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This is all about ideas, about the conflict about ideas, the
individuals who held these ideas and the change in the world that resulted from
the victory of new ideas. It is also about the ideas NOW about those ideas and
the continuing intellectual and political ideological conflict over assessing
the same ideas.
The writers and proponents of ideas form a distinct group generally termed
'intellectuals' or 'intelligencia' Therefore authors (who are themselves of the
intelligencia) pay attention in their analysis to the individuals themselves,
their origins and their thought processes. The social and political role of the
'intelligencia' then and today is also controversial.
This is a brief discussion of the change often described as the 'industrial
revolution' or more generally as the huge expansion of wealth and increase in
the standard of living of people throughout the world that began in
Northwestern Europe sometime after 1600, gained volume and velocity after 1700
and 'took off' even more dramatically after 1800. The subject has been studied
and written about by dozens, at least, of economists, historians, political
theorists, and general authors. It has become a highly controversial and
politicized topic for which the literature includes highly polemical attacks.
That the event occurred is not disputed. But both its causes and its results
are disputed vociferously. Claims about the causes range from that it can be
traced back to unique developments in the "West" from ancient times -
to that is was a pure and recent accident or that it was the result of various
material conditions such as climate or geography or that it was caused by the
extremely violent nature of Europeans, or indeed of ideas. Claims about the
results are even more politicized - that it caused all manner of destruction of
non-European societies to that its spread through out the world has been
responsible for dramatic improvements in human welfare.
This discussion will focus on comments about a selected list of significant
books in which the major theme is the causes and effects of this
"industrial revolution". The broad topic is discussed in its
historical context in general histories that are not included here. It is also
treated as part of the history of money, for which I have a separate list, but
several of these are included since they are very relevant.
The authors of these books held different opinions about both the ideas
themselves and their influence on social and cultural change. I attempt here to
'cross reference' the discussion of the same ideas as held by the various
authors.
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Weaver, Richard M. Ideas Have Consequences, Univ. of Chicago
Press, Chicago, 1947, 187 pgs., footnotes, paperback.
Dr. Weaver had in mind some specific 'ideas' that he believed were seriously
detrimental to society. But I include it first here because this whole subject
and all the references here are about the consequences of Ideas.
My theory: individuals develop ideas on the basis of influences from study and
others plus their own experiences and ideas are expressed in language: ideas
become beliefs: beliefs are then the basis on which decisions and choices are
made: decisions and choices are then the basis for actions.
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Polanyi, Karl, The Great Transformation, Subtitle: The Political
and Economic Origins of Our Time, Beacon Press, Boston, 1944, 313 pgs., index,
footnotes, paperback
The author was a sociologist as well as philosopher. He wrote this book on the
basis of his analysis of the disastrous history of the 20th century full of
world wars and depression. The book contains much interesting information about
pre-capitalist societies. The author believes that capitalism as connected
(both as cause and effect) with the industrialization of the world - the
creation of a totally new social order dependent on the 'machine'. And it is
this phenomena that has divorced society from its 'natural' that is
'pre-capitalist' basis.
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Graeber, David, Debt, The First 5,000 Years, Melville House,
Brooklyn, 2011, 534 pgs., index, bibliography, notes
The author is an archeologist, turned also anthropologist and sociologist - and
then an anarchist. The contents is devoted through the first 150 pages mostly
to archeological and anthropological discussion on primitive societies. But
this section is very important in showing that the popular concept of barter in
such societies is a myth. Another important theme is that currency is only one
form of 'money' and that 'credit' has been even more significant in many times
and places.
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McCloskey, Deirdre, Bourgeois Virtues: Subtitle: Ethics for an
Age of Commerce, Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2007, 616 pgs., index, works
cited, notes, paperback
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McCloskey, Deirdre, Bourgeois Dignity: Subtitle: Why Economics
Can't Explain the Modern World, Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, 2010, 571 pgs.,
index, notes, bibliography, paperback
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McCloskey, Deirdre, Bourgeois Equality: Subtitle: How Ideas, not
Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World - Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago,
2016, 787 pgs., index, bibliography, notes
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Trentmann, Frank, Empire of Things: Subtitle: How We Became a
World of Consumers, from the 15th Century to the 21st. Harper Collins, NY.,
2016, notes, paperback
A remarkable book in which the author has compiled an extensive record of the
flood of material 'things' that took place as a result of this 'revolution' and
continues today. The book provides the physical evidence of the transformation
whose intellectual basis Dr. McCloskey describes.
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Bury, J. B. The Idea of Progress: Subtitle: An Inquiry into its
Growth and Origin, Dover Publications, N.Y. 1955, 357 pgs. , index, notes
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Piketty, Thomas, Capital in the Twenty-First Century:
Translated by Arthur Goldhammer: Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1014, 685
pgs., index, end notes, tables, illustrations
This very interesting book contains much more about the cultural and social
aspects of 'capitalism' than appears in the extensive reviews of it in the
popular press. It is the epitomy of econometrics, full of graphs and tables and
statistical data. It has been generally appraised - both pro and con - on the
validity of its model of economic development, but their is much more to it.
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Morris, Ian, Why the West Rules - For Now: Subtitle: The
Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future. Farrar, Straus, and
Giroux, NY., 2010, 750 pgs., index, bibliography, end notes
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Stark, Rodney, How the West Won: Subtitle: The Neglected Story
of the Triumph of Modernity, ISI Books, Wilmington DE., 2014, 455 pgs., index,
bibliography, end notes
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Stark, Rodney, The Victory of Reason: Subtitle: How Christianity
Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, Random House, N.Y., 2005, 281
pgs., index, notes, bibliography, paperback
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White, Lawrence H., The Clash of Economic Ideas: Subtitle: The
Great Policy Debates and Experiments of the Last Hundred Years. Cambridge Univ.
Press, 428 pgs., 2012, index, figures, paperback
Dr. White writes a very non-judgmental account of the conflict over economic
theories waged mostly in the professional academic world by individuals seeking
not only to promote their opinions on economic issues but also to establish
themselves and the 'profession' of economist as the most significant
intellectual influence on the public action of politicians. The reader can
relate these heated struggles over theories to the similar conflicts of 13th
century scholastics - Dominicans and Franscicians - conflicts about theory but
also for influence. The economists today and medieval monks are both members of
this 'intelligencia'.
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Muller, Jerry, The Mind and the Market, Subtitle: Capitalism in
Western Thought, Random House, NY., 2002, 487 pgs., index, notes, paperback.
An excellent analysis of the thought of some important 'makers of modern
opinion' on the cultural and social interrelationships of capitalism in social
development. All these 'thinkers' are also of the 'intelligencia'. Dr. Muller
writes that it was they who first appeared in and created this social category.
But it seems to me that their role and influence can be traced back as far as
Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Chinese priests and court officials. The main
difference is what contemporary issues were critical and therefor worth
controlling.
He describes their published thoughts on economic issues - specifically on
capitalism as an economic theory and in practice. But he focuses more on their
contentiona about what the impact of this new 'capitalism' is and will be on
culture and society as a whole. By this approach he describes the specific
contributions to the intellectual conflict over the developing 'capitalist'
form of society that Dr. McCloskey descries in her books about the role of
Bourgeois ideas.
He begins with Adam Smith and devotes each chapter to influential authors.
These are presented in generally chronological order - or at least in such
order that Dr. Muller is able to trace explicit influences by some on others as
history unfolded.
His description of Lord Keynes is the most devastating appraisal that I have
read, exactly because he focuses on Keynes' a priory views on culture and
social class. And Keynes was a strong advocate for the role of the
'intelligencia' specifically economists in government.
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Plender, John, Capitalism: Subtitle: Money, Morals and Markets,
BiteBack Books, London, 2015, 344 pgs., index, notes
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Howe, Neil and William Strauss, The Fourth Turning, Broadway
Books, NY. `997, 382 pgs., index, references, notes, paperback
The authors promote a theory of cyclical history based on a division of society
into geneological - chronological divisions (generations) of about 25 years
each. Each generation forms a collective set of beliefs influenced by the
speific traumatic 'big events' that take place during their formative years.
The generations cycle in four recurring order. This is intellectual history in
which ideas determine decisions and actions form the content of historical
periods.
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Hubbard, Glenn and Tim Kane, Balance: The Economics of Great Powers
from Ancient Rome to Modern America. Simon & Schuster, N. Y., 2013, 315
pgs., index, end notes, references, tables
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Acemoglu, Daron & James A. Robinson, Why Nations Fail: The
Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, Crown Business, N.Y., 2012, 529
pgs., index, references, end notes, bibliographic essay
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Landes, David, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Subtitle: Why
Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor, W. W. Norton, N. Y., 1998, 650 pgs., index,
bibliography, end notes, map
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Gilder, George, Wealth and Poverty, Basic Books, NY., 1981, 306
pgs., index, bibliography, notes
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Landes, David, Joel Mokyr & William Baumol, The Invention of
Enterprise, Subtitle: Entrepreneurship from Ancient Mesopotamia to Modern
Times, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 2010, index, notes, tables, paperback
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Frankopan, Peter, The Silk Roads, Subtitle: A new History of the
World, Alfred A. Knopf, N.Y., 2016, 645 pgs., index, notes, map, illustrations
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Andrade, Tonio, The Gunpowder Age: Subtitle: China, Military
Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History, Princeton Univ. Press,
Princeton, 2016, 432 pgs., index, bibliography, notes
The book is based on exceptionally inclusive research particularly in Chinese
sources. The author disputes the standard theories about the causes for
European domination over Asia in the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Ferguson, Niall, Civilization: The West and the Rest, Penguin
Press, N. Y., 2011, index, 402 pgs., index, end notes, bibliography,
illustrations, figures, maps
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Ferguson, Niall, The Ascent of Money: Subtitle: A Financial
History of the World, Penguin Press, N. Y., 2008, 442 pgs., index,
illustrations, end notes.
The book is more fully a part of the corpus of literature on the concept of
money. But, since money - that is finance - played a role in the development of
the 'industrial revolution' and in the expansion of European dominance we
include it here.
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Boot, Max, War made New: Subtitle: Technology, Warfare & the
Course of History 1500 - today, Gotham Books, 2006, 624 pgs., index,
bibliography, end notes, maps
This book should be read along with those of Andrade and Ferguson.
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Spufford, Peter, Power and Profit: The Merchant in Medieval
Europe, Thames & Hudson, London, 2002, 432 pgs., index, bibliography,
notes, maps, illustrations
The author performed detailed 'on the spot' research in European cities. He can
date the first appearance of specific 'things' - such as linen, silverware,
spices, wool trade, glassware - in specific places. This is a vividly described
account of both the expansion of material wealth and the thinking about it in
medieval Europe. This expansion took place earlier than some other historians
believe.
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