The Genesis of American Capitalism: an Historical Inquiry into State Theory

In: Journal of historical sociology, Volume 2, Issue 4, p. 328-356

Abstract

Abstract
We usually think that we know what 'the state' is, even when we embark on a theoretical quest for it. Somehow, the state is closely associated with Government ‐ including bureaucracy and army. Or we sometimes think of it differently, in terms of city‐state or nation‐state. I had the first notion in mind when I started to research the socioeconomic context of the making of the U.S. constitution. But the historical research forced me to face the vagueness of the concept, and to recognize that it is not only useless, but actually harmful in our understanding of modern societies. This paper is made‐up of three parts: the historical narrative of U.S. constitution‐making is sandwiched between, first, a deconstruction of the concept of state and, third, an attempt at establishing a new concept of state. I discard along the way the dichotomies of state/civil society and base/superstructure. And I argue for a close integration of theory and history in social analysis.