Robert Paul Brenner (; born November 28, 1943) is an American

economic historian Economic history is the study of history using methodological tools from economics or with a special attention to economic phenomena. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of ...

. He is a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

of history and director of the Center for Social Theory and Comparative History at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, editor of the socialist journal ''Against the Current'', and editorial committee member of ''

New Left Review The ''New Left Review'' is a British bimonthly journal, established in 1960, which analyses international politics, the global economy, social theory, and cultural topics from a leftist perspective. History Background As part of the emergin ...

''. His research interests are early modern European history, economic, social and religious history, agrarian history, social theory/

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

, and Tudor– Stuart England. Brenner contributed to a debate among Marxists on the "Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism", emphasizing the importance of the transformation of agricultural production in Europe, especially in the English countryside, rather than the rise of

international trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (See: World economy.) In most countries, such trade represents a significan ...

as the main cause of the transition. His influential 1976 article, ''Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-Industrial Europe'', started the Brenner debate.Brenner, Robert.
Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-industrial Europe
. '' Past and Present'' 70 (1976), pp. 30–74 He argued that

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

peasants had strong property rights and had little incentive to give up traditional technology or go beyond local markets and no incentive toward

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

. In his introduction to the book, Rodney Hilton writes, "Brenner strongly emphasizes the class struggle rather than developments in the forces of production as being determinant of the various historical developments in the countries of late mediaeval and early modern Europe". In the spring of 2017, Brenner and

Vivek Chibber Vivek Aslam Chibber (born 1965) is an American academic, social theorist, editor, and professor of sociology at New York University, who has published widely on development, social theory, and politics. Chibber is the author of three books, ''Th ...

assumed editorial duties and co-launched the

academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

''Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy'', with the assistance of ''

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

'' magazine.

Books and publications

*1976: *1993:
Merchants and revolution : commercial change, political conflict, and London's overseas traders, 1550–1653
' (Princeton, Princeton University Press) *2002:
The boom and the bubble : the US in the world economy
' (New York, Verso) *2006:
The economics of global turbulence : the advanced capitalist economies from Long Boom to Long Downturn, 1945–2005
' (New York, Verso) *2009: ''Property and progress : the historical origins and social foundations of self-sustaining growth'' (London, Verso)

References

External links

;Articles
"Dobb on the Transition From Feudalism to Capitalism"
'' Cambridge Journal of Economics'', 1978, 2, 121-140
"The economy after the boom: a diagnosis"
International Viewpoint, 342, July/August 2002.
The origins of capitalism
(with

Chris Harman Christopher John Harman (8 November 1942 – 7 November 2009) was a British journalist and political activist, and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. He was an editor of '' International Socialism'' and '' S ...

). ''International Socialism'' Issue 111, 3 July 2006. *
"Devastating Crisis Unfolds"
Against the Current, 132, January/February 2008.
"The Economy in a World of Trouble"
International Viewpoint, 411, April 2009.
"What is Good for Goldman Sachs is Good for America - The Origins of the Present Crisis"
(October 2, 2009). Center for Social Theory and Comparative History. Paper 2009–11. ;Videos
"Robert Brenner: The Consequences of Dependence on Asset Price Bubbles"
(April 8, 2010). Rethinking Capitalism Conference. University Center, UC Santa Cruz {{DEFAULTSORT:Brenner, Robert 1943 births American economic historians Living people Marxist theorists American Marxist writers Deutscher Memorial Prize winners Reed College alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty Writers about globalization American Marxist historians Historians from California