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Fall 2022

ISSN 0890-913X

Volume 37, Number 3

Categories: Fall 2022 | Capitalism | Slavery

Werner Sombart’s Ghost: The Geist That Haunts the New Histories of Capitalism

Hans L. Eicholz, Liberty Fund

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TheJournalofPrivateEnterprise37(3),2022,39-60WernerSombart’sGhost:TheGeistThatHauntstheNewHistoriesofCapitalismHansL.Eicholz*LibertyFundAbstractAnumberofwritershavepointedtothesimilaritiesofearlyMarxistconceptionsofhistoryandtheargumentsandconclusionsfoundintheNewHistoriesofCapitalism.Lesswellknownhavebeentheinterestingparallelswiththeworkofthechiefproponentoftheterm“capitalism.”Marxonlyrarelyused“capitalist”todesignatetheownersofthemeansofproduction.ItwasWernerSombart,theinterlocutorofMaxWeberwithintheHistoricalSchool,whodidthemosttopromotetheuseof“capitalism”asatermandwhomostthoroughlytheorizedaboutitsapplicationtohistoricalinterpretation.Thispapercontendsthattheprimarycategoriesrespectingtherelationshipofmarketstowar,slavery,andcolonialismevidentintheNewHistories,andmostespeciallyinSvenBeckert’swork,aretobefoundinWernerSombart’swritings.Andyetonewonderswhytherehasbeennoexplicitattribution.JELCodes:B13,B14,B24,B25,B31,B52,B53Keywords:capitalism;WernerSombart;SvenBeckert;OttoHintze;slaveryI.TheNot-So-NewNewHistoriesHownewaretheNewHistoriesofCapitalism?Manyinsightfulcommentariesontheworksthatnowfallunderthisheading—fromthe1619ProjecttothevariousbooksofsuchnotableauthorsasEdwardBaptist,SethRockman,andWalterJohnson,amongothers—havebeenwritten.Inmostinstancesthecommentarieshavebeenhighlycriticaloftheworks’theoreticalorientationandtheirclaimofnewnessofinformationalcontent.Untilnow,however,oneworkhasgenerallywithstoodsuchcriticism:SvenBeckert’sEmpireofCotton(2015).Bothinhisnarrative*ThispaperwasoriginallypresentedattheannualmeetingoftheAssociationforPrivateEnterpriseEducationheldinLasVegasNevadainthespringof2022.Ithankmyfellowpanelists,JeffHummel,andPhilMagnessfortheircommentsandreferences.AlltranslationsofcitationsfromSombartnotpreviouslytranslatedaremyown,withtheGermantextprovidedinfootnotes.

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Title	Werner Sombart’s Ghost: The Geist That Haunts the New Histories of Capitalism
Authors/Creators:	Hans L. Eicholz, Liberty Fund
Year:	2022
Volume:	37
Number:	3
Pages:	39 - 60
Publisher:	The Association of Private Enterprise Education
ISSN:	0890-913X
Document Type:	Articles
Keywords:	capitalism; Werner Sombart; Sven Beckert; Otto Hintze; slavery

Citation:
Eicholz, Hans L. / 2022. "Werner Sombart’s Ghost: The Geist That Haunts the New Histories of Capitalism." The Journal of Private Enterprise, 37(3): 39-60.