Rebecca LeBlanc
June 29, 2011
Essay One
What is the Economic Revolution?
The Economic Revolution was the evolution of man that changed the ideal from a
community of survival to a desire for personal self-prosperity. In the beginning, even the
most primeval of all societies only concern was for man to make sure the needs of the
entire community are completed. The job of man was to ensure its traditions that passed
from generation to generation. This required the men to see to the fields, planting seeds,
tending to the animals and generally working with their hands for all things needed to
produce and sustain life of man. “Work was not a means to an end” rather it was seen as
“an end in itself”.
Before the Economic revolution societies lived by the laws of tradition and authoritarian
rule. The main goal for these societies was stability and tranquility. They perceived profit
to be evil and against their religions. The traditions of this time was the customs of the
land never to want more than what was absolutely needed for their family to survive. The
father passed on his trade to his son and so forth. A change in status or trade was not a
common habit among these persons. “The world had got along for centuries in the
comfortable rut of tradition and command”. These men were perfectly content with this
system and dared to look on the outside to see what the future may hold. The idea of fairs
date back all the way to the 14th Century, traveling merchants came and set up tents but
the main goal was not profit rather the introduction of new and foreign goods to be
brought to new lands. The merchants of this time did not keep accurate book records
proving the idea that profit and gain was not motive for them.
In these ancient times, the authority of Kings, Pharaohs, or the Church was law and
therefore followed. The churches of this time believed so severely in the idea that profit
was evil that they created sermons to detract others from this idea of profit: “That a man
might sell as dear as he can, and buy as cheap as he can” was false. “If a man lose by
casualty of sea…he many raise the price of the rest” also false. Lastly, “The he may sell
as he bought though he paid too dear…,” cried as false again by the minister. In the
middle ages, the Church taught being a merchant was evil, people shied away from things
that were not accepted.
A commonality between all the ancient societies began with the idea of personal gain that
never took; people still wanted a market that consisted of only the social implications not
personal. It would take a long journey for man to discover this new idea of life and profit
implementing it into a new routine. As told by Heilbroner, “It may strike us as odd that
the idea of gain is a relatively modern one”, even in these times it is a new idea although
many of us believe differently of our world and economy. The centuries before the
Industrial Revolution revolted against this new idea of economics and markets believing
it to be the end of their spiritual lives. With the creation of Adam Smith’s ideas and book,
“Wealth of the Nations” it helped to change that forever.
According to historians, the beginning of the change in the Economic Revolution came
with the Adam Smith and the Industrial Revolution. “For the market system is not just a
means of exchanging goods; it is a mechanism for sustaining and maintaining the entire
society” is the fore front idea that pushed this system into a modern world. For them to
grasp the idea of the lands working for us, not people working for the products was one
of the largest hurdles that men confronted in order for the revolution to begin.
The arrangement of the free market today works only with the competition for profits.
There must be more than one merchant for a product in order for the system to work.
Some of Adam Smith’s ideas that changed the ideal for man were on the concepts of
“greed is good” believing that it was acceptable for man to seek a profit, with no need to
shy away from wealth. With the idea of Lassiez Faire with government, releasing the
more power to the merchants and to the population creates an environment for a market
to grow and succeed.
Without the creation of inventions that started the Industrial Revolution the Economic
Revolution would have never been possible. With “the birth of the printing press, the
paper mill, the windmill, the mechanical clock, the map” was a large force that helped the
revolution to begin. With the change of religion views that began to falter with the Italian
Renaissance was also a small piece that helped these societies to see an economy as an
acceptable transition to a modern world. The last change being the birth of a new
democratic nation in the new world, that made these men change their attitudes.
Many regulations could result in the failure of a free market including a crowding
government influence on taxes, tariffs and subsidies. In order for the market to be free,
the government must allow the market to support itself to create an economy. With the
creation of more markets, suppliers, buyers while not all will succeed but this will allow
for many others to flourish. In this new revolution of economy, the opposite is required
then before. It requires no authority or traditions to suffocate the rising potential of the
market.
With the creation of the supply and demand, it allows an adjusting market to flow with
the current needs or decreasing demands of society. Because of the free markets in
modern day and inability for regulations of pricing of product, it allows an equal
opportunity for all citizens to become as wealthy as they choose. The philosophy of
modern man has now changed to a self-centered, profit seeking, greed taking over the
hearts of man.
In conclusion the acts that created the economic revolution was the change of man from a
purely survival drive to a new desire for profit, self-sufficient idea of breaking tradition to
follow the feelings of the heart and emotions. Man began to believe that wealth was
power and with the new creation of the Protestant religion, told by the church that these
ideas and feelings were acceptable. They began to see the whole picture that out of a new
society an economy was born. While we have many economists, philosophers, religion
and many other events that helped to create the overwhelming creation of the modern day
economy, it is safe to say the emotion of humankind had something to do with it.
Works Cited
Heilbroner, R. (1953). The worldly philosophers. Simon & Schuster.