Can Rent Become a Universal Phenomenon?

Book review: Fishman L.G., Martyanov V.S., Davydov D.A. (2019) Rental Society. In the Shadow of Labor, Capital and Democracy, Moscow: HSE (in Russian).

Abstract

This article reviews the new monograph by L. Fishman, V. Martyanov and D. Davydov “Rent Society. In the Shadow of Labor, Capital and Democracy”. The book’s authors analyze the estate-rent society using the concepts of Bessonova (the economy of distribution) and of Kordonsky (the theory of the resource state and the estate society). However, unlike the former, Fishman, Martyanov and Davydov believe that estate rent, estates, and distribution exist in a capitalist society as well. They also deny the appropriateness of the metaphors of “market” and “liberal society”. They describe the rents of early and late capitalism and claim the victory of the rent-based society today (both in the core states of world capitalism and in its semi-periphery, e.g., Russia). The review critically evaluates the phenomenon of rent as an all-encompassing one and defends the heuristic of the contrasting models of market and distribution societies.