Spirit of Capitalism
Thematic issue of State of Affairs, edited by Dr Michał Warchala (University of the National Education Commission, Krakow) and Dr Adam Rogoda (Warsaw School of Economics)
Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 10 September 2024
Max Weber’s famous thesis on the relationship between the Protestant ethic and the “spirit of capitalism” was one of his most important theoretical proposals, and it has since been much discussed and critiqued. In an upcoming issue of State of Affairs we would like to take a closer look at the question of this “spirit” in the light of what classic thinkers of the social sciences, such as Weber’s contemporaries, Georg Simmel and Werner Sombart, and earlier Karl Marx, wrote about capitalism. First of all, we want to ask questions about the spirit of today’s capitalism from different perspectives, as we have been inspired to do by Richard Sennet’s work on “new capitalism,” which was recently published in Polish, or by Luc Boltanski and Ève Chiapello’s book, which deals directly with the “new spirit of capitalism.” Does contemporary capitalism in its various forms (financial capitalism, etc.) actually have a spirit? And if so, what is it?
The title question may also lead to the one of whether capitalism has (or had?) a nationality. At least two possible aspects come to mind here. First, under what socio-cultural, economic, and historical conditions was capitalism born: in northern Italy in the sixteenth century, in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, or in Great Britain in the eighteenth century? Or is it the case, as Fernand Braudel has argued, that capitalism has always existed but only became dominant in the modern era, subordinating other social organisations to itself? Second, in a more contemporary dimension, the question could be reduced to the different institutional systems that regulate the capitalist order (the market economy?) at the level of the nation-state. In this context, research on non-Western “capitalisms” seems particularly interesting.
We are thus looking for texts in the following areas for the proposed issue of State of Affairs:
- Classical sociology, psychology, and philosophy on capitalism: questions about the connections of the capitalist economy with religion and secularisation, with the experience of modernity, with the changing nature of social bonds – in Simmel, Weber, Tönnies, Sombart, and others. Why are there different answers to the question about the origins of capitalism? Why have certain approaches (e.g., the Weberian one) become so popular and influential?
- Is it even worth asking questions about the spirit of capitalism today? Has today’s capitalism – seemingly in line with Weber’s prediction – long been just a soulless machine or a field of impersonal forces? Do religious elements, for example, play any role in it? Could the trends of desecularisation, which have been observed in many regions of world, influence the operation of the capitalist economy?
- Capitalism or capitalisms? Conceptualisations of capitalism in various disciplines of the social sciences and humanities (economics, sociology, philosophy, cultural studies).Capitalism and the market economy. The institutional diversity of capitalist systems (the market economy?) of modern nation-states.
- What is the role of culture in today’s capitalism? Various cultural models of capitalism have been discussed for a long time; non-European models are especially worthy of attention in this context (the Islamic world, East and South Asia). What today constitutes the cultural or spiritual conditions of, for instance, the organisation of work, the sense of its meaningfulness, and so forth?
/// Submissions, including a title, an abstract of no more than 500 words, and the name, institutional affiliation, and email address of the author, should be sent by 10 September 2024 to redakcja@stanrzeczy.edu.pl.
/// The editors will inform the authors of their decisions in regard to abstracts by 17 September 2024.
/// Articles, written in accord with the technical requirements of the journal and not exceeding 60,000 characters in length, should be submitted by 7 January 2025.
/// The issue is planned to appear in July 2025.
Language of submissions: Polish, English