The “Sonorous Summons” of the New History of Capitalism, Or, What Are We Talking about When We Talk about Economy?

Abstract

The tale reads as a classic fall from grace. In the 1960s and 1970s, historians investigated the economy. They were serious and politically relevant. But then the discipline fell to the beguiling ways of cultural and social history. Fractured and fragmented, scholars wandered off like cats into various alleyways, pawed at incomprehensible theories, and lost track of the common reader. There is hope, however, because in the past decade or so a new movement has arisen to lead historians out of the obscure alleyways and back to the main path: the economy, so long neglected.

Capitalism in Australia: New histories for a reimagined future

“…This field has focused on 're-embedding' economic life in structures of law, social norms, knowledge and power (Kramer 2016), although it is equally characterised by Ivy League graduate programs, publications and conferences. No sooner had the NHOC emerged, than critiques followed regarding the field's novelty, masculinist politics and lack of definitional precision or consensus (Enstad, 2019;Hilt, 2017;Hartigan-O'Connor, 2016).…”

“…This field has focused on ‘re-embedding’ economic life in structures of law, social norms, knowledge and power (Kramer, 2016), although it is equally characterised by Ivy League graduate programs, publications and conferences. No sooner had the NHOC emerged, than critiques followed regarding the field’s novelty, masculinist politics and lack of definitional precision or consensus (Enstad, 2019; Hilt, 2017; Hartigan-O’Connor, 2016). Elsewhere, scholars probe similar terrain, some under the umbrella of a ‘material turn’ or ‘new labour history’, while others intersect economic crisis with ecological fallout in terms of a Capitolocene (Sewell, 2010, 2014; Plumpe et al, 2017; Smith, 2018; Palmer, 2017; Moore, 2017).…”