Historical Globalisation Flashcards
Humans are the biggest driver of change ‘reshaping the planet on a geological scale’ - citation
the economist, 2001
Yusof 2018
is environmental colonialism implied in the term anthropocene
anthropocene critiques
- history of anthropocene cannot be reduced to burning of fossil fuels
- industrial revolution is a process, not event, emerging out of a new relationship with nature
-most accounts exclude non-human relatioships
capitalocene
capitalism emerges 1400-1600
collapse of feudalism, black death
nature, work, food, money, lives
Nature
humans co-existed with nature, organically connected
slowed exploitation
scientific revolution placed humans above, taming
land in the medieval world
little land privately owned, person of the king is the only absolute owner (manorialism)
strips allocated to household to use
peasants could ‘glean’, ensuring food for poorest members of society
norms guided by christian values
enclosures
tudor enclosures - rise of wool trade, growing market economy, landlords set rents, brought competition and profit
in 100 years 4.5million acres of land encolsed
John Locke
property as a natural right granted by god, individuals have right to self preservation
labour transforms common resources into private property
he accepted inequality as justified if it occurs through legitimate means (individ labour)
philosophy used to justify colonial expansion
enclosures as ‘improvement’
Ireland
Englands first colony
forced enclosure
possesion of land secured through symbolically important acts (homes, gardens, fencing)
companion species, Ungulate irruption (Melville 1944), animals central to destruction of indegenous populations
market embed
prior to capitalocene, market was embedded in life-world, now life-world exists inside the market
slave system catalysed capitalisms features
introduction of waged work historically important, consolidated capitalism
Sidney Mintz, 1895
slave economies represent capitalisms development ‘outside the european heartland’
cotton
native to 3 places globally, socio-cultural importance
europeans exposed through trade, luxury item
indian producers had centuries of experience
war capitalism
using war and disease to expropriate indigenous land
created conditions for plantation
lacked labour force, killed natives
1525, 1.25 million africans transported to new world
plantations
Most complex system of its age, simplification and standardisation (Ogborn, 2008)
Monoculture, not grown for local subsistence, grown for export
Crops chosen for exchange value, not use value
Simplification of work, selection of particular labourers, tasks simplified and monotonously repeated, rationalisation
industrialisation
How could britain achieve advantage on spinning and weaving
Imposed tariffs, protectionism, sending spies
Mechanisation to improve productivity
Empire produced the wealth needed for machinery, networks allowed UK to appropriate knowledge (steal intellectual capital)
Plantations supplied cheap food, enclosure movement meant people were forced into factories
On plantations capitalists learned value of reorganisation of labour to quicken reproduction of capital
tompson 1967
‘clock time’. In pre-industrial societies, time was measured by natural rhythms and tasks. Time became a commodity, rhythm tied to demands of machines and capital.
plantations and factories
war capitalism based on coercion and industrial capitalism based on discipline – evolved together and helped install Britain as the dominant power in a unipolar world.
commodity frontier
describes the expansion of capitalist markets into new territories to extract resources and create commodities
europeans and potatoes
30 years war, army expansion and profesionalism, ability to hide underground
enclosures accelerated importance, allowed peasants to survive on little land
maiinland europe, central in transformation
ireland, famine
colonial plantation in ireland
Tudor plantation policies, land poverty generated
Potato is less susceptible to destruction than other plants, underground
Yields more calories per unit land than grain
Did not need processing
Propagate clonally
Adaptable (environmental plasticity)
19th century and potatoes
opinion changed, solely subsistence. Unsocial.
Crop enables overpopulation, improvidence and social paralysis.
Subsistence is seen as loathsome, lazy (capitalism). Diet is a benchmark of civility.
Ellen wood (2016)
‘collapse of comunism’ confirmed that capitalism is the natural state of humanity
seeds of capitalism rooted in primitive acts of exchange
‘market forces’ - implies coercion, ideology is based on freedom
the commercialisation model
primitive exchange acts, increasingly specialised (mutual dependency), division of labour (inc productivity), C is highest stage of progress (maximises wealth accumulation and productivity)
system marked by exploitation and class struggle - Marx
anti eurocentrism
denying superiority of europe, emphasising dominance of non-european trading networks throughout history
importance of european imperialism in dev of C
food trade and supply
control of food has been source of power and wealth
reliant on cities, large pops not produing own food
can be argues capitalism born when market seized hold of food porduction
Sven Beckert 2015
industrial revolution provides logical date for start of anthropocene
clearning of forests and CO2 emissions prevented initiation of another ice age (humans may not be sole factor)
the great acceleration
post WWII
pop increase
energy consumption
urbanisation, improved living standards
shift to neoliberalism
War produced scientists and technologists, aided to relationships between government, industry and academia to drive innovation and growth
commodity fetishism
‘Labour value’ amount of time, skill and expense in manufacturing item
‘Exchange value’ defined by the market, combines usefulness and labour value with added profit margin
Exploitation of labour is needed for the profit
Fetishism - attributing special power to mundane material objects
Levi Jeans during cold war in eastern europe, epitomised the ‘glamorous west’
