The History of the term political economy originally meant the study of the conditions under which production was organized in nation states of the newborn capitalist mode of production. The term was first used in England in the eighteenth century, to replace the previous approach of the French Physiocrats. The main exponents of political economy are: Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Karl Marx. In the second half of the nineteenth century, some theorists of laissez-faire (free market), began to argue that the state should not regulate markets, politics and the economy operated according to different logics and political economy should be replaced by two separate disciplines: political science (or social theory in general) and economy. This movement has been seen, particularly by Marxist thinkers, as one of the principles of the fragmentation of social science.Coincidentally with the deployment of classical liberalism and in opposition to it, theories were developed socialists and communists, who argued that the model promoted by classical liberals (unregulated capitalism) was unable to allocate resources in society so as to prevent the vast majority remain in poverty. Some socialists as Thomas Hodgskin believed that capitalism was inextricably linked with political power privileges granted to the propertied classes and those privileges removed could not have capitalism. The evolution of this trend would lead later to anarchist socialism, with authors such as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Josiah Warren or Benjamin Tucker, who considered a number of monopolies by which the state guaranteed the dominance of the propertied classes on non-proprietary classes.
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