The economy of the late antique Mediterranean is still largely seen through the prism of Weber's influential essay of 1896. Rejecting that orthodoxy, Jairus Banaji argues that the late empire saw substantial economic and social change, propelled by the powerful stimulus of a stable gold coinage that circulated widely. In successive chapters Banaji adduces fresh evidence for the prosperity of the late Roman countryside, the expanding circulation of gold, the restructuring of agrarian elites, and the extensive use of paid labour, above all in the period spanning the fifth to seventh centuries....

Focusing on Marx's theory of crisis, Grossman aims to show that radical assessments of Marx's theory suffer from a failure to appreciate the scientific nature of his method. He especially refutes those Marxists who cling to the results of the theory, thus isolating particular themes from the body of Marx's Capital and expanding these into comprehensive explanations of the development of capitalism. Grossman suggests that Marx's method is the key to understanding capitalist production as a contradictory social movement - on the one hand a system for producing the general material needs of...

Winner of the 2011 Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize

The essays collected herein deal with the Marxist notion of a -mode of production, - the emergence of medieval relations of production, the origins of capitalism, the dichotomy between free and unfree labor, and essays in agrarian history. They demonstrate the importance of reintegrating theory with history and of bringing history back into historical materialism.

This book contributes to a new economic history of late antiquity, with tightly argued, stimulating studies of class, money and exchange.

This book contributes to a new economic history of late antiquity, with tightly argued, stimulating studies of class, money and exchange.