Where “feudalism” refers to a specific form of society and not just “that time period”
Feudalism didn’t necessarily lay the foundation for capitalism, industrialization and the emerging global market (by which I mean colonialism and slave labor) resulted in a rapid shift in power from monarchs and feudal lords to industrialists and shipping companies. Basically it was built out of slavery, theft, and genocide.
Highly recommend checking out David Graeber’s Debt: The First 5000 Years
Different economic systems rise and collapse for all sorts of reasons throughout history, and at the end of the book he wraps it up with an answer I think you might find helpful.
The chapter in the playlist titled The Age of the Great Capitalist Empires
this makes sense to me. stuff like the East India Company
why do I sometimes hear things like “feudalism laid the groundwork for capitalism”?
It laid the groundwork for mercantilism which made way for capitalism. But there were other factors at play as well. History doesnt progress in a linear fashion along any sort of tech tree.
