“Agrarian Capitalism” in Early Modern Britain: Some Problems and Refl ections

The proposition on capitalism was one of the most popular topics since 1950s in the Chinese academia,but its concept is actually related with early modern British history.Some hypotheses of“agrarian capitalism”derived from the classics of Marxism on the agrarian questions,such as the form of farm,land holding,social class and social property relations in British agriculture.However,that concept is still not clear in historian’s usage,and often confused with the agrarian commercialization.And,it is diffi cult to give a defi nite time of the rise of“agrarian capitalism”in England.Also,we need to pay attention to whether the origin of capitalism from agriculture or manufacture,countryside or city in early modern Britain.These refl ections regarding“agrarian capitalism”will inspire a new generation of historians to collect new historical materials and put forward new ideas for understanding the truth of social evolution.