Slavery, Freedom and Business Endeavor

‘Bowden’s book provides a provocative prism through which to view western civilization and capitalism. It reveals Bowden’s understanding of the freedom and courage required to defend and sustain the values upon which the survival of modern society depends: individualism, democracy, economic and political liberalism. With the growing ascendency of social movements that prioritize group-based identities over individual achievement, his powerful warning about the “milletization” of society is more urgent than ever.’
–Art Bedeian. Louisiana State University and founding member of Management History Division, Academy of Management

This book argues that the modern iteration of western civilization is profoundly different to earlier versions. Assuming definitive shape around 1850, the new civilization differed from every culture that came before it. Whereas earlier civilizations were caught within a “Malthusian” trap that subjected most to a life of misery, the new version of western civilization was associated with material plenty. Whereas slavery was previously endemic in both the Old and New Worlds, after 1850 the new civilization drove it to near extinction. Freedom and individualism were its hallmarks.

The author postulates that it is lived experience that primarily defines a civilization. It is thus apparent that western civilization is now a global civilization. Every society has been shaped by it in terms of business, work and home life. Constantly, however, the individualist values at its core have come under threat. Increasingly, we witness what the book calls the “milletization” of society, whereby individuals obtain their identity from this or that “identity” group in ways akin to Ottoman Turkey’s “millet” system, in which each person was assigned to a particular “millet”. Across its pages, the book offers fundamentally new understandings of western civilization and how it was reforged by business endeavor.

Bradley Bowden is Professor at Griffith University and Fellow at the Institute for Public Affairs. He is a Past Chair, Management History Division of the Academy of Management and Co-editor of the Journal of Management History. Past works include Work, Wealth, and Postmodernism and the edited, Palgrave Handbook of Management History.