In Entrepreneurs and Capitalism since Luther: Rediscovering the Moral Economy, Ivan Light and Léo-Paul Dana study the history of business, capitalism, and entrepreneurship to examine the values of social and cultural capital. Six chapters evaluate case studies that illustrate contrasting relationships between social networks, vocational culture, and entrepreneurship. Light and Dana argue that, in capitalism’s early stages, cultural capital is scarcer than social capital and therefore more crucial for business owners. Conversely, when capitalism is well established, social capital is scarcer than cultural capital and becomes more crucial. Light and Dana then trace moral legitimations of capitalism from the Reformation to the Enlightenment, the Gilded Age, and finally to Joseph Schumpeter whose concept of “creative destruction” freed elite entrepreneurs from moral restraints that encumber small business owners. After examining the availability of social and cultural capital in the contemporary United States, Light and Dana show that business owners’ social capital enforces conventional morality in markets, facilitating commerce and legitimating small businesses the old-fashioned way. As their networks become more isolated, elite entrepreneurs must claim and ultimately deliver successful results to earn public toleration of immoral or predatory conduct.

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This book begins by defining market capitalism, noting that it is not as old as humanity and that capitalism as it is known today coincided with the Protestant Reformation and Martin Luther. Throughout the book Light (emer., Univ. of California, Los Angeles.) and Dana (Dalhousie Univ.) examine many contexts where morality and capitalism intersect and insinuate a symbiotic relationship whereby society tolerates immorality in business for the sake of economic advantage. The 10 chapters in part 2, which documents non-monetary resources, start with Max Weber’s cultural approach to capitalism before examining the Protestant Reformation, the Jewish Merchants of Venice, an Alaskan island, Pakistan, Korean immigrants, and Donald Trump. Part 2 then offers an explanation of how non-monetary resources can legitimate capitalism. Overall, the book provides interesting insight into the intersections of culture and capitalism within a well-researched historical context. Each chapter has its own endnotes, and there is a complete bibliography at the end of the book. The index contains key terms; however, a more comprehensive index would increase usability, though its narrowness in no way takes away from the substance of this intriguing work. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.