Werner Sombart and the ’Spirit’ of Modern Capitalism: Rediscovering a Classic

This book illuminates the work of Werner Sombart, a key contemporary of Max Weber, showing how his writing and thinking laid the groundwork for concepts of modern capitalism.

Although the notion of the ’spirit’ of modern capitalism is most associated with Weber, it was Sombart who first used this phrase, with Weber focusing mainly on socioeconomics while Sombart continued to develop his ideas around modern capitalism. This book critically analyses Sombart’s groundbreaking work, ＂Der moderne Kapitalismus＂ among his other writings to demonstrate how they may be read as a complementary alternative to Weber, providing a more detailed, sustained, and a comprehensive account of the genesis and nature of modern capitalism.

This book will be of interest to a scholarly audience including students and researchers of the history of economic thought, as well as areas of sociology, politics, and political economy.

Christopher Adair-Toteff is a philosopher and social theorist who has concentrated on social-political and social-economic issues in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Germany. His recent books include Carl Schmitt on Law and Liberalism (Palgrave 2020), Max Weber’s Path from Political Economy to Social Economics (Routledge 2021) and The Early Austrian School of Economics: Money, Value, Capital (Routledge 2022). He also published Fundamental Concepts in Max Weber’s Sociology of Religion (Palgrave 2015).