"‘Liberal’ and ‘capitalist’ paired as a hyphenated compound word seems like an oxymoron, leaving one to wonder, what do civil liberties and democracy have to do with an economic system that often infringes on the aforementioned liberal defining characteristics? Well, A History of Capitalist Transformation: A Critique of Liberal-Capitalist Reforms by Giampaolo Conte analyzes the historical scope of capitalist reforms, particularly through the British economy, under the guise of liberalism from the nineteenth century and beyond. In just four chapters, while grazing the philosophy of Marxism through figures like Antonio Gramsci, Conte offers a clarifying historical perspective on the evolution of capitalist reforms. Conte’s engagement in this historical project reignites a conversation on the ability of capitalism, a system that thrives on exploitation and violence, to textually morph into an ostensibly paradoxical philosophy, that is, liberalism, to gain submission (domestically and internationally), expand dominance and accumulate capital. A History of Capitalist Transformation displays how domestic social classes and semi-peripheral states (developing nations) have both fallen prey to the expansion of internal and external capitalist reforms. According to Conte, the action of falling prey is caused by the presentation of liberal-capitalist reforms as they are presented through the cultural, moral and civic values of liberalism and not the violent and individualist values of capitalism (38)."

https://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviews/21887_history-of-capitalist-transformation-a-critique-of-liberal-capitalist-reforms-by-giampaolo-conte-reviewed-by-julia-bradley/

#Capitalism #Liberalism #EconomicHistory #Reformism #PoliticalEconomy