The Undevelopment of Capitalism

Sectors and Markets in Fifteenth-Century Tuscany

Rebecca Jean Emigh

"Emigh has written a very important book that will have a big impact on historical sociology. Based on first-rate research and innovative methods of analysis, she offers an incisive review of previous theories of the transition to capitalism, and shows how the dynamism and efficiencies of urban markets serve to undermine rural markets."
—Richard Lachmann, Department of Sociology, State University of New York at Albany

In The Undevelopment of Capitalism,Rebecca Jean Emigh argues that the expansion of the Florentine economic market in the 15th century helped to undo the development of markets of in rural Tuscany, leading to the overall contraction of the urban and rural economy. As this highly developed urban market penetrated rural regions, it actually erased rural market institutions that rural inhabitants had used to organize agricultural production and family life. Thus, an advanced economy at the time of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance "undeveloped" over time. The economic development of this region in Italy was delayed as it failed to keep pace with the rest of Europe.

Using a negative case methodology to show how urban and rural markets change, Emigh employs methods of historical sociology and sectoral theories to examine how markets can prosper and suffer at the same time. She shows how sectoral relations are crucial to transitions to capitalism and how capitalist development can also contract markets.

About the Author(s)

Rebecca Jean Emigh is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Subject Categories

Sociology
Business/Economics
History

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This series will disseminate serious works that analyze the social changes that have transformed our world during the twentieth century and beyond. The main topics to be addressed include international migration; human rights; the political uses of history; the past and future of the nation-state; decolonization and the legacy of imperialism; and global inequality. The series will also translate into English outstanding works by scholars writing in other languages.