• Provides a detailed answer to the question 'what is capitalism?'
• Brings together sociological and historical approaches to the study of capitalism, drawing on material from a wide range of historical and contemporary societies
• Looks at the origins and developments of capitalism and the various forms it takes worldwide
• Analyses historical cases of crisis within capitalism
• Discusses the global financial crisis of 2007-8 and its on-going effects
• Highlights the problems of financial capitalism by identifying two crisis mechanisms - overproduction/underconsumption and financial crisis of credit expansion and contraction
• Explores the deflationary consequences of quantitative easing (QE), the contraction of credit, and the role of China in the global economy
• Includes an updated further reading section

 
What is capitalism? Is capitalism the same everywhere? Is there an alternative? 

The word 'capitalism' is one that is heard and used frequently, but what is capitalism really all about, and what does it mean? This Very Short Introduction addresses questions such as 'what is capital?' before discussing the history and development of capitalism through several detailed case studies, ranging from the tulipomania of 17th century Holland, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and in this new edition, the impact of the global financial crisis that started in 2007-8.

James Fulcher looks at the different forms that capitalism takes in Britain, Japan, Sweden, and the United States, and explores whether capitalism has escaped the nation-state by going global. It ends by asking whether there is an alternative to capitalism, discussing socialism, communal and cooperative experiments, and the alternatives proposed by environmentalists.