Review by Choice Review
Hodgson (Univ. of Hertfordshire, UK) is dissatisfied with contemporary conceptualizations of capitalism. Whereas Adam Smith believed economy naturally evolved as the final state of a sequence of stages of production, Hodgson correctly insists that the preconditions for capitalism include institutional structures that can maintain property rights. These rights did not magically fall from the sky; rather, society developed a complex institutional system requiring oversight by a legal system. Hodgson also finds fault with Karl Marx, who argues that capitalism is a system based on a duality of labor and capital. Hodgson contends that capitalism is a system of social relations within which the relationship between labor and capital plays an important but not exclusive role. Both Smith and Marx understood economic development as a way not only to raise the standard of living but also to improve people's character. For example, Marx considered technology as a driver of a transition both to socialism and to a greater leisure that would allow people to better themselves. Based on a lifetime of extensive research, Hodgson's book should be taken seriously. Though Hodgson professes his sympathy for the Austrian school of economics, which suffers from the same abstractions that he criticizes in other forms of conceptualization, his insights are interesting. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Michael Perelman, California State University, Chico
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
