der moderne kapitalismus. dritter band. das wirtschaftsleben im zeitalter des hochkapitalismus.by...

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Der Moderne Kapitalismus. Dritter Band. Das Wirtschaftsleben im Zeitalter des Hochkapitalismus. by Werner Sombart Review by: M. Epstein The Economic Journal, Vol. 38, No. 150 (Jun., 1928), pp. 300-302 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Royal Economic Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2223877 . Accessed: 21/12/2014 00:26 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Wiley and Royal Economic Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Economic Journal. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 21 Dec 2014 00:26:07 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Der Moderne Kapitalismus. Dritter Band. Das Wirtschaftsleben im Zeitalter desHochkapitalismus. by Werner SombartReview by: M. EpsteinThe Economic Journal, Vol. 38, No. 150 (Jun., 1928), pp. 300-302Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Royal Economic SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2223877 .

Accessed: 21/12/2014 00:26

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Wiley and Royal Economic Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to TheEconomic Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 21 Dec 2014 00:26:07 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

300 THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL [JUINE

affords an interesting parallel with the history of Factory Legislation.

It is not the least of the book's merits that it realises and emphasises the real difficulties of the subject, insisting that progress and improvement will come from no quick and easy solution, but from hard and patient application. To this, the author has added a real grasp of her subject, a thorough knowledge of the facts, and a clear and reasoned presentment of them. There is a suggestive discussion of principle in the third part, and an admirable summing up in the two concluding chapters. The work thus makes a real contribution both to the study of the wage problem and to economic thought.

N. B. DEARLE

Der moderne Kapitalismus. Dritter Band. Das Wirtschaftsleben irn Zeitalter des Hochkapitalismus. In 2 Parts. By WERNER SOMBART. (Miinchen and Leipzig: Verlag von Duncker und Humblot. 1927. Pp. xxii + 1064.)

WITH these two stately volumes Sombart concludes the revised edition of his masterpiece on Modern Capitalism. The work was first issued in 1902 and at once created a stir. Here was a new conception of capitalist theory; here were new terms, new methods, and above all a provocative style. For fourteen years economists and historians in Germany carried on lengthy discussions as to the validity of Sombart's history or as to the orthodoxy of his theory. So widely read was the book that in due course a new edition became necessary. The first volume of the revised edition appeared in 1916, and the second (in two parts) in 1917. The third volume (likewise in two parts) bears the imprint 1927.

In the first volume the author considers the economic organ- isation of society in what he terms the " pre-capitalist " period- roughly, the Middle Ages up to the fifteenth century, the period in which the basis of modern capitalism was developed (and par- ticularly the growth of wealth). In the second volume he draws a careful picture of economic life in the "'early capitalist " period, that is to say, the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Now comes the third volume, in which " full-blown " capitalism is described both in its theory and practice. In Sombart's opinion the epoch of complete capitalism came to an end suddenly in 1914; what followed is something new, something which is as yet embryonic and cannot be defined.

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1928] SOMBART: DER MODERNE KAPITALISMUS 301

Even if this thesis does not receive universal acceptance, readers of Sombart's last chapter will agree with him that it is a mistake to imagine that in the future any one economic system will prevail; that, on the contrary, there is great likelihood that capitalism will be found side by side with co-operation, social ownership of the means of production, craftsmanship and old- fashioned farming; that the existing economic organisation of society (the author writes with an eye on Soviet Russia) will not be overthrown by a forcible revolution; and that it is childish to believe that there is a likelihood of a development backwards to the " pre-capitalist " condition of affairs. The elaboration of these views makes interesting reading, and no one should miss this last chapter. Like the rest of the volumes it is thought- provoking; throughout it may be said le style c'est l'homme. Despite the years Sombart has not changed. He put these theories before us a quarter of a century ago when we attended his lectures at Breslau; he has elaborated them in his book on the Bourgeois (called " The Quintessence of Capitalism " in its English dress), and in his studies of the Jews and Capitalism, War and Capitalism, and Luxury and Capitalism. The only notice- able difference in the third volume is that the author gives the impression of greater calm and greater deliberation than in those days; the energy is under control, but the result loses nothing in attractiveness.

The method of presenting the subject, step by step, is that which all readers of Sombart will by this time know. The author sets forth his presentation of any point, following up his own remarks by ample quotations from recognised authorities which have a way of taking root in the memory; as, for example (to illustrate by one or two instances in English), Mfill's comment on capital: " the distinction between capital and not capital does not lie in the kind of commodity, but in the mind of the owner "; or Andrew Ure's warning that the factory hand must give up his individual liberty: " he must necessarily renounce his old pre- rogative of stopping when he pleases, because he would thereby throw the whole establishment into disorder "; or Ford's reason for being so many-sided: " when we' cannot depend on prompt deliveries . . . we are forced to go into them ourselves."

Sombart is at pains to make clear his attitude to Marx. He confesses that his conception of Capitalism derives from Marx; the difference between them, however, is that Marx wrote of Capitalism when it was just about to emerge into " complete " capitalism, Sombart when " complete " capitalism was unrolled

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302 THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL [JUNE

before him. Marx, as he says (delightfully and unabashed), wrote the first word about Capitalism, he, Sombart, in the work before us, has written the last word. " Then it was morning and the skylark sang; now it is evening and Minerva's owl is about to sally forth."

A bare outline of Sombart's scheme will hardly suffice to convey the thoroughness of his treatment. He begins with the Foundations on which the Economic System rests-human energy, the State (Imperialism) and technical progress. A good chapter here is that on the psychology of the modern capitalist undertaker. Next he considers the structure-capital in its various forms, labour and all that affects it, and demand. In this section the chapter on Towns is to be commended. Lastly, he surveys economic processes-markets, supply and demand, rationalisation (the Open Sesame of so many problems of industry) -and industrial production. No student should miss the chapter in this section on Competition. But the work as a whole will repay close study. It gives the reasoned views of an economist who is at the same time an original thinker and a gifted artist. For the English student it may be said that Sombart's work will not replace Marshall or Nicholson, but it will undoubtedly supple- ment and illumine what these great teachers have to give. It is pretty safe to prophesy that Sombart's five magnificent volumes will long remain a source of delight and information for economic students by reason of their bibliography, their wonderful power to stimulate thought, and their reflection as in a large-size mirror of the modern Capitalist System in all its aspects.

M. EPSTEIN

The Economic Theory of the Leisure Class. By N. BUXHARIN.

(London: Martin Lawrence. 1927. Pp. 220.)

THIS is not, as might be supposed, a book analysing the economic conditions which give rise to the existence of a leisure class. It is an attack upon a particular school of economic theory whose tenets the author regards as coloured by class sympathy with the well-to-do, and especially with that " product of the decline of the bourgeoisie," the'rentier. For this purpose Professor Bohm-Bawerk is selected as the spokesman of the decadent bourgeoisie, and it is he who, almost unsupported, bears the brunt of M. Bukharin's onslaught. The book consists, in fact, of extracts from Professor Bohm-Bawerk's works illustrat- ing his theory of value and his theory of interest, each followed by a detailed criticism by M. Bukharin.

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