ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author starts by critically delineating the main arguments of the German Historical debate on the origins of capitalism, as it may serve to lay the groundwork for reflections on the monetary, 'entrepreneurial' and ideological–cultural origins of capitalism, which are at times underestimated in contemporary Marxist approaches. Subsequently, the author comments on more recent non-Marxist approaches to capitalism, which, like those of the German Historical debate, superlatively underestimate the structural role of wage labour in the formation of capitalism. Werner Sombart clearly differentiates between the craftsman or artisan – the small and medium trader or entrepreneur – to whom he ascribes a specific pre-capitalist system, and the capitalist, who bases his activities on large-scale entrepreneurial property. Max Weber adopted and modified Werner Sombart's idea that capitalism emerged when a pre-existing 'spirit of capitalism' merged with and shaped a certain economic activity.
