Thinking about Capitalism

As the economic system under which you live, capitalism shapes the marketplaces that determine where you live and work, how much you are paid, what you can buy, what you can save, and every other aspect of a society based on monetary exchanges for goods and services. But how much do you really know about capitalism?

In these 36 engaging lectures, Professor Jerry Muller of The Catholic University of America takes you deep inside the perspectives on this most important and pervasive force. You'll gain fresh insights that will strengthen your understanding of capitalism's rich history, its fascinating proponents and opponents, and its startling impact on our world.

These lectures take you beyond economic analysis to look at how some of the greatest intellects have thought about capitalism and its moral, political, and cultural ramifications. Covering capitalism from its 17th-century beginnings to today's era of globalization, Professor Muller explores some wide-ranging questions. What effect does capitalism have on personal development? What about the unending variety of consumer goods made possible by capitalism? Do the facts support our tendency to think about capitalism as the economic system practiced in "free" countries? Or can capitalism exist in a wide variety of political systems?

By placing capitalism in its full context, these lectures will enhance your ability to consider, discuss, and answer these and other critical questions - whatever your point of view.

All Lectures:
1. Why Think about Capitalism?
2. The Greek and Christian Traditions
3. Hobbes's Challenge to the Traditions
4. Dutch Commerce and National Power
5. Capitalism and Toleration - Voltaire
6. Abundance or Equality - Voltaire vs. Rousseau
7. Seeing the Invisible Hand - Adam Smith
8. Smith on Merchants, Politicians, Workers
9. Smith on the Problems of Commercial Society
10. Smith on Moral and Immoral Capitalism
11. Conservatism and Advanced Capitalism - Burke
12. Conservatism and Periphery Capitalism - Möser
13. Hegel on Capitalism and Individuality
14. Hamilton, List, and the Case for Protection
15. De Tocqueville on Capitalism in America
16. Marx and Engels - The Communist Manifesto
17. Marx's Capital and the Degradation of Work
18. Matthew Arnold on Capitalism and Culture
19. Individual and Community - Tönnies vs. Simmel
20. The German Debate over Rationalization
21. Cultural Sources of Capitalism - Max Weber
22. Schumpeter on Innovation and Resentment
23. Lenin's Critique - Imperialism and War
24. Fascists on Capitalism - Freyer and Schmitt
25. Mises and Hayek on Irrational Socialism
26. Schumpeter on Capitalism's Self-Destruction
27. The Rise of Welfare-State Capitalism
28. Pluralism as Limit to Social Justice - Hayek
29. Herbert Marcuse and the New Left Critique
30. Contradictions of Postindustrial Society
31. The Family under Capitalism
32. Tensions with Democracy - Buchanan and Olson
33. End of Communism, New Era of Globalization
34. Capitalism and Nationalism - Ernest Gellner
35. The Varieties of Capitalism
36. Intrinsic Tensions in Capitalism