Industrialism, capitalism, force and states: some theoretical and historical issues

Social scientists continually stumble on the question of how to define modern society. Such definitions are necessarily both theoretical and political in the way that they put together different elements of an explanation. This paper considers the competing claims of two paradigms – that of industrial (and post-industrial) society and capitalism. It argues that the concept of capitalism is superior to any version of the industrial-post-industrial society argument. But theories of capitalism which focus on private property, markets and competition by themselves fail to deal with the role of states and force in constituting the modern world. To understand the nature of organisations within global system, therefore, we need a fuller understanding of the nature of capitalism.