Accounting and the birth of the notion of capitalism

Eve Chiapello (1)

1 GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC

The purpose of this paper is to cast a new light on the post-Sombartian debate. It contributes to some understanding of the birth of the concept of capitalism itself. The author argues that the history of how the concept of capitalism was invented is an example of the influence of accounting ideas on economic and sociological thinking.

Keywords: capitalism; accounting; Karl Marx; Werner Sombart

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Business administration

Eve Chiapello. Accounting and the birth of the notion of capitalism. 2011. ⟨hal-00593381⟩