Producing Culture and Capital: Family Firms in Italy Paperback – December 1, 2002

Professor Yanagisako undertakes an ethnographic study of thirty-eight family firms in northern Italy's silk industry from an anthropological perspective in order to go against the prevailing theories propounded by Weberian and Marxist scholars that capitalism can be self-perpetuating that requires no culturally motivated agents to reproduce or capitalism is the rational and calculated pursuit of profit and accumulation in which the effects of culture towards the diffusion of capitalism in the western world are not long-term and stronger. To her, culture and capitalism are not oxymoron and they can be mutually interdependent.In this book, Professor Yanagisako undertakes a critical reconsideration of the concept of culture within the framework of anthropology as an analysis of family capitalism in Italy. She rejects the widespread notion that western capitalism is a homogenising and acultural force. She maintains that capital is accumulated, dispersed, and reproduced through historically specific cultural processes which are being formed through everyday practices of entrepreneurs. By studying sentiments, identities, kinship and gender of family firms in northern Italy's silk industry, she suggests that the application of cultural essentialist theory in the study of family capitalism in northern Italy cannot fully account for diverse everyday practices of family firms in the same geopolitical space. To her, we cannot view culture as a fixed and unchanging system and entrepreneurial practices within a specific national or regional space as homogeneous.Professor Yanagisako interviews family firm founders and their family members and relatives. She also collects information from "Camera di Commercio" (Chamber of Commerce) in the provincial office that contains more detailed quantitative and qualitative data surrounding family firms. According to her findings, family firm founders are used to be depicted as "men of strong character" (P. 40), and "accentratori" (P.88) (making all the decision themselves), whereas there are sparse descriptions of founder's wives with such distinctive characters and personalities. The strength and character of the emotional bonds within the family become a productive force that enables family firms to survive and prosper. Amongst thirty-eight family firms, Professor Yanagisako finds that the practices of family firm founders in the upper, middle, and lower bourgeoisie factions vary even though they have similar sentiments, desires, and meanings of kinship and gender and therefore, they differ as regards capital accumulation, diversification, and reproduction. Chapter 5 ("Betrayal as a Force of Production" ) of the book is very interesting for its in-depth analysis of a recurring process of how betrayal and trust can lead to continuation and breakdown of solidarity of family firms.This book should be read by readers who are interested in culture and family capitalism because it provides a new perspective towards the concept of culture and many particular insights and razor-sharp analyses of family capitalism. Resulting from rigorous integration of theories and empirical evidence made by Professor Yanagisako, this book is also strongly recommended as a good piece of scholar work for ethnographic researchers in the domains of family firms, entrepreneurship, and cultural studies.

This is a great ethnography about the family firms in Como, Italy. If you are interested in learning about capitalism (yes, with a de-capitalized c), this is a must read for you.

Although I'm Italian and interested in the fashion/textile industry, I wasn't aware of the historical backgrounds of the most prestigeous Italian families who started textile businesses early in the Century. The author did an awesome job in gathering all the information the book contains. This book will help you get an idea of: where the major Italian textile firms are located around the lake Como; what are the families' styles and traditions beyond the businesses; and, ultimately, which are their characteristics. Simply intersting and amusing book.