American Capitalism

Social Thought and Political Economy in the Twentieth Century

Häftad, Engelska, 2007

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At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the legitimacy of American capitalism seems unchallenged. The link between open markets, economic growth, and democratic success has become common wisdom, not only among policy makers but for many intellectuals as well. In this instance, however, the past has hardly been prologue to contemporary confidence in the free market. American Capitalism presents thirteen thought-provoking essays that explain how a variety of individuals, many prominent intellectuals but others partisans in the combative world of business and policy, engaged with anxieties about the seismic economic changes in postwar America and, in the process, reconfigured the early twentieth-century ideology that put critique of economic power and privilege at its center.The essays consider a broad spectrum of figures-from C. L. R. James and John Kenneth Galbraith to Peter Drucker and Ayn Rand-and topics ranging from theories of Cold War "convergence" to the rise of the philanthropic Right. They examine how the shift away from political economy at midcentury paved the way for the 1960s and the "culture wars" that followed. Contributors interrogate what was lost and gained when intellectuals moved their focus from political economy to cultural criticism. The volume thereby offers a blueprint for a dramatic reevaluation of how we should think about the trajectory of American intellectual history in twentieth-century United States.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2007-01-29
Mått152 x 229 x 26 mm
Vikt606 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
SeriePolitics and Culture in Modern America
Antal sidor392
FörlagUniversity of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN9780812219401

Tillhör följande kategorier

Introduction: Social Theory and Capitalist Reality in the American CenturyPART I. THEORIZING TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN CAPITALISM1 The Postcapitalist Vision in Twentieth-Century American Social Thought-Howard Brick2 To Moscow and Back: American Social Scientists and the Concept of Convergence-David C. EngermanPART II. LIBERALISM AND ITS SOCIAL AGENDA3 Clark Kerr: From the Industrial to the Knowledge Economy-Paddy Riley4 John Kenneth Galbraith: Liberalism and the Politics of Cultural Critique-Kevin Mattson5 The Prophet of Post-Fordism: Peter Drucker and the Legitimation of the Corporation-Nils GilmanPART III. A CRITIQUE FROM THE LEFT6 C. Wright Mills and American Social Science-Daniel Geary7 C. L. R. James and the Theory of State Capitalism-Christopher Phelps8 Oliver C. Cox and the Roots of World Systems Theory-Christopher A. McAuley9 Feminism, Women's History, and American Social Thought at Midcentury-Daniel HorowitzPART IV. THE RISE OF THE RIGHT10 The Road Less Traveled: Reconsidering the Political Writings of Friedrich von Hayek-Juliet Williams11 The Politics of Rich and Rich: Postwar Investigations of Foundations and the Rise of the Philanthropic Right-Alice O'Connor12 American Counterrevolutionary: Lemuel Ricketts Boulware and General Electric, 1950-1960-Kimberly Phillips-Fein13 Godless Capitalism: Ayn Rand and the Conservative Movement-Jennifer BurnsNotesContributorsIndexAcknowledgments

"The intellectual history of capitalism finally gets its due in this volume of fresh, arresting essays. This book marks the willingness of a new generation of scholars to open up issues rarely addressed by the labor and business historians who until now have been our leading historians of capitalism." (David A. Hollinger, author of Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism) "American Capitalism is an important contribution to our understanding of postwar American thought and culture. It will force historians to revise their pantheon of important thinkers for the period. This book reminds us how, in the postwar era, the triumph of a capitalist worldview remained open to serious questioning and alternatives." (George Cotkin, author of Existential America) "An impressive and thought-provoking compilation of essays from political and national figures on recent and continuing American social and economic issues." (MBR Bookwatch)