"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
behavior, which from the sixteenth 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.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
