Game of Thrones, Game of Class Struggle, or Other Games? Revisiting the Dobb–Sweezy Debate

Lambert, Thomas E.

doi:10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.11.4.0455

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World Review of Political Economy

Volume 11, Issue 4

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Game of Thrones, Game of Class Struggle, or Other Games? Revisiting the Dobb–Sweezy Debate

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Author(s): Thomas E. Lambert

Publication date (Print): 1 December 2020

Journal: World Review of Political Economy

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: capitalism, feudalism, Dobb–Sweezy debate

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Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50005553

Journal ID (jcode): worlrevipoliecon

Title: World Review of Political Economy

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN: 2042-891X

ISSN: 2042-8928

Publication date (Print): 1 December 2020

Volume: 11

Issue: 4 ( doiID: 10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.11.issue-4 )

Pages: 455-475

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Publisher ID: worlrevipoliecon.11.4.0455

DOI: 10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.11.4.0455

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Keywords: feudalism,Dobb–Sweezy debate,capitalism

References

Aston, T., and C. H. E. Philpin. 1985. “Preface.” In The Brenner Debate: Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-Industrial Europe, edited by T. Aston and C. H. E. Philpin, vii. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Acemoglu, D., S. Johnson, and J. Robinson. 2004. “Institutions as the Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth.” National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper w10481. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://www.nber.org/papers/w10481.
Acemoglu, D., and J. A. Robinson. 2012. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty. New York: Crown Publishers.
Anderson, P. (1974) 2013. Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism. London: Verso Press.
Bairoch, P., and G. Goertz. 1986. “Factors of Urbanisation in the Nineteenth Century Developed Countries: A Descriptive and Econometric Analysis.” Urban Studies 23 (4): 285–305.
Baran, P. A. 1953. “Economic Progress and Economic Surplus.” Science & Society 17 (4): 289–317.
Baran, P. A. 1957. The Political Economy of Growth. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Bateman, V. N. 2011. “The Evolution of Markets in Early Modern Europe, 1350–1800: A Study of Wheat Prices.” The Economic History Review 64 (2): 447–471.
Blom, P. 2019. Nature's Mutiny: How the Little Ice Age of the Long Seventeenth Century Transformed the West and Shaped the Present. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation.
Brenner, R. 1976. “Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-industrial Europe.” Past & Present 70 (February): 30–75.
Brenner, R. 1985. “The Agrarian Roots of European Capitalism.” In The Brenner Debate: Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-industrial Europe, edited by T. H. Ashton and C. H. E. Philpin, 213–327. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Broadberry, S., B. Campbell, A. Klein, M. Overton, and B. van Leeuwen. 2015. British Economic Growth, 1270–1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Clark, G. 2006. “Interpreting English Economic History 1200–1800: Malthusian Stasis or Early Dynamism?” XIV International Economic History Congress, Helsinki, 2006, Session 122. Accessed October 18, 2019. http://www.helsinki.fi/iehc2006/papers3/Clark.pdf.
Clark, G. 2009. “The Macroeconomic Aggregates for England, 1209–2008.” Accessed February 23, 2020. http://faculty.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/papers/Macroagg2009.pdf.
Cohn, S. 2007. “After the Black Death: Labour Legislation and Attitudes towards Labour in Late-Medieval Western Europe.” The Economic History Review 60 (3): 457–485.
Dobb, M. 1946. Studies in the Development of Capitalism. New York: International Publishers.
Engels, F. (1880) 1935. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. New York: International Publishers.
Engels, F. (1884) 1957. “The Decline of Feudalism and the Rise of the Bourgeoisie.” Monthly Review, April: 445–454. Accessed October 29, 2019. https://marxists.catbull.com/archive/marx/works/1884/decline/index.htm.
Epstein, S. R. 2006. Freedom and Growth: The Rise of States and Markets in Europe, 1300–1750. London: Routledge Publishers.
Epstein, S. R. 2007. “Rodney Hilton, Marxism and the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism.” Past & Present 195 (Suppl. 2): 248–269.
Fagan, B. M. 2000. The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300–1850. New York: Basic Books.
Foster, J. B., and R. W. McChesney. 2012. The Endless Crisis: How Monopoly-Finance Capital Produces Stagnation and Upheaval from the U.S.A. to China. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Harvey, D. 2015. Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Heller, H. 2011. The Birth of Capitalism: A Twenty-First Century Perspective. London: Pluto Press.
Hilton, R. (1953) 1976b. “A Comment.” In The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, edited by R. Hilton, 109–117. London: NLB.
Hilton, R. (1952) 1976a. “Capitalism—What's in a Name?” In The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, edited by R. Hilton, 145–158. London: NLB.
History.com. 2017. “Silk Road.” Accessed October 17, 2019. https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/silk-road.
Hobsbawm, E. (1962) 1976. “From Feudalism to Capitalism.” In The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, edited by R. Hilton, 159–164. London: NLB.
Lambert, T. E. 2019. “Monopoly Capital and Entrepreneurship: Whither Small Business?” Cambridge Journal of Economics 43 (6): 1577–1595.
Law, C. 1967. “The Growth of Urban Population in England and Wales, 1801–1911.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, no. 41: 125–143.
Lee, R. 1973. “Population in Preindustrial England: An Econometric Analysis.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 87 (4): 581–607.
Lipson, E. 1959. The Economic History of England, Volume 1: The Middle Ages. London: Adam and Charles Black Publishers.
Luterbacher, J., J. P. Werner, J. E. Smerdon, L. Fernández-Donado, F. J. González Rouco, D. Barriopedro, F. C. Ljungqvist, et al. 2016. “European Summer Temperatures since Roman Times.” Environmental Research Letters 11: 1–12. Accessed October 30, 2019. https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo-search/study/19600.
Macinnes, A. I. 2011. “Acts of Union: The Creation of the United Kingdom.” Accessed April 12, 2020. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/acts_of_union_01.shtml#four.
Marx, K. (1867) 1990a. “Chapter 30: Impact of the Agricultural Revolution on Industry.” In Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, volume I, by K. Marx, 908–913. London: Penguin Books.
Marx, K. (1867) 1990b. “Chapter 31: The Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist.” In Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, volume I, by K. Marx, 914–926. London: Penguin Books.
Marx, K., and F. Engels. (1845) 1974. The German Ideology, edited by C. J. Arthur. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
Mason, P. 2015. Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future. London: Allen Lane.
McCloskey, D. N. 1972. “The Enclosure of Open Fields: Preface to a Study of Its Impact on the Efficiency of English Agriculture in the Eighteenth Century.” The Journal of Economic History 32 (1): 15–35.
Mielants, E. H. 2007. The Origins of Capitalism and the Rise of the West. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Nell, E. 1967. “Economic Relationships in the Decline of Feudalism: An Examination of Economic Interdependence and Social Change.” History and Theory 6 (3): 313–350.
North, D., and R. P. Thomas. 1971. “The Rise and Fall of the Manorial System: A Theoretical Model.” The Journal of Economic History 31 (4): 777–803.
North, D., and R. P. Thomas. 1973. The Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.
O'Brien, P., and P. Hunt. 1999. “Chapter 2: England, 1485–1815.” In The Rise of the Fiscal State in Europe c.1200–1815, edited by R. Bonney, 53–76. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
O'Connor, J. 1979. The Fiscal Crisis of the State. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Omrod, W. M. 1999. “Chapter 1: England in the Middle Ages.” In The Rise of the Fiscal State in Europe c.1200–1815, edited by R. Bonney, 19–52. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pamuk, S. 2007. “The Black Death and the Origins of the ‘Great Divergence' across Europe, 1300–1600.” European Review of Economic History 11 (3): 289–317.
Pirenne, H. (1925) 1956. Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor Books.
Resnick, S., and R. Wolff. 1979. “The Theory of Transitional Conjunctures and the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism in Western Europe.” Review of Radical Political Economics 11 (3): 3–22.
Rigby, S. H. 2004. “Historical Materialism: Social Structure and Social Change in the Middle Ages.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 34 (3): 473–522.
Rigby, S. H. 2010. “Urban Population in Late Medieval England: The Evidence of the Lay Subsidies.” The Economic History Review 63 (2): 393–417.
Snooks, G. D. 1993. Economics without Time: A Science Blind to the Forces of Historical Change. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.
Sharman, F. A. 1989. “An Introduction to the Enclosure Acts.” Journal of Legal History 10 (10): 45–70.
Strayer, J. R., H. W. Gatzke, and E. H. Harbison. 1974. The Mainstream of Civilization to 1500. 2nd ed. New York: Harcourt-Brace-Jovanovich, Inc.
Sweezy, P. M. (1950) 1976. “A Critique.” In The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, edited by R. Hilton, 33–56. London: NLB.
Takahashi, K. (1952) 1976. “A Contribution to the Discussion.” In The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, edited by R. Hilton, 68–97. London: NLB.
Tawney, R. H. 1962. Religion and the Rise of Capitalism. Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith.
Wallerstein, I. 1974. The Modern World-System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Academic Press.
Weber, M. (1905) 1958. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
Wood, E. M. 2002. The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View. London: Verso Press.
Wrigley, E. 1985. “Urban Growth and Agricultural Change: England and the Continent in the Early Modern Period.” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 15 (4): 683–728.
Xu, Z. 2019. “Economic Surplus, the Baran Ratio, and Capital Accumulation.” Monthly Review 70 (10): 25–39.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Aston, T., and C. H. E. Philpin. 1985. “Preface.” In The Brenner Debate: Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-Industrial Europe, edited by T. Aston and C. H. E. Philpin, vii. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[2] Acemoglu, D., S. Johnson, and J. Robinson. 2004. “Institutions as the Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth.” National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper w10481. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://www.nber.org/papers/w10481.

[3] Acemoglu, D., and J. A. Robinson. 2012. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty. New York: Crown Publishers.

[4] Anderson, P. (1974) 2013. Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism. London: Verso Press.

[5] Bairoch, P., and G. Goertz. 1986. “Factors of Urbanisation in the Nineteenth Century Developed Countries: A Descriptive and Econometric Analysis.” Urban Studies 23 (4): 285–305.

[6] Baran, P. A. 1953. “Economic Progress and Economic Surplus.” Science & Society 17 (4): 289–317.

[7] Baran, P. A. 1957. The Political Economy of Growth. New York: Monthly Review Press.

[8] Bateman, V. N. 2011. “The Evolution of Markets in Early Modern Europe, 1350–1800: A Study of Wheat Prices.” The Economic History Review 64 (2): 447–471.

[9] Blom, P. 2019. Nature's Mutiny: How the Little Ice Age of the Long Seventeenth Century Transformed the West and Shaped the Present. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation.

[10] Brenner, R. 1976. “Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-industrial Europe.” Past & Present 70 (February): 30–75.

[11] Brenner, R. 1985. “The Agrarian Roots of European Capitalism.” In The Brenner Debate: Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-industrial Europe, edited by T. H. Ashton and C. H. E. Philpin, 213–327. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[12] Broadberry, S., B. Campbell, A. Klein, M. Overton, and B. van Leeuwen. 2015. British Economic Growth, 1270–1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[13] Clark, G. 2006. “Interpreting English Economic History 1200–1800: Malthusian Stasis or Early Dynamism?” XIV International Economic History Congress, Helsinki, 2006, Session 122. Accessed October 18, 2019. http://www.helsinki.fi/iehc2006/papers3/Clark.pdf.

[14] Clark, G. 2009. “The Macroeconomic Aggregates for England, 1209–2008.” Accessed February 23, 2020. http://faculty.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/papers/Macroagg2009.pdf.

[15] Cohn, S. 2007. “After the Black Death: Labour Legislation and Attitudes towards Labour in Late-Medieval Western Europe.” The Economic History Review 60 (3): 457–485.

[16] Dobb, M. 1946. Studies in the Development of Capitalism. New York: International Publishers.

[17] Engels, F. (1880) 1935. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. New York: International Publishers.

[18] Engels, F. (1884) 1957. “The Decline of Feudalism and the Rise of the Bourgeoisie.” Monthly Review, April: 445–454. Accessed October 29, 2019. https://marxists.catbull.com/archive/marx/works/1884/decline/index.htm.

[19] Epstein, S. R. 2006. Freedom and Growth: The Rise of States and Markets in Europe, 1300–1750. London: Routledge Publishers.

[20] Epstein, S. R. 2007. “Rodney Hilton, Marxism and the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism.” Past & Present 195 (Suppl. 2): 248–269.

[21] Fagan, B. M. 2000. The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300–1850. New York: Basic Books.

[22] Foster, J. B., and R. W. McChesney. 2012. The Endless Crisis: How Monopoly-Finance Capital Produces Stagnation and Upheaval from the U.S.A. to China. New York: Monthly Review Press.

[23] Harvey, D. 2015. Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism. New York: Cambridge University Press.

[24] Heller, H. 2011. The Birth of Capitalism: A Twenty-First Century Perspective. London: Pluto Press.

[25] Hilton, R. (1953) 1976b. “A Comment.” In The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, edited by R. Hilton, 109–117. London: NLB.

[26] Hilton, R. (1952) 1976a. “Capitalism—What's in a Name?” In The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, edited by R. Hilton, 145–158. London: NLB.

[27] History.com. 2017. “Silk Road.” Accessed October 17, 2019. https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/silk-road.

[28] Hobsbawm, E. (1962) 1976. “From Feudalism to Capitalism.” In The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, edited by R. Hilton, 159–164. London: NLB.

[29] Lambert, T. E. 2019. “Monopoly Capital and Entrepreneurship: Whither Small Business?” Cambridge Journal of Economics 43 (6): 1577–1595.

[30] Law, C. 1967. “The Growth of Urban Population in England and Wales, 1801–1911.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, no. 41: 125–143.

[31] Lee, R. 1973. “Population in Preindustrial England: An Econometric Analysis.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 87 (4): 581–607.

[32] Lipson, E. 1959. The Economic History of England, Volume 1: The Middle Ages. London: Adam and Charles Black Publishers.

[33] Luterbacher, J., J. P. Werner, J. E. Smerdon, L. Fernández-Donado, F. J. González Rouco, D. Barriopedro, F. C. Ljungqvist, et al. 2016. “European Summer Temperatures since Roman Times.” Environmental Research Letters 11: 1–12. Accessed October 30, 2019. https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo-search/study/19600.

[34] Macinnes, A. I. 2011. “Acts of Union: The Creation of the United Kingdom.” Accessed April 12, 2020. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/acts_of_union_01.shtml#four.

[35] Marx, K. (1867) 1990a. “Chapter 30: Impact of the Agricultural Revolution on Industry.” In Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, volume I, by K. Marx, 908–913. London: Penguin Books.

[36] Marx, K. (1867) 1990b. “Chapter 31: The Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist.” In Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, volume I, by K. Marx, 914–926. London: Penguin Books.

[37] Marx, K., and F. Engels. (1845) 1974. The German Ideology, edited by C. J. Arthur. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

[38] Mason, P. 2015. Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future. London: Allen Lane.

[39] McCloskey, D. N. 1972. “The Enclosure of Open Fields: Preface to a Study of Its Impact on the Efficiency of English Agriculture in the Eighteenth Century.” The Journal of Economic History 32 (1): 15–35.

[40] Mielants, E. H. 2007. The Origins of Capitalism and the Rise of the West. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

[41] Nell, E. 1967. “Economic Relationships in the Decline of Feudalism: An Examination of Economic Interdependence and Social Change.” History and Theory 6 (3): 313–350.

[42] North, D., and R. P. Thomas. 1971. “The Rise and Fall of the Manorial System: A Theoretical Model.” The Journal of Economic History 31 (4): 777–803.

[43] North, D., and R. P. Thomas. 1973. The Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.

[44] O'Brien, P., and P. Hunt. 1999. “Chapter 2: England, 1485–1815.” In The Rise of the Fiscal State in Europe c.1200–1815, edited by R. Bonney, 53–76. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[45] O'Connor, J. 1979. The Fiscal Crisis of the State. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

[46] Omrod, W. M. 1999. “Chapter 1: England in the Middle Ages.” In The Rise of the Fiscal State in Europe c.1200–1815, edited by R. Bonney, 19–52. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[47] Pamuk, S. 2007. “The Black Death and the Origins of the ‘Great Divergence' across Europe, 1300–1600.” European Review of Economic History 11 (3): 289–317.

[48] Pirenne, H. (1925) 1956. Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor Books.

[49] Resnick, S., and R. Wolff. 1979. “The Theory of Transitional Conjunctures and the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism in Western Europe.” Review of Radical Political Economics 11 (3): 3–22.

[50] Rigby, S. H. 2004. “Historical Materialism: Social Structure and Social Change in the Middle Ages.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 34 (3): 473–522.

[51] Rigby, S. H. 2010. “Urban Population in Late Medieval England: The Evidence of the Lay Subsidies.” The Economic History Review 63 (2): 393–417.

[52] Snooks, G. D. 1993. Economics without Time: A Science Blind to the Forces of Historical Change. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

[53] Sharman, F. A. 1989. “An Introduction to the Enclosure Acts.” Journal of Legal History 10 (10): 45–70.

[54] Strayer, J. R., H. W. Gatzke, and E. H. Harbison. 1974. The Mainstream of Civilization to 1500. 2nd ed. New York: Harcourt-Brace-Jovanovich, Inc.

[55] Sweezy, P. M. (1950) 1976. “A Critique.” In The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, edited by R. Hilton, 33–56. London: NLB.

[56] Takahashi, K. (1952) 1976. “A Contribution to the Discussion.” In The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, edited by R. Hilton, 68–97. London: NLB.

[57] Tawney, R. H. 1962. Religion and the Rise of Capitalism. Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith.

[58] Wallerstein, I. 1974. The Modern World-System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Academic Press.

[59] Weber, M. (1905) 1958. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

[60] Wood, E. M. 2002. The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View. London: Verso Press.

[61] Wrigley, E. 1985. “Urban Growth and Agricultural Change: England and the Continent in the Early Modern Period.” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 15 (4): 683–728.

[62] Xu, Z. 2019. “Economic Surplus, the Baran Ratio, and Capital Accumulation.” Monthly Review 70 (10): 25–39.