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The history of capitalism is not to be explained in mere economic terms. David Harris Sacks here demonstrates that the modern Western economy was ushered in by  broad processes of social, political, and cultural change. His study of Bristol as it opened it gate to national politics and the Atlantic economy reveals capitalism to be not just a species of economic order but a distinct form of life, governed by its own ethical norms and cultural practices. Availing himself of the methods of "thick description," socio-economic analysis, and political theory, Sacks examines the dynamics by which early modern Bristol moved from a medieval commercial economy to an early capitalist one. Throughout the period, the life of the city depended heavily on the successes of its great overseas merchants. But their quest for a monopoly of trade with the outside world, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Levant, came into conflict with the concerns of Bristol's artisans and retail shopkeepers. The battles of the two factions conditioned social and cultural developments in Bristol for two centuries. Locally, the conflict set the terms for developing conceptions of justice and authority. On a larger scale, it drew the community firmly into the great affairs of the realm and the wider world of expanding markets beyond.

Capitalism --- Economic History --- Business & Economics --- History. --- History --- Bristol (England) --- Economic conditions. --- Commerce --- Market economy --- Bristol, Eng. --- Corporation of the City of Bristol (England) --- Bristol (Avon) --- City of Bristol (England) --- City and County of Bristol (England) --- City & County of Bristol (England) --- Bristol (England : Unitary authority) --- Economics --- Profit --- Capital --- artisans. --- atlantic economy. --- atlantic seaboard. --- authority. --- bristol. --- capitalism. --- city life. --- cultural change. --- cultural practices. --- early capitalist economy. --- economic conditions. --- economic history. --- economics. --- english history. --- ethical norms. --- ethics. --- history of capitalism. --- justice. --- levant. --- medieval commercial economy. --- merchandise. --- merchants. --- modern western economy. --- monopoly. --- national politics. --- overseas merchants. --- pilgrimage. --- political change. --- political theory. --- retail shopkeepers. --- social change. --- thick description. --- urban life.