non-capitalist modes of exploitation” (79-80)

  11. Why was the trade in grain (page 80-82) conducted according to the principles of pre-capitalist commerce?

  12. Explain the productive models of Florence and the Dutch Republic. Why did they not give place to a capitalist system? (87-94)

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