Empires of Labor
Coercion and the Making of the Modern World
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Publishing:31st Jan '26
£28.00
This title is due to be published on 31st January, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This comparative global study examines the role played by free and unfree labor across the British, French and Russian empires.
From the seventeenth century to the First World War, both free and unfree labor were essential for building an empire. This ambitious study examines the relationship between capitalism and coercion across the British, French and Russian empires throughout centuries of economic transformation.From the seventeenth century to the First World War, both free and unfree labor were essential for building an empire. This ambitious study examines the relationship between capitalism and coercion across the British, French and Russian empires throughout centuries of economic transformation. Overturning conventional explanations of serfdom, slavery, indentured migration and wage labor, Alessandro Stanziani demonstrates the dominance of gentlemanly capitalism across Europe and Eurasia until the end of the nineteenth century. He links the Industrial Revolution, the Great Divergence and the Great Transformation into a single narrative in which the coercion and emancipation of labor are crucial steps. Stanziani argues that, if the modern state is now beset with labor inequalities and tensions surrounding mobility, it is not because Western values have been hijacked but because they were built on empire, labor and coercion.
'In a tour de force of four centuries of labor history across the British, French and Russian empires, Alessandro Stanziani develops a new view of the central role of coercion in the development of global capitalism. A fine-grained analysis deeply rooted in extensive archival research, he shows how serfdom, slavery, indenture and other forms of unfree labor structured the capitalist revolution deep into the nineteenth century. A book that effectively questions many cherished notions about the rise of the world we live in; required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with modern history.' Sven Beckert, author of Capitalism: A Global History
'A novel, erudite, and comparative exploration of empires, their labor politics, and social transformation by a master of world economic history. Stanziani's extensive research turns the tables on Eurocentric assumptions and produces a highly revisionist interpretation of industrialization, abolition, and the persistence of social inequity.' Jane Burbank, co-author of Post-Imperial Possibilities: Eurasia, Eurafrica, Afroasia
'Building on Stanziani's extensive research and insights into the bond between forced labour and capitalism, Empires of Labour offers a groundbreaking study of how labour systems have shaped political and economic change worldwide from the sixteenth century.' Tirthankar Roy, author of Monsoon Economies
ISBN: 9781009608572
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 250g
356 pages