The Use and Misuse of Uneven and Combined Development: A Critique of Anievas and Nişancıoğlu

in Historical Materialism
Author: Charles Post 1
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1 Department of Social Science, Borough of Manhattan Community College-CUNY
Online Publication Date:
25 Sep 2018
Volume/Issue:
Volume 26: Issue 3
Article Type:
Other
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/1569206X-00001528
Keywords:
origins of capitalism; uneven and combined development; Political Marxism; World-Systems Theory
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Abstract

Aneivas and Nişancıoğlu’s provocative book, How the West Came to Rule, attempts to provide an alternative account of the origins of capitalism to both ‘Political Marxism’ and ‘World-Systems Theory’. By making uneven and combined development a universal dynamic of human history and by utilising a flawed concept of ‘Eurocentrism’, however, they introduce a high degree of causal pluralism into their analysis. Despite important insights into the specific dynamics of different pre-capitalist forms of social labour, their account of the origins of capitalism in How the West Came to Rule suffers from causal indeterminacy and historical inaccuracies.

The Use and Misuse of Uneven and Combined Development: A Critique of Anievas and Nişancıoğlu

in Historical Materialism
E-ISSN:
1569-206X
Print ISSN:
1465-4466
Publisher:
BRILL
Cover Historical Materialism

Sections

References

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Information

Page Count:
79–98
Subjects:
Critical Social Sciences, Social Sciences
Copyright:
Copyright 2018 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands 2018

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