STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL APPROACHES Ways of understanding the origins of the modern world

I will first take a 'shopping list' approach, whereby each of the main spheres is looked at. This may suggest a list of ingredients or common features, and hence "necessary causes". But more fruitful than this is probably to see how the ingredients were mixed, their relationship to each other. As in cooking, capitalism is not merely a matter of ingredients, it is the mixing of the ingredients, and the timing of their use, that is essential. Too much salt can ruin a dish, too little likewise. Even the point at which the salt is put in, is important. Too much political order can crush initiative, too little can make capitalist development impossible.