American Capitalism: Social Thought And Political Economy in the Twentieth Century

Nelson Lichtenstein

University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006 - History - 377 pages

"The intellectual history of capitalism finally gets its due in this volume of fresh, arresting essays. This book marks the willingness of a new generation of scholars to open up issues rarely addressed by the labor and business historians who until now have been our leading historians of capitalism."--David A. Hollinger, author of "Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism" ""American Capitalism" is an important contribution to our understanding of postwar American thought and culture. It will force historians to revise their pantheon of important thinkers for the period. This book reminds us how, in the postwar era, the triumph of a capitalist worldview remained open to serious questioning and alternatives."--George Cotkin, author of "Existential America" At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the legitimacy of American capitalism seems unchallenged. The link between open markets, economic growth, and democratic success has become common wisdom, not only among policy makers but for many intellectuals as well. In this instance, however, the past has hardly been prologue to contemporary confidence in the free market. "American Capitalism" presents thirteen thought-provoking essays that explain how a variety of individuals, many prominent intellectuals but others partisans in the combative world of business and policy, engaged with anxieties about the seismic economic changes in postwar America and, in the process, reconfigured the early twentieth-century ideology that put critique of economic power and privilege at its center. The essays consider a broad spectrum of figures--from C. L. R. James and John Kenneth Galbraith to Peter Drucker and Ayn Rand--and topics ranging from theories of Cold War "convergence" to the rise of the philanthropic Right. They examine how the shift away from political economy at midcentury paved the way for the 1960s and the "culture wars" that followed. Contributors interrogate what was lost and gained when intellectuals moved their focus from political economy to cultural criticism. The volume thereby offers a blueprint for a dramatic reevaluation of how we should think about the trajectory of American intellectual history in twentieth-century United States. Nelson Lichtenstein is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he directs the Center for Work, Labor, and Democracy. He is the author of "Walter Reuther: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit" and "State of the Union: A Century of American Labor," and editor of "Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-First-Century Capitalism."

Contents

• Social Theory and Capitalist Reality in the American: 1
• The Postcapitalist Vision in TwentiethCentury American: 21
• American Social Scientists and the Concept: 47
• From the Industrial to the Knowledge Economy: 71
• Liberalism and the Politics: 88
• Peter Drucker and the Legitimation: 109
• Oliver C Cox and the Roots of World Systems Theory: 175
• Feminism Womens History and American Social Thought: 191
• Reconsidering the Political Writings: 213
• Postwar Investigations of Foundations: 228
• Lemuel Ricketts Boulware: 249
• Ayn Rand and the Conservative: 271
• Notes: 291
• Contributors: 361
• Acknowledgments: 379

About the author

Nelson Lichtenstein is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he directs the Center for Work, Labor, and Democracy. He is the author of Walter Reuther: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit and State of the Union: A Century of American Labor, and editor of Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-First-Century Capitalism.

Bibliographic information

• Title: American Capitalism: Social Thought And Political Economy in the Twentieth Century; Politics and culture in modern America
• Editor: Nelson Lichtenstein
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006
• ISBN: 0812239237, 9780812239232
• Length: 377 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Free Enterprise; History / United States / 20th Century; Political Science / Public Policy / General