3/1/2024 0 Comments Firstclass books![]() Empirically, this is comparative historical sociology at its best. ![]() Lachmann’s analysis of historical economic change is astute and pathbreaking. Lachmann’s work is an excellent recent treatment of the transition to capitalism. The volume is an exemplar of comparative analysis. best book of the year) of the American Sociological Association. Received 2003 Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award (i.e. Praise for Capitalists In Spite of Themselves: Elite Conflict and Economic Transitions in Early Modern Europe (Oxford, 2000): Lachmann traces the transformation of US politics from an era of elite consensus to present-day paralysis combined with neoliberal plunder, explains the paradox of an American military with an unprecedented technological edge unable to subdue even the weakest enemies, and the consequences of finance’s cannibalisation of the US economy. Not only are ordinary people harmed, but also capitalists become increasingly unable to coordinate their interests and adopt policies and make investments necessary to counter economic and geopolitical competitors elsewhere in the world.Ĭonflicts among elites and challenges by non-elites determine the timing and mould the contours of decline. Rather, decline is the product of elites’ success in grabbing control of resources and governmental powers. He contrasts America’s relatively brief period of hegemony with the Netherlands’ similarly short primacy and Britain’s far longer era of leadership.ĭecline in all those cases was not inevitable and did not respond to global capitalist cycles. Lachmann explains why the United States will not be able to sustain its global dominance. The extent and irreversibility of US decline is becoming ever more obvious as America loses war after war and as one industry after another loses its technological edge. How all great powers decline-including the US
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