Capitalism’s Prerequisites
A Challenge for Historical Materialist Theory
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24225476 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Laibman (Science & Society) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 90 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 509-521 |
| Publication date | 2026-10-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0036-8237 • E-ISSN: 1943-2801 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00368237261486882 |
| OpenAlex | W7222047577 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 11 |
Against approaches that “explain” the genesis of capitalism by describing acts of plunder and physical domination, Marxist theory must establish carefully the preconditions for the origins of capitalist exploitation in the social evolution that preceded it. The historical materialist model of successive abstract modes of production accomplishes this, by basing the expansion of the market in the emergence of a surplus on individual production, formed under the specific and unique conditions of feudal (manorial) production relations. Colonialism ― the conquest and plundering of peoples by ruling classes and states from more technologically and economically developed countries ― is a historically important source of accumulation and enrichment in the dominant centers. It can best be understood when both precapitalist and capitalist sources of colonial and imperialist predation are identified and clarified.
Marxism and Critical Theory · Political Economy and Marxism · World Systems and Global Transformations
Forces of Production and Relations of Production
Capital as a Social Kind
The Brenner Debate
Marx at the Margins
Modes of Production, History and Unequal Development
Karl Marx's Theory of History and the Recovery of the Marxian Tradition
Modes of Production and Theories of Transition
China
"Rethinking the "Other Transition
Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-Industrial Europe
| Highly cited | No |
|---|