[7] The debate challenged the prevalent views of class relations in the economy of England in the Middle Ages in particular – and agricultural societies with serfdom in general, as well as engaging the broader historiography of the economics of feudalism from the 20th century (in both the west and the Soviet Union).
In the view of Shami Ghosh, Brenner's thesis proposed an explanatory framework for the evolution of what he called "agrarian capitalism" in England, during the 15th and 16th centuries.
[A] transformation of relationships between landlords and cultivators led to the creation of a largely free and competitive market in land and labour, while simultaneously dispossessing most of the peasants.
This last fact was the principal motor of innovation leading to a rise in productivity, which, coupled with the growth of a now-free labour market, was essential for the development of modern (industrial) capitalism.
A related and parallel debate also took place in the pages of the New Left Review: As of 2016, Brenner's most recent statements of his ideas, making some small modifications to his earlier claims, were: