Is There a Sufficient Condition for Industrial Capitalism?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

There was a rural surplus in late imper china. It just wasn't coordinated toward urban industrialization. So there's this kind of ablict imensionin you also argue that the so called agrarian origins explanations for capitalist take off in england, which point to the way that england's early modern agricultural revolution freed up essential capital and labor. That it fails to explain why china did not take off. Because china had undergone an agricultural revolution.

Part one of a two-part interview with sociologist Ho-fung Hung on Chinese political economic history from the 18th century to 2008: why capitalism took off in England and then elsewhere but not in China; and then, how Maoist policy laid the groundwork for China’s ultimate capitalist takeoff and boom. Episode two will focus on the 2008 financial crisis, the deepening imbalances and heightened geopolitical conflict that resulted, and the current situation—including the impact of the crises surrounding Russia’s invasion. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig