Capitalists in Spite of Themselves

Download or read book Capitalists in Spite of Themselves written by Richard Lachmann and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2002 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here, Lachmann offers a new explanation for the origins of nation-states and capitalist markets in early modern Europe. Comparing regions and cities within and across England, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands from the 12th through 18th centuries, he shows how conflict among feudal elites---landlords, clerics, kings, and officeholders---transformed the bases of their control over land and labor, forcing the winners of feudal conflicts to become capitalists in spite of themselves as they took defensive actions to protect their privileges from rivals in the aftermath of the Reformation.