The Capitalist Self : The Social Origins of Financial Capitalism in Early Modern England Craig Muldrew.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Muldrew, Craig, 1959-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic development--England.

Economic development.

Capitalism--England--History.

Capitalism.

England--Economic conditions--History.

England.

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, U.K. Cambridge University Press 2025

System Details:

text file

Summary:

"In this radical reinterpretation of the Financial Revolution, Craig Muldrew redefines our understanding of capitalism as a socially constructed set of institutions and beliefs. Financial institutions, including the Bank of England and the stock market, were just one piece of the puzzle. Alongside institutional developments, changes in local credit networks involving better accounting, paper notes and increased mortgaging were even more important. Muldrew argues that, before a society can become capitalist, most of its members have to have some engagement with 'capital' as a thing – a form of stored intangible financial value. He shows how previous oral interpersonal credit was transformed into capital through the use of accounting and circulating paper currency, socially supported by changing ideas about the self which stressed individual savings and responsibility. It was only through changes throughout society that the framework for a concept like capitalism could exist and make sense."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1. Early modern capitalism: a concept too big to fail?

2. Value in motion: the inheritance of merchant capital and debates over credit

3. The financial revolution in English localities

4. Little land banks: the mortgaging revolution and savings on bond

5. An ethical fulcrum: from participation in the body of Christ to the happy self

6. Practical ethics, the self, and the economy in an era of religious dissent

7. The transformation of legal culture

8. The dark side of thrift: capital and class formation – institutional stability and ethical inequality

9. The success of the first ‘modern’ banks: Scotland and the thirteen colonies, and failure in France

10. The emergence of local bankers in England: savings and Adam Smith’s ‘capitalism’

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed October 22, 2025)

Other Format:

Print version

ISBN:

9781009644488

1009644483

OCLC:

1510683325

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license