advances one key claim: a historically specific account of modern political capitalism may be distilled from if the somewhat tiresome and yet indispensable textual exegesis of oeuvre Weber’s is supplemented by a survey of the ideas and insights scattered throughout Economy and Society his political writings. Insofar as this paper also furnishes glance at my “a early postcommunism,” purpose is to show how the notion of political capitalism, properly Weberianized, may help us depict analytically the overlapping dynamics of economic change and the restructuring of the organizational basis of stateness in the former “second world.” Weber on political capitalism An obvious way to begin the analysis of a Weberian concept is to look at particular passages in his writings where the notion is explicitly introduced and defined. And a careful look at the systematic location of the brief paragraphs on political capitalism in Economy and Society unambiguously suggests that, for Weber, the construction of this concept is part and parcel of his grand effort to delineate analytically the key characteristics of Occidental capitalism. The thrust of his argument is that of and should be cast “rational acquisition profits” “political capitalism” as contrasting analytical categories encompassing profoundly different empirical phenomena. In a section entitled of Capitalist Orientation to Profit-Making” Weber “The Principal Modes asserts that Western capitalism is characterized by and selling on the “continuous buying and of to profit-making” did not play a market” “speculations various sorts.” These “orientations major role on pre-modern times and are associated with the rise of Europe. In the same section, Weber introduces three other types of profit-making, to opportunities for predatory “orientation profit from political organizations or persons connected to business politics,” “continuous activities that arise by virtue of domination by force colonial profits and fiscal profits realized – through farming of taxes and and to profit opportunities in unusual offices,” “orientation transactions with political These capitalist orientations, he been bodies.” points out, “have common all over the world for thousands of He then proceeds to subsume all three under years.” a separate category which he For anyone interested in dubs “politically oriented capitalism.” articulating a Weberian notion of political capitalism, this conceptual exposition must constitute the starting point.
advances one key claim: a historically specific account of modern political capitalism may be distilled from Weber’s oeuvre if the somewhat tiresome and yet indispensable textual exegesis of Economy and Society is supplemented by a survey of the ideas and insights scattered throughout his political writings. Insofar as this paper also furnishes “a glance at early postcommunism,” my purpose is to show how the notion of political capitalism, properly Weberianized, may help us depict analytically the overlapping dynamics of economic change and the restructuring of the organizational basis of stateness in the former “second world.” Weber on political capitalism An obvious way to begin the analysis of a Weberian concept is to look at particular passages in his writings where the notion is explicitly introduced and defined. And a careful look at the systematic location of the brief paragraphs on political capitalism in Economy and Society unambiguously suggests that, for Weber, the construction of this concept is part and parcel of his grand effort to delineate analytically the key characteristics of Occidental capitalism. The thrust of his argument is that “rational acquisition of profits” and “political capitalism” should be cast as contrasting analytical categories encompassing profoundly different empirical phenomena. In a section entitled “The Principal Modes of Capitalist Orientation to Profit-Making” Weber asserts that Western capitalism is characterized by “continuous buying and selling on the market” and “speculations of various sorts.” These “orientations to profit-making” did not play a major role on pre-modern times and are associated with the rise of Europe. In the same section, Weber introduces three other types of profit-making, “orientation to opportunities for predatory profit from political organizations or persons connected to politics,” “continuous business activities that arise by virtue of domination by force – colonial profits and fiscal profits realized through farming of taxes and offices,” and “orientation to profit opportunities in unusual transactions with political bodies.” These capitalist orientations, he points out, “have been common all over the world for thousands of years.” He then proceeds to subsume all three under a separate category which he dubs “politically oriented capitalism.” For anyone interested in articulating a Weberian notion of political capitalism, this conceptual exposition must constitute the starting point.
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