Why Did Capitalism First Appear in Britain, Rather than Any Other Area of the World - Article Example

Why did capitalism first appear in Britain, rather than any other area of the world? The History of Capitalism cannot be complete without the mention of Britain as its origin as every evidence of capitalism was first seen in Britain before anywhere else in the world. The ideals of Capitalism were deeply rooted in the practice of the Britons in the wake of the industrial revolution that took place in Britain. The fruit of the industrial revolution in Britain is capitalism and the fact that capitalism first appeared in Britain rather than any other area of the world should not be surprising considering the fact that Britain was the first industrialised nation in the world (Hayek 1963). As far back as the early seventeenth century, investors in Britain usually bought holdings in some companies that traded without the royal charter and these were signs of capitalism as the private investors were more involved in the market system of Britain (Saunders 1995). The share of a particular investor in the stock of the company could be sold at the price that is agreed upon by the two parties bargaining and this formed the evolution of capitalism in Europe. There were also brokers in London that specialised in arranging deals between the buyers and the sellers of the shares and they received their own commission on every successful transaction they made. This capitalistic ideal soon spread to other parts of Europe, especially Netherlands and France. The dominance of Britain in the world guaranteed the penetration of their capitalistic system to other countries of the world. The modern day capitalism actually started between the periods of 1820 till 1914 (Seldon 2007). The nature of capitalism guaranteed its appearance in Britain than any other area of the world as Britain accounted for about half of the world industrial production (Seldon 2007). The fact that the mechanisation of production gathered impetus in Britain meant that the region created an enabling environment that capitalism would thrive and this was the reason it was the first place that capitalism first appeared in the whole world. The rise of industrialisation in Britain produced a modern working class that operated under the ideals of capitalism. The industrialisation in Britain created a working system in Britain that private individuals owned the means of production and the distribution of goods and services. This was the beginning of industrial capitalism in Britain and the emergence of the first capitalistic society in the world. The mechanised means of production did not make the workers redundant as people were made to believe, but it rather made them more efficient; the mechanisation of involving themselves in other areas that the machines were not capable of handling and this meant that there was an increase in profit for the capitalists as the machines and the workers were working concurrently. The capitalistic system relies on methods that seek to maximise its profit at the expense of the people that worked for these profits. During the industrialisation period in Britain, the workers were made to work for longer hours with no reasonable increase in their wages and these were signs of capitalism. Britain heavily relied on the ideals of capitalism, which were the private ownership of land, capital and other means of production. The industrial capitalism in Britain lived on the success that it showed that it had the capability of generating wealth amongst the people. Industrialisation actually raised the standard of living of majority of the Britons. Britain operated under the system that used money to make more money, wealth to amass more wealth and it was no sooner than this system spread to other parts of western Europe and then the United States of America (Böhm-Bawerk 1890). The working environment in Britain was such that the average Britons were business minded as they lived in a thrift society that thrived on lending people money and collecting interests on this money and this was one of the many ideals of capitalism, making profit at all cost and using money to make more money. Other areas of the world, like France and the United States of America soon adopted this method and embraced this tenet of capitalism. Some analysts have also pointed out that the evolution of capitalism in Britain and its spread to other parts of the world has its root in the Calvinist Reformation that took place in Britain in the seventeenth century (Hayek 1963). Though, this claim has been debunked, the fact remains that the claims that reformation is the root cause of capitalism in Britain could have an iota of truth in it. There are actually signs that the capitalism that the world has now known had its root in the Reformation that took place in Britain. The Calvinist Reformation thought of the late seventeenth century actually helped develop the ideals of capitalism. The reasonable argument that could be used to support the capitalistic aspects of the Reformation was that it freed the people from the strict and rigid style of the Catholic concerning the areas of money (Blaut 1993). The Calvinist Reformation helped the capitalists to remove the restrictions that had been placed on money and transactions. The Calvinists allowed people to invest their money reasonably, they encouraged the acquisition of wealth through profit making, and these were the ideals of capitalism. The fact that Calvinism had its root in Britain and the fact that it encouraged the practice of capitalists is an indicator that the history of capitalism cannot be complete without the mention of Calvinism and this is another reason that capitalism started in Britain before spreading to other parts of the world (Blaut 1993). The period that capitalism thrived in the world was a time when Britain had an overwhelming control of the other parts of the world as they were a power to be reckoned with and this permitted the adoption of the ideals of the British into the system of other countries. Capitalism started in Britain and spread to other parts of the world due to the influence that Britain had in the world (Reisman 1996). Different countries would easily adopt the practices of the Britons due to the fact that they were more like models to these countries. The industrialisation in Britain paved way for entrepreneurs like Richard Arkwright, the founder of the first cloth mill to be powered by water as this was built in Cromford. Large sums of money were pumped into the manufacturing industries in Britain during the industrial revolution of the eighteenth century (Harvey 1990). Other great entrepreneurs like James Watt and Matthew Boulton also sprung up from Britain. It was James Watt that invented the steam engine, while Matthew Boulton invested money into the steam engine project to ensure its success and make profit fro his investments and these were the mentality of capitalists. It is no doubt that capitalism can thrive better in an advanced country and Britain seemed a perfect terrain for the institutionalisation of capitalism as the ingredients necessary for capitalism were already in place in Britain through the industrial revolution that occurred in Britain during the period that capitalism became known. The fact that Britain was a sophisticated country made it possible for capitalism to first appear in the region than any other area in the world and the fact that it was one of the most advanced regions in the world during the period was one of the reasons that capitalism spread from the country to other parts of the world. The British system was the first society to be fashioned after the capitalistic system as it was one of the two regions that ended feudalism and the other is Holland (Kula 1976). Countries like Holland and France adopted capitalism before it spread to other parts of Western Europe and the other parts of the world (Hinton 1968). The proto-capitalists system in Britain soon became a fully developed style of capitalism. The fact that there was a rapid growth of market and there was also a change in the way Britons made their transactions in both the countryside and the towns of Britain meant that there it was the most suitable environment for capitalism to thrive. The industrialization in Britain marked the birth of capitalism in the world and it took place in Britain. It was clear from all indication that the industrial revolution would produce a free market system and the emergence of the capitalistic system was actually expected right from the time the British society was getting industrialized. Capitalism was able to appear in Britain before reaching other countries of the world due to the fact that Britain was like a model to other system in the world and its adoption of capitalism meant that other countries that looked up to Britain would follow suit. Developed countries that were allied with Britain and saw the usefulness of the capitalistic system also adopted it with the aim of developing their economy like the British government did.   References Blaut, J M 1993, The Colonisers Model of the World. Guilford, New York. pp165-167 Böhm-Bawerk, EV 1890, Capital and Interest: A Critical History of Economical Theory. London: Macmillan and Co. Harvey, D 1990, The Political-Economic Transformation of Late Twentieth Century Capitalism.. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers. Hayek, FA 1963, Capitalism and the Historians. Chicago: University of Chicago Press Hinton, R 1978, The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism. Macmillan, London. Kula, W 1976, An Economic Theory of the Feudal System. New Left Books, London. Reisman, G 1996, Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics. Ottawa, Illinois: Jameson Books. Saunders, P 1995, Capitalism. University of Minnesota Press. p. 1 Seldon, A 2007, Capitalism: A Condensed Version. London: Institute of Economic Affairs.  Read More