tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3291522678539500772.post7634520581797369377..comments2024-01-24T05:45:35.322-05:00Comments on imagining history: conditions of capitalist development -- supply, demand, or both? interesting new researchDaniel MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546752099879983120noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3291522678539500772.post-45294092578888568322010-08-20T10:24:55.099-04:002010-08-20T10:24:55.099-04:00Hi Daniel,
"to consider any transformation i...Hi Daniel,<br /><br />"to consider any transformation in society as ultimately about different interests seeking to entrench power."<br /><br />Precisely!<br /><br />And often, the efficiency gains accrue to the section that is always gaining. Just to cite an example from home-India. India witnessed the Green revolution. But the people who benefited were only the large farmers, who had the appropriate information and the capital. The rest suffered.<br /><br />My point about misery referred to the oft-mentioned horrors of 'primitive accumulation' as detailed by Marx.<br /><br />Alex<br />www.alexmthomas.comAlexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02812065163944655719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3291522678539500772.post-935775475509676312010-08-18T08:32:10.843-04:002010-08-18T08:32:10.843-04:00Thanks for your comment!
"Also, a lot of no...Thanks for your comment! <br /><br />"Also, a lot of non-marxist literature on industrial revolution unfortunately forgets to point out the misery the agriculture faced, for the 'revolution' to take place."<br /><br />-I'm not sure what you mean by "misery" here. I think you're right, anyway, but the story of the Industrial Revolution which most convinces me (partly answering your "starting point" question) discusses it as having an agricultural revolution precede it. What's so miserable about efficiency gains which make food easier to produce, raising standards of living? <br /><br />This story, of an agricultural revolution preceding an industrial revolution (they happened within a few decades of each other!), is really the "classic" British case -- and, I think, a good account of what was happening in the mid-18th c.<br /><br />The account of course holds less weight in the U.S. (we never really had feudalism here) but I do think the model holds for other European and eastern European countries, controlling for some other factors such as the strength of the state and the role of law (I'm thinking about the British enclosure movements with both of these variables).<br /><br />Of course, the elephant in the room here is that efficiency gains from technology are not had in a frictionless world, and that's REALLY my whole point. It seems that conflict is one of, if not the originator of all, points of divergence between leftist and conservative histories of the industrial revolution. That's my point here -- to consider any transformation in society as ultimately about different interests seeking to entrench power.Daniel MacDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07546752099879983120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3291522678539500772.post-80233944634075754412010-08-18T01:15:54.234-04:002010-08-18T01:15:54.234-04:00Interesting post. I came here via Robert Vinneau&#...Interesting post. I came here via Robert Vinneau's blog.<br /><br />In fact, on going through Smith's Wealth of Nations, the movement from self-consumption to production for the market is visible. The development of the concept of 'surplus' reflects the increase in the latter. <br /><br />One of the significant hurdles in understanding the industrial revolution, I feel, is the difficulty of identifying the starting point. For instance, a reading of medieval European history seems to suggest that after guilds and market fairs, it was only 'natural' that something of the modern market would evolve.<br /><br />Also, a lot of non-marxist literature on industrial revolution unfortunately forgets to point out the misery the agriculture faced, for the 'revolution' to take place.<br /><br />Alex<br />http://www.alexmthomas.comAlexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02812065163944655719noreply@blogger.com