Overview
- Distinguishes “Western civilization,” based on industrialization, free-market capitalism, political democracy
- Explores the relationship between civilization, business and climate
- Engages current debates about modernity
Part of the book series: Palgrave Debates in Business History (PDBH)
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About this book
This book argues that modern Western civilization is synonymous with business, and you cannot have one without the other—or, at least, not for very long. Without Western civilization, with its emphasis on inquiry, questioning, experimentation, reasoning, freedom of expression, a free press, equality of opportunity before the law—then the innovation and vitality that lies at the heart of Western business success, evaporates. Without business endeavor, all the ideas and inquiry are materially meaningless.
The author postulates that only through business opportunity is the wealth created that allows a continuation of our society’s intellectual endeavors. Further, the world of modern business—a unique creation of Western civilization, even if it has witnessed many regional and national adaptations—is also the actual place where inequalities are overcome and opportunities created. It is through the world of business and work that women have, for example, achieved something approaching equality with men, to a degree unprecedented in human history. This book will offer scholars a research-based argument that Western civilization owes its existence to business rather than Greco-Roman antiquity.
The author postulates that only through business opportunity is the wealth created that allows a continuation of our society’s intellectual endeavors. Further, the world of modern business—a unique creation of Western civilization, even if it has witnessed many regional and national adaptations—is also the actual place where inequalities are overcome and opportunities created. It is through the world of business and work that women have, for example, achieved something approaching equality with men, to a degree unprecedented in human history. This book will offer scholars a research-based argument that Western civilization owes its existence to business rather than Greco-Roman antiquity.
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Keywords
Table of contents (12 chapters)
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Front Matter
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The Quests that Created a New Western Civilization (and Destroyed Others): Crops, Climate, Calories
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Front Matter
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Freedom, Slavery and the Rise of an Industrialized Western Civilization
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Front Matter
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Global Transformation: The Embrace and Rejection of an Industrialized Western Civilization
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
"For those wishing to understand how modern civilization, especially how capitalism became a dominant theme in the west, this book is invaluable. Professor Bowden explores, explains and provides credible alternatives to existing thought paradigms around the concepts of how ‘we’ arrived at the present. His narrative is at once thought provoking and entertaining." [--Andrew Cardow (Past Division Chair of the Management History Division, (2021- 2022) Academy of Management)]
"Bowden’s book provides a provocative prism through which to view western civilization and capitalism. It reveals Bowden’s understanding of the freedom and courage required to defend and sustain the values upon which the survival of modern society depends: individualism, democracy, economic and political liberalism. With the growing ascendency of social movements that prioritize group-based identities over individual achievement, his powerful warning about the “milletization” of society is more urgent than ever." [--Art Bedeian. Louisiana State University and founding member of Management History Division, Academy of Management.]
"Bowden's work on Western Civilization reveals the genesis of modern business culture. This work is built on a lifetime of erudition and is packed with insights. Bowden's work is something both critics and supporters of capitalism and modern business need to consider." [--Jeffrey Muldoon, Emporia State University and Executive Member, Management History Division, Academy of Management.]
"Australians are ineradicably heirs to and beneficiaries of the ideas, institutions and values of western civilization, and in age of wilful misrepresentation and relentless denigration of that legacy Bradley Bowden performs a magnificent service for humanity, highlighting the force of the West’s animating genius and the unprecedented prosperity it brought to the modern world from the late 18th century onwards." [--Scott Hargreaves, Executive General Manager, Institute for Public Affairs, Australia.]
"An electrifying work. The reader is dragged – sometimes kicking and screaming - to a confronting realisation: whatever the problems faced by the 21st century`s ordinary people, the roots of such problems are not to be found in the forces that spawned and shaped Western civilisation. To suggest otherwise is the intellectual equivalent of sawing of the branch upon which one is highly perched because a tree limb provides an uncomfortable place of repose. If we are to have mandated mask-wearing for the unvaccinated, then this book should be mandated reading for the unaware." [--Anthony Gould, Laval University (Quebec) and Editor-in-Chief, Relations Industrielle / Industrial Relations]
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bradley Bowden is Professor of Employment Relations at Griffith University, Australia. He is currently Executive Member and Past Chair of the Management History Division of the Academy of Management. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Management History. His past works include Work, Wealth, and Postmodernism: The Intellectual Conflict at the Heart of Business Endeavour and the edited collection, Management History: Its Global Past and Present.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Slavery, Freedom and Business Endeavor
Book Subtitle: The Reforging of Western Civilization and the Transformation of Everyday Life
Authors: Bradley Bowden
Series Title: Palgrave Debates in Business History
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97232-5
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Business and Management, Business and Management (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-97231-8Published: 04 May 2022
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-97234-9Published: 05 May 2023
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-97232-5Published: 03 May 2022
Series ISSN: 2662-4362
Series E-ISSN: 2662-4370
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXXVII, 369
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations, 61 illustrations in colour
Topics: Emerging Markets/Globalization, Management