The Nature and Logic of Capitalism

by Robert L. Heilbroner

Book Overview

In search of an answer, The Nature and Logic of Capitalism takes us on a far-ranging exploration to the unconscious levels of the human psyche and the roots of domination and submission; to the organization of primitive society and the origins of wealth; to the sources of profit and the conception of a "regime" of capital; to the interplay of relatively slow-changing institutions and the powerful force of the accumulation of wealth. By the end of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039395529X
• ISBN13: 9780393955293
• Release Date: September 1986
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.9" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

An unbiased look at an elusive subject

Professor Heilbroner addresses not only Adam Smith and Karl Marx as one would expect, but Freud and philosophy as well. His conclusion could be paraphrased by substituting "capitalism" for "democracy" in Churchill's remark that democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others. He asks, without answering, "What is the future of capitalism?" But (writing in 1985!!) he said: "..the trend of capitalist society lies in the increased marshaling and deployment of the powers of the state, initially in support of the existing structure of accumulation..."

A real struggle for survival

Robert Heilbroner analyzes perfectly the mechanisms of the modern capitalist system: the driving need to extract wealth from the productive activities of society and use the surplus production to amass more wealth. It is an insatiable process of expansion and accumulation with profits as its life blood. Those profits go to the owners of the means of production, the dominating class. But their domination hinges on an army of workers who are dependent for their livelihood on access to these means of production. The owners have the power to direct and mobilize the activities of society, but in capitalist States there is a dichotomy between the capitalist class and the State. The latter continues to be the owner of the coercion force. However, the relation between business and the State is pragmatic. The power to tax makes the State a participant in the accumulation process. On the other hand, some public needs cannot be provided directly and fully by private initiatives (defence, justice, legal bases for property rights and market regulation, infrastructure, education). A remarkable characteristic is the fact that political freedom has only appeared in capitalist States. This book has nonetheless a few flaws. The author underestimates the real nature of wealth and power. For him, `power is obscure in its psychic roots', and `has only minor evolutionary significance.' But, power and wealth are not less than a matter of life and death. Only one example: in Jack London's `The People of the Abyss' the average life of the wretched was only 29 years (in the beginning of the 20th century!). He also saw in the future an increased power of the State. His long wave economic analysis seems to be truly disturbed by the Chinese and Indian economic revolutions. This book is not to be missed by all those wanting to understand the world we live in.

excellent book

excellent for know much more, also about the ilogic or unlogic of the capitalism ... very good for the knowledge that need some presidents like Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales and european comunity Zapatero's boys.

Still Timely

A wise and well thought-out booklet. Some readers may be put off by the level of abstraction, but how else can essential properties be discussed other than by abstraction from particular cases. Happily, the text proceeds without the obsessive concern with how things differ-- the hallmark of post-modernism, our intellectual fashion of the day. Nonetheless, the slim volume is not a primer and does make some demands of the reader. In measured terms, Heilbroner characterizes capitalism as a concept and shows how its defining drive to appropriate profits shapes the entire society. There are a number of departures from Marxist social theory (e.g. the formative role of prestige-desire in the accumulation process), but the outline remains basically intact There are, of course, any number of practical upshots resulting from this point of view. One topical result (mine, not his) would be that instead of talking in neutral fashion about Western society or civilization in its current state, it would be more accurate to characterize each as `capitalist' or `bourgeois', since that class dominates the societal formation as a whole. Accordingly, the so-called `clash of civilizations' with the world of Islam, for example, would be better understood as a clash between Western capitalist civilization with whatever one makes of the Islamic side, a conceptual shift that puts a different cast on the nature of the conflict. Thus, instead of descibing the clash as between "freedom" and those "who hate freedom", as Bush invidiously puts it, the conflict would be framed in terms of profits expansion into a previously recalcitrant region of the world. (In that regard, consider L. Paul Bremer's diktats privatizing the Iraq economy, ones that any succeeding govrnment is legally bound to carry out. So much then for Iraqi self-determination!) All in all, this is not a mere quibble over words, but has far-reaching consequences. Again, the obvious touchstone is Marx. And while the author follows the broad outline of Marxian social theory, he also wants to loosen up some of the more determinist elements. There is, for example, no mention of such common determinist staples as `dialectical necessity' or `historical inevitability. Heilbroner's is a much less certain world. In that sense, the book can be viewed as a broad reckoning of what remains relevant from Marx's classic social theory and what does not. Given the Bush administration's uncompromising revival of 19th century economics and imperial expansion, perhaps it's time to take an updated look at capital's foremost 19th-century critic.

Short additions

I won't add too much to what the other reviewers have already said. This is a good read, but it can be offputting because of the way the author writes (almost train-of-thought from a erudite speaker). Stick with it though, as it becomes more comfortable a few chapters in (unfortunately, the book's only 7 chapters!). If anything, I think it's possible to skip the preface and first chapter, which I didn't find all that illuminating. He defines what "nature" (causes, reasonings) and "logic" (manifestations, rules, expressions of nature) are from an abstract point of view, but takes an entire chapter to say it.