A capitalist society is a society only because it is a nation-state

Evidence

But why is capitalist society a society at all? This question is left unanswered if we simply characterise the capitalist social order in terms of its main institutional alignments. For, given its expansionist characteristics, capitalistic economic life is only in a few respects confined to the boundaries of specific social systems. From its early origins capitalism is international in scope. A capitalist society is a “society” only because it is a nation-state. The characteristics of the nation-state in some substantial part must be explained and analysed separately from discussion of the nature of either capitalism or industrialism. The administrative system of the capitalist state, and of modern states in general, has to be interpreted in terms of the coordinated control over delimited territorial arenas which it achieves. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 153

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the nation-state’s administrative-territorial control — the very institutional nexus through which Lord Darlington wields feudal-style authority within a modern state, relevant to Stevens’s deference. — connects to: The nation is a construct, not a unit for social analysis; State sovereignty is constituted by the nation-state system, not prior to it — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 172; Capitalism has no necessary correspondence with any particular political or legal form (+3 more)

Related

• Capitalism becomes a whole way of life only through the state’s ethical civilizing work. (similarity 0.87)
• Capitalism created the first global economy based on economics rather than politics (similarity 0.82)
• Much societal power remains beyond the political system’s reach (similarity 0.81)
• Capitalism’s non-political nature enabled its global penetration beyond state reach (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• The nation is a construct, not a unit for social analysis #contradicts (0.70)
• Capitalism has no necessary correspondence with any particular political or legal form #contradicts (0.70)
• State sovereignty is constituted by the nation-state system, not prior to it #complicates (0.60) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 172
• Capitalism’s global unification paradoxically generated nationalism as fragmentation #expands (0.60)
• Capitalism created the first global economy based on economics rather than politics #complicates (0.55) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 173