Ancient Greek Anti-capitalism, a Weberian Perspective

Book excerpt: The aim and the methodology of the book The key idea that triggered the present philosophical (classical) study is that besides the economic situation, the formation of the ancient Greek economy and society was also favoured by social and political conditions, which must be further explored. In this study, these socio-political conditions are examined through Max Weber’s theory on the ancient Greek society. In contrast to Marx, Weber believes that we have to identify some other factor, other than economy, if we are to explain the development of intellectual phenomena in the ancient Greek society and economy. The whole book is structured around this Weberian perspective. In Part A, Weber’s views on ancient Greece will be presented, as developed in his classic, though incomplete, Economy and Society (1921). The Weberian works that refer to Greek Antiquity will also be used additionally, in particular Agrarian Conditions in Antiquity [The Agrarian Sociology of Ancient Civilisations] (1909, 1924), The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) and General Economic Theory (1923). Part B comprises an analysis of Weber’s views regarding ancient and modern capitalism through the examination of his theory and the (Marxist and other) criticism it has received. In the Appendix Aristotle’s economics will be presented, as developed in his Politics in order to draw paradigms which prove the “anti-capitalist” character of the ancient Greek economy. The aim of the book is twofold: a) to acquaint non-experts with the generally unknown theory of Max Weber on ancient Greece and b) to serve to the future researchers as a philosophical-classical tool, which will help them understand and interpret the ancient Greek economy and society from a modern (Weberian) perspective. The basic Weberian question the author will try to answer is whether and to what extent was it possible for the Greeks to develop capitalist activities. A key book in the international bibliography that examines this question is Antiquity and Capitalism: Max Weber and the Sociological Foundations of Roman Civilisation (John R. Love, Routledge, 1991). As a sociologist and political scientist, John R. Love uses Max Weber to refute the position maintained by Marxists and more modern historians that capitalism as a interpretive model cannot be applied to Roman civilisation. Following Weber’s theory, he examines the social and political institutions, distinguishes ancient from modern capitalism and explains why ancient, unlike our modern, capitalism did not progress. However, his subject matter is Rome, not ancient Greece. The book at hand will seek, with Max Weber’s theory as an analytical tool, to study ancient Greek capitalism in contrast to its different Roman, medieval and modern forms. The basic Weberian question to be answered, running through the whole book, is the following: “Could capitalism have evolved in ancient Greece?”. Marxists are right in rejecting such a possibility. However, we will see that, following Max Weber’s theory, the interpretive model of capitalism could successfully be applied to ancient Greece. However, one has to cut it loose from the connotations of modern-day capitalism and analyse ancient Greek capitalism within the framework of the cultural, religious and political conditions of Antiquity. This is exactly the method that has been followed in the present study, in an effort to present in full and in a critical spirit Weber’s theory on ancient Greece.