A Marxist Study of Mercantilism May 20, 2022 To understand mercantilist thinking is to understand the historical circumstances of a transition between modes of production. Few traditions of economic thought more clearly demonstrate the determinant effect of social and material conditions on theoretical development. Mercantilism presents itself as a focal lens into the world of a decaying feudal order, an emerging capitalist mode of production, and, relatedly, a revolution in the sphere of thought itself. The world in which the mercantilists were birthed was riddled with a multiplicity of critical shifts and boiling points. It is precisely the totality of this heterogeneous and dynamic transitory period, the complex sum of the moving parts, that yielded the practice and “theory” of the mercantilists. The mercantilists’ inability to conceptualize value outside the point of exchange, their insistence on state-enforced monopolies and regulations, and their export-oriented doctrine were all features structurally determined by broader forces unfolding throughout the European landscape. The following analysis will contextualize and investigate the development of mercantilist thought. The purpose of the investigation will be to not only offer a general overview of mercantilist thinking, but to demonstrate how its evolution was determined by a transitory and heterogeneous social totality.
Mercantilism: Transitional Economic ideology
Mercantilism: Transitional Economic ideology
Mercantilism: Transitional Economic ideology
A Marxist Study of Mercantilism May 20, 2022 To understand mercantilist thinking is to understand the historical circumstances of a transition between modes of production. Few traditions of economic thought more clearly demonstrate the determinant effect of social and material conditions on theoretical development. Mercantilism presents itself as a focal lens into the world of a decaying feudal order, an emerging capitalist mode of production, and, relatedly, a revolution in the sphere of thought itself. The world in which the mercantilists were birthed was riddled with a multiplicity of critical shifts and boiling points. It is precisely the totality of this heterogeneous and dynamic transitory period, the complex sum of the moving parts, that yielded the practice and “theory” of the mercantilists. The mercantilists’ inability to conceptualize value outside the point of exchange, their insistence on state-enforced monopolies and regulations, and their export-oriented doctrine were all features structurally determined by broader forces unfolding throughout the European landscape. The following analysis will contextualize and investigate the development of mercantilist thought. The purpose of the investigation will be to not only offer a general overview of mercantilist thinking, but to demonstrate how its evolution was determined by a transitory and heterogeneous social totality.