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Beyond the Market: What Does It Mean to Theorize Capitalism?

Kapczynski, Amy
Keywords
Fraser, Nancy, 1947-; Polanyi, Karl, 1886-1964; Capitalism; Legal doctrines; Reforms; Institutional environment; Sociological jurisprudence; Social theory; Political economic analysis
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Faculty Scholarship Series
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BEYOND THE MARKET_WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO THEORIZE CAPITALISM.pdf
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Abstract
The article focuses on theorizing capitalism within the emerging law and political economy (LPE) framework, emphasizing a social rather than deterministic or purely economic conception of capitalism. Drawing on thinkers like Karl Polanyi, Ellen Meiksins Wood, and Nancy Fraser, it characterizes capitalism as a historically contingent social order marked by generalized market dependence and an “as-if” separation of the political and economic spheres, sustained by legal and institutional structures. Law is understood as constitutively embedded in capitalism, shaping and reflecting social relations of production, reproduction, and ecological boundaries, rather than as a merely superstructural or radically indeterminate force. The article highlights the implications of this social theory for legal scholarship, urging deeper engagement with capitalism’s social and institutional dimensions to inform both descriptive analyses and reparative or democratizing legal reforms.
URI
https://openyls.law.yale.edu/handle/20.500.13051/18663