Analysis of "The Nature and Logic Of Capitalism"

As a first approximation, then, let us take the nature of capitalism as referring to its behavior-shaping institutions and relationships, and the logic of capitalism as the pattern of configurational change generated and guided by this inner core. Both nature and logic are needed to conceptualize the historic totality of any system (Heilbroner, 1985, 19).

This is a key paragraph in the book, and one that should be marked by any person wishing to digest his arguments, for it is often necessary to return here when Heilbroner drifts from this premise. He begins by pointing out that many wise economists and philosophers have avoided "defining" Capitalism (because of its difficulty) and proposes that he will define it by analyzing capitalism not as a "mere economic system" but as a "regime." A "regime," indicating a ruling power structure empowered to make and enforce change.

Therefore the reader now has a linear development, so to speak, of his argument. "Nature" is the innate ability or power to create relationships, and it wields this ability in a structured "logic", the end result, which is a "regime" known as "capitalism." There is a certain

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lains, these same people who had it within their ability to enable a society to create wealth, also had the power and the right to withhold their property from the use of society if they wished (pp. 38-39). Heilbroner, acknowledging and confirming Marx, then posits the theory that competition among capitalists, left unchecked, would drive profits to zero. Marx stopped at this point, satisfied with his theories of the challenges of surplus value. Heilbroner takes Marx further by suggesting that Marx's "factors of production" (land, labor, capital) are not comparable or equivalent entities and produce wealth only when workers act upon land. That is the "nature" of the beast. Heilbroner, then, sees the "logic" of this "nature" as having several distinctive features. The first was that capitalists, as holders of social power, were independent of the state's control ever the means of production, and over the socializing "nature" of the state. Rather, "capitalism" has been, to Heilbroner, decisive in allowing political and economic freedom to emerge and be sustained in some capitalist societies. As he suggests toward the conclusion we have stressed that in its essential nature, capitalism in all periods and national instantat
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Approximate Word count = 1238
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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