Cities and Capitalism: David Gordon’s Work on Urban Economies

Abstract

David Gordon’s early work included a focus on cities and their role in capitalist development, but he didn’t complete or publish an ambitious project called CAPITALopolis. Gordon instead developed a framework linking Marxian insights with historical analysis of institutional impact and change through his social structures of accumulation framework. Subsequent mainstream and radical urban analyses didn’t use Gordon’s work, but his early writings are consistent with his passion for fighting racial and economic inequality, and understanding those forces systematically as part of the history and logic of capitalism.

Citation

McGahey, R. (2022), "Cities and Capitalism: David Gordon’s Work on Urban Economies", Fiorito, L., Scheall, S. and Suprinyak, C.E. (Ed.) Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Including a Symposium on David Gordon: American Radical Economist (Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 40A), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 35-55. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0743-41542022000040A006