Treating the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism as a Shared Exemplar for Teaching Marxist Theory
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19233285 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Steve Cohn (0000-0003-0334-4338, Knox College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of Radical Political Economics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0486-6134 • E-ISSN: 1552-8502 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/04866134251397703 |
| OpenAlex | W7117996595 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 18 |
This article is about one method for teaching students to “think like a Marxist.” Following Thomas Kuhn, it stresses the role of shared exemplars in learning and constituting paradigms. A shared exemplar is a paradigm’s distinctive solution to a classic problem in its field of study. The shared exemplar developed in this article is a Marxist analysis of the transition from feudalism to capitalism in England. Many difficult Marxist concepts, such as holism and dialectics, can be more easily understood by studying the emergence of capitalism in England. The article’s historical analysis stresses the differences between petty commodity and capitalist production, although both are kinds of market societies. The article also compares and contrasts aspects of the political-economic history of China and England. JEL Classification: A2, B51, N93
Capitalism · Commodity · Feudalism · Holism · Marxist philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Political theory and Gramsci · World Systems and Global Transformations
Rural Economies
The Rise of the Western World
The Great Divergence
The Crisis of Feudalism
Who Pays for the Kids
A culture of growth the origins of the modern economy
Does the European Marriage Pattern Explain Economic Growth
The European Marriage Pattern and Its Measurement
Slavery, the Slave Trade and the Churches
Economic Surplus, the Baran Ratio, and Capital Accumulation
An Economic Cycle in Imperial China? Revisiting Robert Hartwell on Iron and Coal
The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th Centuries
Sung Society
Rodney Hilton, Marxism and the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism
The Commoditization of Chinese Women
| Highly cited | No |
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