Culture and GlobalizationOrigins of the Modern World

February 6, 2013

Marks: Origins of the Modern WorldHow would you summarize the main goals of the book? In other words, what is the author trying to show, and why?

Marks: Origins of the Modern World1. The book tries to show how the current world system got put in place -- the historical, economic, political, social forces that produced modern globalization.

2. In doing so, it attempts to challenge Eurocentric accounts of the world.

Westernization

What did we say last week are the debates about globalization as "Westernization"?

How does this connect to the critique of Eurocentrism in Marks?

Conceptual Tools (pages 10-13)

● historical contingency● accident● conjuncture

Before the Modern World System

What are some of the interesting cases or examples Marks uses to demonstrate the role of the non-European world in this history?

Industrial Revolution

What do we mean by the term "industrial revolution"?

How does Marks complicate the usual story of industrialization?

Industrial Revolution: Why Britain?

Why was Britain the center of industrialization?

● Naval power and war● An industry suited to industrializing = cotton● Economic structure that allowed for it to take

advantage of that industry = colonialism

Britain: Slavery and Cotton● Cotton industry - there was money to be

made and it was rapidly expanding, so it attracted investment

●

● Machinery was cheap, easy to construct, and promised quick returns

●

● Raw materials - extracted from colonies through slave labor, thus expanding supply; accident of coal supply and steam power

French Revolution

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens (1789) states, "The source of all sovereignty residesessentially in the nation."

What does "nation" meanhere and what is thesignificance of this?

New Political Formations

The French Revolution helps establish the modern notion of the nation-state, which connects three things:

the state (government)the nation (citizenry)the land (territory)

And they are connected in a Constitutional framework.