The Rise of Market Society in England, 1066-1800 [Hardcover]

Focusing on England, this study reconstructs the centuries-long process of commercialization that gave birth to the modern market society. It shows how certain types of markets (e.g. those for real estate, labor, capital, and culture) came into being, and how the social relations mediated by markets were formed. The book deals with the creation of institutions like the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange, and Lloyds of London, as well as the way the English dealt with the uncertainty and the risks involved in market transactions. Christiane Eisenberg shows that the creation of a market society and modern capitalism in England occurred under circumstances that were utterly different from those on the European continent. In addition, she demonstrates that as a process, the commercialization of business, society, and culture in England did not lead directly to an industrial society, as has previously been suggested, but rather to a service economy.

&this monograph, smoothly translated from the German and with a useful bibliography, should attract academic readers from undergraduates to faculty& Highly recommended. Choice

Eisenberg is to be commended for setting out a clear narrative that could help to frame future research by both historians and social scientists& Still, despite the sweeping nature of Eisenbergs narrative, it will be of interest to historians of economic development from all periods and to social scientists studying todays market society.& the bookcan serve as a good springboard for fruitful scholarly debate. Journal of Modern History

Overall this is an impressive synthesis, in which essential developments and complex facts are presented concisely and to the point. Whether Englands development was as exceptional or whether also other regions of Europe revealed early traits of a commercial culture, remains to be explored by further research. Archiv fló,