Includes bibliographical references and index

Introduction: defending capitalism against the privileged -- Profitable capitalism and rising mass incomes -- Stratification without transition to capitalism and the European distinctiveness -- Pre-capitalist origins of culture: the a-cultural character of capitalism and the cultural turn -- The nature of capitalism -- Globalisation and its contradictions -- Alliances for imposing capitalism: the globalisation of profit against the globalisation of rent -- An international community of rentier governments: noble intentions or a return to the past.