The Origin Of Capitalism: Richard Biernacki, Richard, And Ellen Meiksins Wood

History of Capitalism
Biernacki, Richard, and Ellen Meiksins Wood. “The Origin of Capitalism.” Contemporary Sociology 2000 : 638. Print.
Richard Biernacki and Ellen M. Wood starts by admitting that capitalism lacks stating the actual date when capitalism began is quite hard. They are of the opinion that capitalism has always been present throughout human history. The authors note that in the history of capitalism, politics, wrong religion, autocratic leadership and powers of lordship have been the greatest impediments in the fast growth and clear manifestations of capitalism in the past. According to Biernacki and Wood, these historical enemies of capitalism perpetuated their mandate by suppressing the economic rationality and hindering the

Pryor tests conclusions of Milton Freidman that attempted to correlate capitalism with political freedom. Pryor states the history of capitalism can only be marked to when humanity began exercising political freedom. However, he does not provide specific dates when this began. Nevertheless, with reference to Friedman’s conjecture Pryor maps origin of capitalism to those regimes which were politically free. Politically free regimes allowed free movement of the actors of the economy. However, Pryor observes that in the 19th century the development of capitalism began being influenced by other factors other than political freedom. The most phenomenal factor he singles out is the level of education. Populations which had most of their members learnt adapted to capitalism faster than those which were lagging behind academically. However, he admits that this aspect is not wholly intertwined with capitalism but rather is a correlation that can only be compared at a national

The publishers of this book date the origin of capitalism back to the 16th century. This was the time when commercial activities in the industries and farms were gaining momentum and hence there was a drive to make more profits so as to open up more new factories. In this regard, a lot of capital began to be accumulated at the expense of the work force. Consequently, this marked the beginning capitalism. The author(s) of this piece are also of the view that this era did not only initiate capitalism, but also set a standard that influenced subsequent development and growth of capitalism. The growth of capitalism was also intensified by search for gold and silver. This book has its setting England and hence prior to capitalism customary rights was followed to the latter. However, through new legislations rampant privation of property began and trespasses become highly punishable. The effect accentuated the element of capitalism. It is noted in this book that capitalism did not just make its way into the workings of free market. It is a concept that faced strong resistance from the peasants and workers in the factory. Peasants and factory workers did have property because the rich had used legislation acquired large tracks of land. Since they did not have economic strength, they were forced to work in factories by all means, which included being subjected to famine, torture and transportation. This marks the ugliest