Slavery, Freedom and Business Endeavor: The Reforging of Western Civilization and the Transformation of Everyday Life

This book argues that modern Western civilization is synonymous with business, and you cannot have one without the other-or, at least, not for very long. Without Western civilization, with its emphasis on inquiry, questioning, experimentation, reasoning, freedom of expression, a free press, equality of opportunity before the law-then the innovation and vitality that lies at the heart of Western business success, evaporates. Without business endeavor, all the ideas and inquiry are materially meaningless.

The author postulates that only through business opportunity is the wealth created that allows a continuation of our society’s intellectual endeavors. Further, the world of modern business-a unique creation of Western civilization, even if it has witnessed many regional and national adaptations-is also the actual place where inequalities are overcome and opportunities created. It is through the world of business and work that women have, for example, achieved something approaching equality with men, to a degree unprecedented in human history. This book will offer scholars a research-based argument that Western civilization owes its existence to business rather than Greco-Roman antiquity.

Bradley Bowden is Professor of Employment Relations at Griffith University, Australia. He is currently Executive Member and Past Chair of the Management History Division of the Academy of Management. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Management History. His past works include Work, Wealth, and Postmodernism: The Intellectual Conflict at the Heart of Business Endeavour and the edited collection, Management History: Its Global Past and Present.