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29 - Modern Capitalism and Ethical Plurality

from Part V - Institutional Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2023

By
Robert W. Hefner
Edited by
James Laidlaw
James Laidlaw
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Since its appearance on the Western landscape three centuries ago, modern capitalism has given rise to a mythology that, unlike previous socio-economic orders, is so powerful that it can function without an ethical embedding – or simply create one in its own image. This essay argues that this end-of-ethics talk is premature, and only obscures the fact that capitalism is plural in its political and ethical forms, and equally varied in its social organizations and relation to the state. Rather than capitalism everywhere creating a homogeneous ethical landscape by bulldozing intermediary institutions and extra-market value spheres, capitalist societies have given rise to an agonistic plurality of political and moral embeddings and contentions. The essay explores this diversity through a comparison of modern capitalisms in Western, East Asian, and Islamic world areas.

Keywords

capitalismethicsvalue spherespluralityembeddednessdiscursivizationreligious lawprosperity theology
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook for the Anthropology of Ethics , pp. 731 - 759
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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