“The Development of Commerce” in “Classical Sociological Theory and Foundations of American Sociology”
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The Development of Commerce
“The prime mover in the separation of household and business accounting, and hence in the development of the early capitalistic institutions, was the need for credit.”
NOTE ON SOURCE: This passage is from Wirtschaftsgeschicte, a collection of Weber’s lecture notes, first published after his death in 1923. The first English translation (General Economic History) was made in 1927, by Frank Knight, an American professor of political economy. It is known as the source of Weber’s institutionalist theory of capitalism. The selection below is direct from the Knight translation.
Introduction – Why this is important and what to look for
This selection is from Part III of the General Economic History, “Commerce and Exchange in the Pre-Capitalist Age.” It is a good example of Weber’s institutionalist approach. Unlike Durkheim, who evaluated the causes and consequences of existing social institutions, Weber seeks to explain historical and institutional change as the product of several small advances which, taken collectively, provide the possibility of new institutions (such as capitalism). This section has been shortened considerably to focus on these several small advances, with much of the specific historical detail omitted.
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