Intro -- Contents -- Figures and Tables -- Preface -- Preface to the German Edition -- Introduction - England and the Process of Commercialization -- Chapter 1 - Medieval Foundations of Market Exchange -- Chapter 2 - Growth and Consolidation of Market Exchange in the Early Modern Period -- Chapter 3 - The Embeddedness of Market Exchange -- Conclusion - Commercialization as an Historical Process -- Works Cited -- Index.

Focusing on England, this study reconstructs the centuries-long process of commercialization that gave birth to the modern market society. It shows how certain types of markets (e.g. those for real estate, labor, capital, and culture) came into being, and how the social relations mediated by markets were formed. The book deals with the creation of institutions like the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange, and Lloyd's of London, as well as the way the English dealt with the uncertainty and the risks involved in market transactions. Christiane Eisenberg shows that the creation of a market society and modern capitalism in England occurred under circumstances that were utterly different from those on the European continent. In addition, she demonstrates that as a process, the commercialization of business, society, and culture in England did not lead directly to an industrial society, as has previously been suggested, but rather to a service economy.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.