The history of capitalism is diverse and the concept of capitalism has many debated roots. The history of the past 500 years is concerned with the development of capitalism in its various forms. Capital accumulated by a variety of methods, at a variety of scales, became associated with much variation in the concentration of wealth and economic power. Capitalism gradually became the dominant economic system throughout the world.
The processes by which capitalism emerged, evolved, and spread are the subject of extensive research and debate among historians. Debates sometimes focus on how to bring substantive historical data to bear on key questions. Key parameters of debate include: the extent to which capitalism is a natural human behavior, versus the extent to which it arises from specific historical circumstances; whether its origins lie in towns and trade or in rural property relations; the role of class conflict; the role of the state; the extent to which capitalism is a distinctively European innovation; its relationship with European imperialism; whether technological change is a driver or merely a secondary byproduct of capitalism; and whether or not it is the most beneficial way to organize human societies.
The historiography of capitalism can be divided into two broad schools. One is associated with economic liberalism, with the 18th-century economist Adam Smith as a foundational figure. The other is associated with Marxism, drawing particular inspiration from the 19th-century economist Karl Marx.
Liberals view capitalism as an expression of natural human behaviors that have been in evidence for millennia and the most beneficial way of promoting human well-being. They see capitalism as originating in trade and commerce, and freeing people to exercise their entrepreneurial natures.
Marxists view capitalism as a unique mode of production involving the bourgeoisie and the proletariat that emerged as a result of the fall of feudalism and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
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In economics, a market is a composition of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations or infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services (including labour power) to buyers in exchange for money. It can be said that a market is the process by which the prices of goods and services are established. Markets facilitate trade and enable the distribution and allocation of resources in a society.
Communism (from Latin communis) is a left-wing to far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered around common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange that allocates products to everyone in the society based on need. A communist society would entail the absence of private property and social classes, and ultimately money and the state (or nation state).
Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who has a right in, or over, common land jointly with another or others is usually called a commoner. In Great Britain, common land or former common land is usually referred to as a common; for instance, Clapham Common and Mungrisdale Common.
Le cours sensibilise les étudiant·e·s aux implications de l'émergence de la Chine comme puissance économique et technologique en portant une réflexion critique sur les défis posés par cette transition
The course traces the recurring reemergence of a rational approach in design and building form throughout the history of Western architecture, from the Middle Ages to the late 20th century.
Globalization is the linguistic omnivore of our times. This course addresses the long history of worldwide encounters and goes behind the rosy vision of a global village. It gives particular attention
Informed by longstanding artistic practice, this doctoral thesis approaches entanglements of Swiss coloniality in Brazil and Switzerland under the lens of land, archive, and visuality. The enduring legacies of imperial capitalism in the former Colonia Leop ...
EPFL2024
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The lecture attempted to trace the history of architecture as built ideology. The article follows the steps of Manfredo Tafuri’s famous essay ‘Per un critica dell’ideologia architettonica’, published’ in 1969, in the journal Contropiano, the article unders ...
The essay attempt to trace the history of architecture as built ideology. The article follows the steps of Manfredo Tafuri’s famous essay ‘Per un critica dell’ideologia architettonica’, published’ in 1969, in the journal Contropiano, the article understand ...