The Economy of Obligation

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Introduction: Deconstructing Capitalism

   1. Introduction: Deconstructing Capitalism

      • Craig Muldrew

      Pages 1-11

3. Economic Expansion and Structures

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13

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   2. The Sixteenth-Century Growth of the Market

      • Craig Muldrew

      Pages 15-36

   3. The Structure and Practice of Marketing Activity,and its Expansion

      • Craig Muldrew

      Pages 37-59

   4. Transactions on the Market

      • Craig Muldrew

      Pages 60-94

   5. The Structure of Credit Networks

      • Craig Muldrew

      Pages 95-119

4. The Culture of Credit

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 121-121

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   2. The Sociability of Credit and Commerce

      • Craig Muldrew

      Pages 123-147

   3. The Cultural Currency of Credit and the Construction of Reputation

      • Craig Muldrew

      Pages 148-172

   4. Unpaid Debts and Doubts about Trust

      • Craig Muldrew

      Pages 173-195

5. Credit and its Discontents

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 197-197

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   2. Disputes and Levels of Litigation

      • Craig Muldrew

      Pages 199-271

   3. Litigation and the Social Order: Debt and Downward Mobility

      • Craig Muldrew

      Pages 272-312

6. Conclusion

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 313-313

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   2. The Contractual Society

      • Craig Muldrew

      Pages 315-333

7. Back Matter

   Pages 335-453

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This book is an excellent work of scholarship. It seeks to redefine the early modern English economy by rejecting the concept of capitalism, and instead explores the cultural meaning of credit, resulting from the way in which it was economically structured. It is a major argument of the book that money was used only in a limited number of exchanges, and that credit in terms of household reputation, was a 'cultural currency' of trust used to transact most business. As the market expanded in the late-sixteenth century such trust became harder to maintain, leading to an explosion of debt litigation, which in turn resulted in social relations being partially redefined in terms of contractual equality.

• capitalism
• commerce
• England
• equality
• Expansion
• growth
• sixteenth century

'Craig Muldrew has written an imaginatively conceived and richly researched study of the meaning and practice of credit in early modern England.' - David Harris Sacks, Reed College, Journal of Economic History

• Department of History and Civilization, European University Institute, Florence, Italy

  Craig Muldrew

CRAIG MULDREW is Lecturer in the History Department and member of Queens' College, University of Cambridge. He has been a lecturer at University of Exeter and a Jean Monnet fellow at the European University Institute, Florence.

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