Adopting Capitalism

      By reflecting on this week's readings, the risk taking which began with the agrarian culture to be more innovative, and putting the puzzle together to change the way people produced food had a great impact on the beginning of capitalism. They figured out they had to have larger yields of food with fewer people to produce it. The improvements in farming, was the the major area where capitalism got roots to grow and flourish into what it is today.


    By the sixteenth century, new industry and more people to work created a putting out system, which Hunt and Lautzenheiser discuss as the birth of capitalism. This kept the capital in the hands who owned it through the whole production process. A change in farming was the free-hold farmers and the landlords, which were successful in replacing low fixed rents with commercial leases according to market prices. The putting out system consisted of craftsman who acted as small independent entrepreneurs were replaced by exporting industries. This redistributed the agriculture income, according to Appleby, and the relationship between landlords and tenants was flexible enough for new methods to develop. The Dutch is an example of this where they changed from letting land lay farrow to a four-field rotation system, and others used up and down husbandry. Agriculture was changing, and people were doing things differently by being imaginative, paying attention to detail, and taking risks. Appleby states all of this was essential for change, which mixed opportunity with the natural desire for human drive to improve individually.
   Individualism was making it possible to think differently about themselves, and their situation instead of doing the best for the whole. People realized they had to get the best for themselves before looking at the whole. Individualism freed everyone to be able to think about a possible future as a participating part of society.  When people started thinking for themselves, they wanted to be more involved in politics, societal concerns, and a new way of life. Socialists like Marx said there was a new class of owner determined to use money and influence to get things done through policies that favored their interests. People were looking after their own interests, and to look towards future possibilities.
   For capitalism to take off an old mind-set had to be left behind, and replaced with a new mind-set...especially around the idea of work. The aristocracy was not a good example of hard work, and looked at hard work as being done in your own leisure. The people had to get used to working long hours at a time during daytime hours every day. Appleby points out; working hard is a capacity that has to be developed, usually through rigorous, early childhood training. Fear of reprimand and stubborn oversight can change habits, but only slowly,  and it is clear some people are more agreeable to working hard for an apparent purpose than others.  Getting through to working hard was important for for breaking old agriculture order and making it easier for those who were open to using their energy in new ways to do so. This concept came with the growth of industry. The catalyst for a big part of the industrial boom was textile goods from the East Indian Trade Company. When Europeans became aware of the lighter weight materials from India, they wanted them to make different types of clothing that were cooler and more colorful, since they were only used to wool and linen for clothing products. Adornments for their homes started to pick up with new designs and fabrics.
   There were many factors to making capitalism as it is today. I feel the turning point for capitalism was when landlords started laying off workers from enclosures because o needing more land to put into sheep runs. Appleby says they became "masterless men" who walked the roads looking for work and food during the Elizabethan period. The landlords wanted more land for sheep for fear that the textile materials coming into England. They were afraid they would lose their market in wool and linen. The textile industry was another important factor of capitalism because it showed there was a market created by the people's desire for pretty, comfortable,and did different things.
   The issue of good currency, how it was going to be made without being copied by others was crucial for the banking industry. I think the defining factor for capitalism was when the king of England's agreed to work with Parliament. Then Parliament founded the the Bank of England to receive tax revenues, lend to the government, and issue bills of exchange that could pass as currency. According to Appleby, after the Glorious Revolution, uniform tax rates were applied across the country and Parliament oversaw how the king spent tax revenues. The national postal system came in 1712,  and by 1715 trade statistics were available for guiding policy making. By reading Appleby, the Dutch were the example of the first banking system to lend money on collateral of real estate, precursor for mortgages today. For capitalism to be what it is today also came from nations copying what their  neighbors were doing, and adjusting it to their own needs and cultures. Without communication, and cooperation between business relationships the rest of the world would not have known about changing ideas. That means people had the appetite for learning new ways of living by having success in other cultures.
  I agree with Carmen that there are problems with capitalism. The poor are still caught up in the storm of making money, and the middle class since I was young have changed dramatically. Another area of capitalism that has to improve is wages, cost of manufactured goods go up which raises the economy but wages do not go up enough to keep up with inflation of the economy. There has to be a more efficient way of passing the wealth around the world to benefit everyone not just the rich.