Proposed topic: Industrial Revolution and the rise of Capitalism

Introduction

Capitalism in the post-industrial era saw a massive increase and was also a precursor to the industrial revolution. Though the industrial was in part caused by some major inventions and discoveries but the effect of capitalism cannot be denied in the biggest socio-economic event in the human history. The industrial revolution gave the world many wondrous inventions and many fatal and bloody wars, however the central pedagogy remains unchanged and that is the rise of capitalism that lead to it and post the revolution capitalism has seen a massive rise. This research project will focus solely on the effect of capitalism and how the whole industrial revolution came into being and what are the effects of the industrial revolution.

Background

The industrial revolution did not happen in a day or in a year or in a decade but was a large coordinated effort of mankind's biggest thinkers and economists that was a result of the changing world scenario filled with many inventions and the age of discover that lead to new avenues of growth and exchange of culture, though forceful, excessive and unnecessary at many occasions. Capitalism at its core means; ownership of all economic and political system by private entities that are based on the motto of profit and nothing is owned by the state.

With the increase of monetary benefits and production, came in the after effects of capitalism inspired industrial revolution. While the well to do populace became affluent, nothing has changed much for the downtrodden. The countries which were used as resource houses to facilitate the industrial revolutions of other countries have since languished after the host country ran out of resourcefulness for the country that had acquired it earlier.

The key question

The key question here is why the industrial revolution was required in the first place and has it served the purpose that it was meant to solve and has capitalism in its current heightened state ruined the chances for the people that for the bottom of the economic pyramid and is capitalism in its current form the best course to be considered for the world to usher in the next generation of economic apostasies and policies.

Many economic observers have stated the "Rise of the West" and its reasons to be stated as the onset of rapid economic growth backed up by technological advances to be a myth and that there are other factors at play in this theory. Jack A. Goldstone, renowned American social analyst and political scientist in his research paper suggests that, history in the folds of its changes has many prominent societal structure advances, changes spurts of economic growth and technological nuances but these did not actively lead to the industrial revolution (Goldstone, 2002).

While some have changed their perspective of the past and found key patterns hidden in the creases of folded history of the industrial revolution that point towards the capitalist theory in somewhat sinister fashion, many others have done a lot of thinking in the direction of the future and suggested that an emergency recourse is required for the current capitalism model that shows a future filled with utopian fantasies but yet achievable scenarios that may be the need of the hour.

In the book, ‘Natural Capitalism: Creating the next Industrial Revolution' the authors place emphasis on the ideology that a drastic change is needed in the current approach to capitalism so that things could fall into a more ‘natural order' of pace and that this overhaul could bring over an era of quiet transportation, zero vehicle emissions, greenways, oil-less economy and much more (Hawken, Lovins and Hunter Lovins, 1999). This book is not about probable scenarios but about possibilities that can take shape with some efforts, put in the right place.

Conclusion

While the debate of how capitalism affected the industrial revolution and how the industrial revolution shaped up the current socio-economic state of the world, contains many tenets but the key questions that need to addressed and thus found answers to will impact how the world would eventually run in the 21st century. One thing is clear in the hindsight that the current scenario is not ideal and a lot of the things going around are not in the true spirit of capitalism. While, capitalism at its core cannot be contrived as the sole problem but its rise is definitely a part of it and this needs to be addressed swiftly.

References

A. Goldstone, J. (2002). Efflorescences and Economic Growth in World History: Rethinking the "Rise of the West" and the Industrial Revolution. Journal of World History, 13(2), 323389. doi:10.1353/jwh.2002.0034 Hawken, P., B. Lovins, A., & Hunter Lovins, L. (1999). Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (First ed.). Little, Brown & Company

Annotated Bibliography Assignment:

This week (Part I) you are to create a complete Annotated Bibliography for 5 academic scholarly sources, which include your introduction and thesis, publication details, and the annotation (see below for examples of each component). 

Scholarship means that

• the author has a Ph.D. or other terminal degree,
• the work appears in a multi-volume, peer-reviewed journal,
• and has ample references at the end.

Good annotations

• capture publication details,
• offer a student introduction and thesis, and
• a detailed reading of the source, covering the following:

1. Offers the student's introduction and thesis to the best extent s/he knows it at this point in time,

2. Summarizes key points, and

3. Identifies key terms (using quotation marks, and citing a page in parentheses);

4. Locates controversies or "problems" raised by the articles;

5. States whether the student agrees or disagrees and gives reasons;

6. Locates one or two quotations to be used in the final research project; and

7. Evaluates the ways in which this article is important and has helped the student to focus his/her understanding.

Example Introduction/Thesis to a Student Paper:

It never ceases to amaze me that we pay so little attention to the greatest bulk of our intelligence-that is, the quality of thinking that helps us adapt, deal with stress, love, and live lives of fulfillment. Aristotle argued that educating the mind and not the heart is no education at all. For decades, educators have focused on cognitive skills because they are testable and, therefore, metrics can be applied to them. This kind of education, testing, and then metrically interpreting results has governed American education for decades. And the results have been losses of creativity, imagination, courtesy, civic interest, and the ability to invent businesses that serve people and advance us as a society. Although measurable skills are important, they are not exclusively important, and in fact lose value when separated from an education in the heart, the spirit, and the abstract qualities that make students fully human and excellent participants in a healthy society.

Example Publication Detail Capture:

Mezirow, J. (2012). Transformative learning as discourse. International Journal of Business & Public Administration.

Annotation Example:

In this article, Mezirow makes a distinction between "instrumental" and "communicative" learning. "Instrumental learning" refers to those processes which measure and gage learning, such as tests, grades, comments, quizzes, attendance records and the like. "Communicative learning," on the other hand, refers to understanding created over time between individuals in what Mezirow calls "critical-dialectical-discourse," (92) which is a fancy way of saying, important conversation between 2 or more speakers. Another key idea Mezirow discusses is "transformative learning," (94) which changes the mind, the heart, the values and beliefs of people so that they may act better in the world. Mezirow argues that "hungry, desperate, homeless, sick, destitute, and intimidated people obviously cannot participate fully and freely in discourse" (92). On the one hand, he is right: there are some people who cannot fully engage because their crisis is so long and deep, they are prevented. But, I don't think Mezirow should make the blanket assumption that everyone in unfortunate circumstances is incapable of entering the discourse meaningfully. One thing is certain: if we gave as much attention to the non-instrumental forms of intelligence--like goodness, compassion, forgiveness, wonder, self-motivation, creativity, humor, love, and other non-measured forms of intelligence in our school curriculums, we'd see better people, actors in the world, and interested investigators than we currently have graduating high school.