Capitalism in Contention: Business Leaders and Political Economy in Modern Britain

by Jonathan Boswell, James Peters

Overview

Capitalism in Contention examines the ideas of business leaders on political, economic and ethical issues in modern Britain. Drawing on hitherto unexplored records and wide-ranging interviews, the book sheds new light on the Wilson, Heath and Thatcher periods, the "mixed economy" and the "New Right", the peak representative organizations of business, and business relationships with government. This book will be of value to students and scholars of political economy, economic history and business, and all those interested in the influence of an important actor in modern political life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521588041
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/06/1997
Pages:	266
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.59(d)

Table of Contents

1. Business social ideas in the making; 2. An adapted, moderated capitalism: the anatomy of revisionism; 3. Cooperation or conflict? Business and the Labour government, 1964–70; 4. Liberationist capitalism in the wilderness, 1960–75; 5. The peaks and precipices of revisionism, 1969–74; 6. Sytemic change in capitalism? The reconstructionists; 7. Turmoil, realignment and recovery: British business 1974–9; 8. Business and early Thatcherism; 9. New orthodoxy? Muffled dissent?; 10. The significance of business ideology.

Editorial Reviews

"What a relief to have this book. I found its original and vivid presentation of the ideas of business timely, scholarly and stimulating. We need to have the issues Boswell and Peters bring back into focus debated again and again. How do we reconcile capitalism and democracy? What is the role of Business trying to behave as Citizen in a globalising society? Other cultures and other democracies will be struggling with these ideas of capitalism in contention." Sir Peter Parker

"What a relief to have this book. I found its original and vivid presentation of the ideas of business timely, scholarly and stimulating. We need to have the issues Boswell and Peters bring back into focus debated again and again. How do we reconcile capitalism and democracy? What is the role of Business trying to behave as Citizen in a globalising society? Other cultures and other democracies will be struggling with these ideas of capitalism in contention." Sir Peter Parker

"This book provides an innovative combination of archival research and theoretical analysis on the thinking of British business elites in the postwar years. It gives us a much greater understanding of the dynamics of these elites, and how their attitudes to economic and social life related to broader changes in the role of business in Britain. It has no serious rival in its field." Dr. Jim Tomlinson, Brunel University

"This book provides an innovative combination of archival research and theoretical analysis on the thinking of British business elites in the postwar years. It gives us a much greater understanding of the dynamics of these elites, and how their attitudes to economic and social life related to broader changes in the role of business in Britain. It has no serious rival in its field." Dr. Jim Tomlinson, Brunel University

"...ventures into new territory...." David J. Jeremy, Business History Review

From the Publisher