Patterns Of European Industrialisation

The new opportunities for economic development in Eastern Europe and the approach of 1992 have heightened interest in the development of the European economy. This volume, which includes contributions from some of the world's leading economic historians, presents and discusses the latest research findings on the industrialization and modernization of the European economy during the nineteenth century.

Industrialization is still the factor that distinguishes the modern world from the past, and advanced countries from undeveloped ones. In this revised and expanded edition, Tom Kemp uses the historical record of industrialization to explore key questions about its impact and the significance we assign to it. The book adopts a thematic approach to examine the roles of technology, banking, transport and the state; the fate of the peasantry in an industrializing society; and the changing features of industrial capitalism in the latter part of the 19th century. It features four contrasted case studies from outside Europe - India, Canada, Japan and, for the first time in this second edition, South Africa. It is aimed at 1st year University/Polytechnic students and is suitable for courses in economic history, social history, development studies, applied economics, international economics and area studies.

Written for the layman as well as the economic historian this famous and much-used book not only presents a general synthesis of the pattern of European industrialisation; it also provides material for a comparative study by illustrating, in separate case studies, the specific characteristics of development in Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Italy.

Originally published in 1981, Patterns of European Urbanisation Since 1500 examines urbanisation in Europe since 1500, paying particular attention to the underlying factors which govern the differentiated process of urbanisation. The book goes on to formulate some of the ways in which these factors can be generalised in an attempt to delineate the process of urbanisation in theoretic terms.

Between the end of the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution, the long-established structures and practices of European agriculture and industry were slowly, disparately, but profoundly transformed. Transitions to Capitalism in Early Modern Europe, first published in 1997, narrates and analyzes the diverse patterns of economic change that permanently modified rural and urban production, altered Europe's economy and geography, and gave birth to new social classes. Broad in chronological and geographical scope and explicitly comparative, the book introduces readers to a wealth of information drawn from thoughout Mediterranean, east-central, and western Europe, as well as to the classic interpretations and current debates and revisions. The study incorporates scholarship on topics such as the world economy and women's work, and it discusses at length the impact of the emergent capitalist order on Europe's working people.

Originally published in 1989, this cross-national study investigates the role and pattern of family life in fourteen countries in contemporary Europe. Providing a wealth of information on European families, it is a key source for anyone wishing to understand the changes in the family at that time. The contributors argue that, far from withering away, the family remained a very important social unit which continued to have considerable influence on other social institutions such as the state and the labour market. The central theme is the interrelation between changes in production and working life on one hand, and changes in family life and reproduction on the other. The contributors focus on the pressures and contradictions produced by the division of functions between family and work, and on problems which have arisen as a consequence of the sometimes incompatible and even conflicting demands of the two institutions. They show that the evolution of the nuclear family model in Europe had led to a great diversity of family patterns, and conclude that the family in modern European societies still had a contribution to make which no other institution could provide.

This 2004 book explores the question of British exceptionalism in the period from the Glorious Revolution to the Congress of Vienna. Leading historians examine why Great Britain emerged from years of sustained competition with its European rivals in a discernible position of hegemony in the domains of naval power, empire, global commerce, agricultural efficiency, industrial production, fiscal capacity and advanced technology. They deal with Britain's unique path to industrial revolution and distinguish four themes on the interactions between its emergence as a great power and as the first industrial nation. First, they highlight growth and industrial change, the interconnections between agriculture, foreign trade and industrialisation. Second, they examine technological change and, especially, Britain's unusual inventiveness. Third, they study her institutions and their role in facilitating economic growth. Fourth and finally, they explore British military and naval supremacy, showing how this was achieved and how it contributed to Britain's economic supremacy.