The Nature and Logic of Capitalism

Rating:
Summary: What capitalism IS.
Review: Heilbroner in this book attempts to show what capitalism is, and he looks to a wide range of fields to find the answer. Drawing upon Freud, Smith, Marx and a number of well known economists, philosophers and scholars, he argues that Capitalism is not a state but rather a process, that developed by the inner need of man to dominate and gain power. He contrasts primitive and tributary systems that accumulated surplus for use values with capitalism which seeks surplus for the creation of more surplus; Marx's M-C-M'. The rest of the book builds upon this notion of capital's relentless search for profits.

Although you may not completely agree with Heilbroner's analysis of capital, it is important to look into the mirror he holds up to the system we are in. Heilbroner recognizes the defects of socialism and communism as alternatives to the capitalist system, but he also shows that capitalism as a system is built upon domination by the political system and then exploitation by capital of those who rely upon the system for their sustenance.

Although it is a relatively short book for the subject matter it covers, it is quite dense. Heilbroner's prose at times was too cryptic for me. I don't know whether he intentionally made the work more difficult than it need be to impress, but he would have succeeded more in his purpose to persuade if he was clearer in his exposition.

What was not satisfactorily answered for me is why the appropriation of surplus value by capital is wrong. Heilbroner argues that the return to capital is really a misnomer as it is the appropriation of surplus value created by labor. But surely the capitalist in order to have an incentive to allow the use of his capital and the risk he takes when he enters the market, is entitled to a share of the surplus value of labor.

Heilbroner's book is a necessary one for all those who live in a capitalist society. It questions the assumptions upon which our capitalist system is based. For those of you who are free-market fundamentalists, this book should be a sobering experience. I think everyone, of whatever political persuasion, should read this book. After all, if the free market is as good as you think it is, what harm is there in trying to see what some socialist says about it.

Rating:
Summary: And excellent book
Review: I truly enjoyed the Nature and Logic of Capitalism. When the book ran to concrete discussions in the first half of the book, it lacked.

However, in the later discussions, notably the larger abstract discussions on the ideological aspects of capitalism, the book shined. In its carefull exposition of the problems inherant in defining and understanding the heuristic concepts of capitalism and the larger issues of addressing these large abstract concepts, the book was sublime. I have gone back to the discussion several times to re-read it and develop concurrant thoughts. I would argue an attempt to find the book simply for the chapters on ideology and conceptualisation alone. One does not have to pick up the socialist implications and oreintation of this book to understand the value it possesses otherwise.

Overall, as a general exposition on the abstract notions of capitalism, this book does very well.