| CAPITALIST/INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONS Emerged from particular form of advanced agrarian state systems - Feudalism - in Europe and Japan (Before Feudalism, peasant agricultural production less organized/less efficient/less productive) FEUDALISM (Europe 800 � 1450, Japan 1200 � 1800�s) Five characteristics: Landlord - Peasant exploitation extraction of agricultural surplus by landlords/vassals from peasants Class structure -- Europe: Landlords, Vassals, Peasants [Merchants, Wageworkers] Japan: Daimyo, Samurai, Peasants [Chonin, Hokonin] Landlords granted �fiefdoms� to vassals in return for service/loyalty -- �Manors� in Europe Held together by military force Landlords/vassals were also warriors/military leaders Oath of fealty -- tied landlords and vassals together forever (intergenerational) Manors (vassals) granted much autonomy in return for fealty and tribute (part of local surplus) Coexisting with Feudal System were largely autonomous merchant towns, protected by landlords. Based on internal and external trade and craft manufacture by wageworkers/hokonin Elements included: Factories, wage labor, money-banking-contract systems, legal system, �neutral� govt During the Feudal Period: -- More organized peasant production produced increasingly larger surpluses & growing populations . -- Landlords traded part of surplus to merchants for luxury goods and technology (to increase peasant prod). (Landlord wealth in land & luxury goods -- Merchant wealth in money & eventually factories) -- Increasing productivity + pop growth expands merchant towns faster than feudal manors. -- Merchants continually expand trade networks & factory production in towns (at first feudal-type �craft work� later replaced by factory system and wagework -- Why? More efficient & productive.) -- Merchants seek out colonies for precious metals (gold, etc.) & raw material for indus (cotton-textiles, etc.). Early colonialism leads to early �Core� (colonizing & exploiting) & �Peripheral� (exploited) structure. Over several centuries, this process would have led to industrialization anyway, but in Europe and Japan, the Feudal systems �collapsed� and this led to industrial revolutions rather than gradual transitions. THE COLLAPSE OF FEUDAL SYSTEMS Characteristics of states where collapse occurred & capitalism emerged (England, Netherlands, Japan). -- Small size - more efficient organized state system and class structure. -- Geography - large access to waterways, more efficient for transportation/trade. -- Climate - temperate (colder climates not as agri productive, tropical climates less assertive states) Eventually warmer climates exploited for raw materials �peripheralized� (e.g. US South & cotton). -- Dramatic population growth. -- Most political autonomy for merchants (in best interests of landlords who benefited from trade). Where the feudal system worked best (small states on waterways with temperate climates), productivity was high, population growth was high, and landlords granted autonomy to merchants. Productivity and population growth (surplus peasants) provided work force for merchants, and landlords were among the main customers. Over generations, population growth among the landlords and vassals began to dilute the land-based system (�primogeniture�). Inheritance increasingly broke up the manors and eventually landlords began to sell off land. Ironically, where feudalism was the most successful was where it eventually collapsed, spawning capitalism/industrialization. |