Reading Assignment #2, Economic Revolution

A.

I found several things to be interesting in this piece, but I'd have to say that I found the development that took place for our society to turn into a market system that emphasizes person gain the most interesting.

I had absolutely no idea that societies did not run under a capitalism in the past. In fact, it was frowned upon to try to improve/better oneself by making profit off an item. Everything was about doing what was necessary to keep society running properly, not necessarily bettering it.

And that is what is key. In the Middle Ages and earlier times of society, the way people deal/guarded against breakdown of society was:

1. Handing down responsibilities/jobs from generation to generation. In other words, people knew what they had to do to survive and keep everything running properly by what past generations had done, and continuing the tradition of living/working in that certain way.
• Ex. a son follows a dad, so the son knows what to do in the future. This process repeated over and over again.
2. Oppressive rule also was another way societies stayed in order. That is, by an overseer giving orders.
• Ex. Pyramids in Egypt were created by many people, but one person (a Pharaoh) was giving the orders. Thus, this authority preserved the economic survival of that society.

As mentioned in the article, it turns out that some Eastern countries actually run in the aforementioned ways even today.

But this is how many societies now preserve against chaos/breakdown:

1. Deregulation, or in other words, not having governmental/oppressive intervention and allowing individuals to do as he/she saw fit. This is pretty much how our current society is in many regards. It is a market system, which is where each person should do what is to his/her best monetary advantage.

I just found this to be extremely interesting because of the fact that I had no idea that in prior years, and even in today in the East, it is basically frowned upon to try to better oneself. In America, we live in a society where competition is everywhere and so much of life is about making as much money as possible.

Truthfully, it sounds like it might be kind of nice, in some ways, to live a life that is not all about bettering oneself, but rather, accomplishing the needs of everyone to keep everyone content.

One other thing I found interesting was that in early civilization, an item wasn't worth something specific. In today's day and age, there is a price tag for everything. But back then, there was no set price for anything- people would trade for different things, and there was not necessarily a "standard" that had to be met to complete a trade for a certain item.

B.

1. Which societal system mentioned in the essay worked the best? Was it when tradition/custom, command, or capitalism/the desire for individual gain kept our society in order?
2. In other countries on Earth (specifically as the essay states, the Eastern World), societies are based on command and/or tradition/custom. This leads me to wonder whether or not in today's day and age of America, could a system based on tradition/custom or command be successful? Could America be kept in order if everyone wasn't striving to better his/her own life as the majority of America does today?
3. Why is it that some countries in today's world function on command and/or tradition/custom while others function on the idea that people should work towards gain and improvement? What decides/causes countries to rely on one of the aforementioned principles to keep the country in order and make sure that everything necessary is getting done?

C.

Economic Revolution is an article that delves into the development of how our market, a free market and the market system, came into being in today's world.

The article starts off by talking about very primitive civilizations, including 1305 France and 1639 Boston, both of which did not yet incorporate the idea of personal gain into its economy. The point of showing these civilizations was to exemplify how the idea of personal gain and profit is a relatively modern one. Back then, everything was about doing things to make needs met, not going above and beyond so as to thrive and prosper.

Sure, there were indeed people back then who did thrive and prosper- like royal families and the nobility- but for the general public, it was almost looked down upon to try to attain improvement in one's life monetarily. Back then, gain for gain's sake was foreign to the world. And while it is no longer  totally foreign to the world, gain for gain's sake still remains foreign in some places in the worlds, specifically in Eastern civilizations.

As the article puts it: back then, kings wanted treasure, nobility wanted land, and everyone else simply wanted to be left alone and live as their fathers before them did.

The so-called "free-for-all" or deregulation of society that led to what we now call capitalism began in the 18th century. This article gets it name from the change in society that took place during this time period. According to the article, a revolution of sorts took place to change society to a deregulated, capitalistic society.

By 1700, the world had changed, and some of the accepted changes included:

1. Every man is naturally covetous of those who live lucrative lives.

2. No laws to prevent people from achieving monetary/personal gain in life

3. Gain becomes the center of the circle of commerce

At this point, the market system was officially born. The problem of survival would no longer be solved by custom or command, but rather, by the actions of free people who were seeking one thing: profit.