The Transition to a Capitalist Society
Channel: Asad Zaman
Date: 2023-03-21

{writeup bit.ly/AZnaie47} Section 4.7 of A New Approach to Islamic Economics (bit.ly/na2ie) explains how the emergence of capitalism reshaped society in all dimensions. Wealth and power created by commerce overshadowed the wealth created by ownership of land. This led to the marginalization of the Aristocracy, and the rise of the Capitalist class. The peasantry was transformed into the labor class. These dramatic social changes were accompanied by changes in philosophies of life, religion, as well as economic theories, which analyzed different dimensions of this change.  Our Uloom ul Umran perspective allows us to consider all of these theories together as capturing different aspects of social change, which can be combined to give a holistic picture. In contrast, the view of economics as a "scientific" theory suggests that one of these theories is true while others are false. This leads to loss of perspective and understanding of the complexity of the social change process.