American Capitalism: Social Thought And Political Economy In The Twentieth Century

American Capitalism Politics and Culture in Modern America Series Editors: Michael Karin, Glenda Gilmore, T h o m a s J . Su,~ r u e Books i n the series narrate and analyze political and social change i n t h e broadest dimensions f r o m 1865 t o t h e present, including ideas about t h e ~vayspeople have sought and wielded poJver i n t h e public sphere and t h e language and institutions o f politics at all levels-national, regional, and local. T h e series is motivated by a desire to reverse the fragmentation o f m o d e r n U.S. history and to encourage synthetic perspectives o n social movements and the state, o n gender, race, and labor, o n consumption, and o n intellectual history and popular culture. Amem'can Capitalism Social Thought and Political Economy in the Twentieth Century E D I T E D BY N E L S O N L I C H T E N S T E I N PENN University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia Copyr-ight 0 2006 ITnix-rr-sit!- of Pennsylvania PI-rss =U1 rights I eserved PI-inted in the ITnited States of .Imer-ica o n acid-fr-re papel- Published b ! t-nix-el-sit!- of Prnnsylx-ania PI-ess Philadelphia. Perms!-lvania 19104-4112 Libr-al-yof Congr-rss Cataloging-in-Pltblication Data .&llerican capitnlis~rl: social thougllt a i d political ecollolny in the txventietll crntllr-!- Irdited by Krlson Lichtenstein. - (Politics aild c i ~ l t ~in l ~1110der1l e A~llerica) 11. ~111. ISBK-13: 978-0-8122-3923-2 ISBN-10: 0-8122-3923-7 (cloth : alk. paprr-) I . Capitalisnl-United States. 2. Right aild left (Political science). 3. United States-Econo~nic policy. I. Lichte~lstein,Kelson. 11. Series HB501 .A57 2005 330.12'20973-dc22 Con tents Introduction: Social Theory and Capitalist Reality in the , h e s i c a n Centurv 1 Part I. Theorizing Twentieth-Century American Capitalis111 1. The Postcapitalist \'irion in Twentieth-Centur~American Social Thought 21 Hocont d Bncli 2. To Moscow and Back: American Socinl Scientists and the Concept of Convergence 47 Da-cud C. Elrger ttra~r Part 11. Liberalism and Its Social Agenda 3. C l a ~k Ker r : FI om the Industr la1 to the Knowledge Econo~rlr 71 Podrlj RIIP\ 4. John Kenneth Galhmith: Lihernlism and the Politics of Culturnl Critique 88 K~7~rtr ~\.I~lttsotr 5. The Prophet of Post-Fordism: Peter Drucker and the Legitimation of the Corporation 109 AYr/sG I / ~ I I O I I Part 111. X Ckitique fi-om the Left 6. C. Tl'right Mills and American Socinl Science Dntrrel Gear I 135 vi Contents 7. C. L. R. Jnmes and the Theor! of Stnte Capitalism 137 Cl~>-/stopl~r> Pl~elps 8. Oliver C. Cox and the Roots of Tl'orld Systems Theor! 175 Cl~>-/stopl~r> LA.Ll.ltAu/r~ 9. Feminism, Tl'omen's History, and American Social Thought nt hlidcentur! 191 Dn~lwIH o ~ o ( o ~ f z Part I\: The Rise of the Right 10. The Rond Less Tr,~veled:Reconsidering the Political Tli-itings of Friedrich von H q e k 213 Juliet 117tll~n~t~s 11. The Politics of Rich and Rich: Post~rarInvestigations of Foundations and the Rise of the Philanthropic Right 228 LA/ic.r0'C;ot1tlov 12. Arne1 ican Counter r e\ olutiona~v: Le~rluelRickettr Bouhvar e and Gener a1 Electric, 1930-1960 249 k7~ WIDPI1) P ~ / I I / ~ I T - F P ~ I ~ 13. Godless Cnpitnlism: Axn Rnnd and the Conservnti~e hlo~ement 271 J r t ~ t ~ / fBur i> t ~ s Contributors Index 363 361 Introduction: Social Theory and Capitalist Reality in the American Century Nelson Lichtenstein At t h e opening o f t h e twenty-first c e n t u r y t h e paver and pervasiveness o f , h e s i c a n capitalism and o f t h e equation that links o p e n markets t o democratic institutions has become a large part o f t h e c o m m o