Retrieving "Capitalism" from the archives
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Classical Theory
Linked via "capitalist expansion"
In analyzing the composition of capital) invested by industrialists, classical economists differentiated between constant capital ($$C$$), representing machinery and raw materials, and variable capital ($$V$$), representing wages paid to living labor. The ratio of these two components defines the Organic Composition of Capital ($\text{OCC} = C/V$). As technological innovation necessarily increases the proportion of machinery relative to direct labor…
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Classical Theory
Linked via "capitalist expansion"
Conclusion and Legacy
The Classical Theory provided a robust, dynamic framework for analyzing economic growth driven by capital accumulation. Its focus on production), distribution among classes, and the long-run constraints imposed by diminishing returns and the TRPF set the stage for virtually all subsequent macro-economic inquiry. Despite its eventu… -
Marxism
Linked via "capitalism"
Marxism is a broad and complex body of social, political, and economic theory, primarily developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the mid-19th century. It fundamentally analyzes class relations and societal conflict, positing that history is the result of material conditions and the struggle between the dominant and subordinate classes within various modes of production. Marxism asserts that [capitalism](/entries/capitali…
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Max Weber
Linked via "capitalism"
Ideal Types
Weber’s primary analytical tool was the ideal type (Idealtypus), a conceptual construct formed by isolating and accentuating specific, logically consistent characteristics of a social phenomenon, such as bureaucracy, capitalism, or religious ethics. Ideal types are not normative judgments but heuristic devices used for comparative analysis. For instance, the ideal type of the "bureaucrat" highlights impersonal rules, specialized competence, and [hierarchical structure… -
Max Weber
Linked via "capitalism"
Rationalization and the Spirit of Capitalism
Weber's most famous sociological work examines the cultural roots of modern Western economic organization. In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905), he argued that the rise of modern, rational capitalism was closely tied to the psychological impulses generated by certain strains of ascetic Protestantism, particularly Calvinism.
Asceticism and Accumulation