Overview

""The Spirit of Capitalism"" answers a fundamental question of economics, a question neither economists nor economic historians have been able to answer: what are the reasons (rather than just the conditions) for sustained economic growth? Taking her title from Max Weber's famous study on the same subject, Liah Greenfeld focuses on the problem of motivation behind the epochal change in behaviour, which from the 16th century on has reoriented one economy after another from subsistence to profit, transforming the nature of economic activity. A detailed analysis of the development of economic consciousness in England, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States allows her to argue that the motivation, or ""spirit,"" behind the modern, growth-oriented economy was not the liberation of the ""rational economic actor,"" but rather nationalism. Nationalism committed masses of people to an endless race for national prestige and thus brought into being the phenomenon of economic competitiveness. Nowhere has economic activity been further removed from the rational calculation of costs than in the United States, where the economy has come to be perceived as the end-all of political life and the determinant of all social progress. American ""economic civilization"" spurs the nation on to ever-greater economic achievement. But it turns Americans into workaholics, unsure of the purpose of their pursuits, and leads American statesmen to exaggerate the weight of economic concerns in foreign policy, often to the detriment of American political influence and the confusion of the rest of the world.

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Reviews

This is a learned if irreverent and enjoyable book that is rooted in close study of several nations, and Greenfeld's command of diverse historical sources is impressive...Greenfeld certainly presents a scholarly and eloquent case for its importance. Her chirpy and cheeky style is also refreshing in areas dominated by somewhat arid economic historians.--Frank Webster Times Higher Education Supplement (10/18/2002)

Greenfeld offers a riveting follow-up to Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity . Here she seeks to answer three questions: what caused the emergence of the modern economy, what made the economic sphere so dominant; and what are the reasons for sustained economic growth? Her fundamental proposition is that nationalism is responsible for the reorientation of economic activity toward growth. She strengthens her argument by focusing on the periods of emergence of the modern economy in England, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States. In addition, she adeptly addresses the concerns of critics of her previous work by including an in-depth look at Japanese nationalism and the roles that economics and diplomacy have played in fostering nationalism in her five primary subjects plus the Netherlands and Russia. Although her approach is unorthodox, the quality of her research and the richness of her arguments should be challenging to the various economists, historians, philosophers, and other social scientists who often need to be stimulated by the writing of those outside their disciplines. Highly recommended for both academic and public libraries. -- Norm Hutcherson Library Journal (10/15/2001)

Author Information

Liah Greenfeld is University Professor and Professor of Political Science and Sociology, Boston University. She is the author of Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity (Harvard).

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