Industrialisierung oder Kapitalismus: Alternative Zentralbegriffe

Abstract

Abstract For decades, industrialization has served as the most important key concept for structuring comprehensive and specialized studies in the field of 19th and 20th century social and economic history of many countries. How do the dominant views change if, instead, capitalism is used as the structuring key concept? Both concepts are products of the 19th century. They address similar aspects of reality and can be used for synthetical purposes. They can be used in studies with different spatial dimensions: from micro to global scales. They can be combined. But they differ as to the time spans they cover, the temporal perspectives they stress, and the way in which they combine analytical and critical functions. Recently we observe a dramatic re-emergence of the concept capitalism.