Global Capitalism - 9780745644516

The assertion that an unrestrained free market, guided only by its own invisible hand, made for the best possible society appeared to be a near universal mantra following the end of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall. With communism, its one true foe, all but moldering in the grave, capitalism seemed destined to reign supreme, now and forever. The near collapse in 2008 of the global financial markets and the subsequent worldwide recession have undermined this orthodoxy and prompted some to examine it anew. Has the grand experiment of global capitalism failed? What is its true net effect upon the world? Centeno and Cohen tackle these and other questions from a uniquely sociological perspective, offering a nuanced view of capitalism as a "historically created social system" made up of both groups and individuals that adapts to changing circumstances over time, as opposed to a static and bloodless economic science. The authors are, respectively, a professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeston, and an Assistant Professor of Sociology at CUNY, Queens College. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)