Hyphenated Capitalism
There is no one “capitalism” but an indefinite set of capitalisms.

Another way to say this is that capitalism is a game with an indefinite set of rules that are always subject to change. We are going to be looking at specific instances of the game and try to understand what the rules were at that time (as well as understand how those rules were instituted).

If this were a class in PCM we would talk about “business models.”

As we study various cases, we will want to ask about the risk and reward structure of this particular manifestation of capitalism.  Who stands to gain what?  Who stands to lose what?  How is this structure put into place? To understand each manifestation of capitalism, we will need to look at the roles of owners, managers, workers, consumers, government, and neighbors.

The Spaces of Capitalism
Does capitalism have a spatial dimension?
Is it possible to talk about capitalism only in the United States?  Or has capitalism in America always been connected to other parts of the world?
We will be looking at capitalism in specific places, and often as we pull in threads, we will discover connections to other places.  Do different things happen in different places?
At several points in the class we will look particularly at North Carolina.

The Culture of Capitalism
We tend to think of capitalism only as an economic system.  But historian Joyce Appleby says that capitalism is a “cultural system.”  Capitalism is intricately linked to how we make meaning in the world.  What behaviors are considered praiseworthy in society (or some part of it) and what behaviors are condemned?  We will be paying particular attention to words and behaviors associated with economic activity and how they changed over time.

Technology and Capitalism
I am a historian of technology and in this course we will see enormous changes in technology.   In what ways did technology shape and change capitalism?  In what ways did capitalism change (and drive) technology?