THE CAPITALIST REVOLUTION
Fifty Propositions about Prosperity,
Equality, and Liberty
Peter L. Berger
New York: Basic Books, 1986
Peter Berger, an eminent sociologist from Boston University, has written a lucid and provocative book about the origins, history, and future prospects of capitalism. Berger writes well, his arguments are reasonable and coherent, and the conclusions he reaches are persuasive. Yet, in the end, Berger leaves many critical issues unresolved.
The task Berger sets for himself is awesome. In 224 pages, plus notes, he surveys the entire history of capitalism and offers his assessments about what lies ahead. He contrasts capitalism with Marxism and socialism. He discusses the development of capitalism in the West as well as its newer forms in East Asia. Berger's sweep is large; he has become a grand theorist. His synthesis stands in marked contrast to the narrowness and highly specialized focus of most of today's social science research. In painting a large canvas with broad brush strokes, Berger revives the older tradition of theorizing that ranges across disciplines, continents, and centuries. He writes in the tradition of Adam Smith (and more recently Michael Novak); his foil and bete noir is Marx.
Berger's conclusion, buttressed by erudition and impeccable logic, is one that many scholars and politicians have been reaching lately, though many of the former are afraid to say so publicly because it is in violation of the prevailing orthodoxy on too many university campuses. His basic argument is that socialism does not work and capitalism does. Further, there is an intimate connection between freedom in the political sphere. State control of the national economic life (even if it is called democratic socialism) is unlikely to guarantee freedom for long in the political sphere. Only democracy and capitalism, or democratic capitalism, are likely to be conducive to both economic growth and freedom. It is a controversial argument certain to cause a stir. Berger's book makes one of the best cases available in the literature for this conclusion.
Empirically Based Theory
Berger presents an empirically based theory of capitalism. That is, he grounds his model on facts and evidence, not romance or wishful thinking. He offers a series of hypotheses, or building blocks - what the book's subtitle calls "Fifty Propositions About Prosperity, Equality, and Liberty." These propositions are couched in careful, guarded, and qualified form. Berger is neither a dogmatist nor an ideologue. Rather, his is a fine mind that, in the best scholarly and academic sense, genuinely explores an issue and thinks through its implications.
Berger scatters his fifty propositions throughout the book and then brings them together in the concluding chapter. The following is a sample of the provocative points Berger sets forth in his book:
1.Industrial capitalism has generated the greatest productive power in human history.
16. Capitalism is a necessary
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