Pre-capitalism and post-capitalism

Braudel’s Civilization and Capitalism three-volume series has been in my “to-read” pile for many years. I’d heard many times that it was a classic, and I felt guilty that it continued to stay on the bottom. “After Capitalism” to the rescue – surely, putting together a book on visions of the world after capitalism is an appropriate reason to visit the history of capitalism’s emergence.

Volume 1 is The Structures of Everyday Life. It is essentially a more than six hundred page overview of the rather mundane basics of daily life in the pre-capitalist world. Population, food, housing, clothes get really into the nitty gritty, while technology, money, and town/cities get a little higher-level. It sets the stage for the advent of capitalism, which I’m assuming awaits me in Volume 2.

So, what can pre capitalism tell us about post capitalism?

1. Capitalism is not inevitable, and in the broad sweep of history, may have had a relatively brief run of less than 300 years — if its demise is met by mid-century.
2. We are reminded of cycles, with the 15^th-18^th century being at the end of a very long period of very slow growth. The rapid growth of the industrial revolution and capitalism is the exception, not the rule.
3. Indeed much economic activity in this period was rather informal, suggesting that economic activity need not be completely formal (granted, increasing complexity makes informal much more challenging)
4. Even before capitalism, we see the growing systems interconnections emerging that make the study of capitalism one that has to incorporate a much wider consideration of factors beyond the purely economic.
5. Going through the mundane details of everyday life, I am not a bit nostalgic for a return to these good old days. I suppose it was a pretty good deal for the rich, but for pretty much everyone else, not so good.
6. Energy, or rather the lack of a convenient and powerful source of energy, is a huge barrier to growth. Expensive energy (e.g., from a carbon tax) and/or a massive scale-up to renewables would have a significant impact on economic activity – devastating to capitalism, but less at odds with the sustainable commons visions.
7. Finally, the slow pace of life. I’m not advocating that fast-paced lifestyle is better or even desirable. I think we’ve become accustomed to fast, but again, this is a relatively new phenomenon. – Andy Hines