Why did a world capitalist civilization emerge when it did Essay

Why did a world capitalist civilization emerge when it did - Essay Example 165) One word often used in connection with world capitalism in the twenty first century is â€Å"globalization† (Amin, 1997) Other ideologies like socialism or feudalism do exist in areas of the contemporary world but they find themselves surrounded by a network of other nations, states and large commercial organizations which largely dictates how resources are transferred from place to place, and ultimately steers the growth, decline or stability of large areas of the planet. There are local differences, of course, since each country develops out of one of a number of previous older and separate civilizations, but there is a sense in which they also join a coherent, single world-wide capitalist civilisation. Wallerstein describes this as capitalist civilisation as â€Å"universalism through particularism and particularism through universalism† (Wallerstein, 1984, p. 167). He sees its main characteristic as a continuous search for more and more profit to drive more and more growth. This paper traces the origins of modern capitalism civilisation back to its origins in the past. The question to be answered is when and where it originally emerged. One needs only to think of the hand-to-mouth existence of small, isolated and largely rural societies in the Middle Ages to realise what a significant change global capitalism has brought to the world: â€Å"Matters would change dramatically, however, with the violent remaking of the globe that commenced c. 1500 as the Spanish, Dutch, English, and French began seeking their fortunes far beyond their own national domains.† (Bryant: 2006, p. 407). The discovery of new lands full of untapped resources set off a chain reaction that led some two hundred and fifty years later to the industrial revolution. It is clear that capitalist civilisation must have begun after medieval times. Looking back through history it is generally agreed that origins of capitalism as a world civilisation are to be sought in W estern Europe in the period around the middle of the eighteenth century that has come to be called â€Å"The Enlightenment†. Other parts of the world, notably the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Japan were taking steps in the same direction, and some historians such as Pomeranz (2000) and Goody (2004) have argued that there were parallel moves in the direction of capitalism going on in non-European regions. The fact remains, however, that the scale and speed of European industrial expansion and commercial activity dwarfs anything that historians have been able to prove elsewhere. Vast quantities of goods were shipped to and from the colonies that Western Powers set up, specifically for the purpose of supplying industrial needs back home. Even more significant than that was the extent of the stimulus that occurred with the Enlightenment’s focus on science and technology: â€Å"And as economic historians have extensively documented, it was not the comparative cheapness of co lonial resources that provided Europeans with their decisive advantage, but the astounding productivity gains that came with mechanization and the factory organization of labour.† (Bryant: 2006, p. 434) An important first step was the invention of labour saving devices which increased food production in the small farms and fields. This in turn released labour to work in newly constructed factories who processed raw materials for local or European markets. By the middle of the eighteenth century the economies of scale that emerged were able to produce surpluses which were then reinvested to drive forward ever greater productivity. This cycle of development contains the germ of a capitalist culture and so we can conclude that the first stirrings of capitalist civilisation emerged in the mid eighteenth century