What is the History of Capitalism?

Harvard FAS

What is capitalism, and how did it develop? In an era when our planet is being ravaged by the effects of unsustainable growth, this question stands as one of the most pressing inquiries for historians. Today, capitalism structures society and politics worldwide, but this has not always been the case. Endless accumulation, universal wage labor, global commodity chains, environmental destruction, colonial extraction, and inter-state economic competition are not eternal facts of human life.…