How best to answer these questions? The long answer question #8 requires having read the entire excerpt, while the short answer questions 1-7 help guide you along to be able to answer #8.

So, I'd suggest that you read question #8 first to get a sense of the goal of your reading, then read the WHOLE excerpt, answering the short-answer questions as you go along. Then, finally, respond to question #8, followed by #9.

 

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS ON MARKS, "The Industrial Revolution"

The goal of these questions is to focus your attention on the author's points that collectively support his thesis; the answers to these questions are, accordingly, sign posts for your understanding. Don't pretend to yourself that you know the answer if you don't; if you can't answer any one of the short answer questions, you likely won't be able to answer the "big one" at the end. Think of these questions as manageably small questions that allow you to answer the "big one."

 

Questions 3 and 9 below require knowing and applying a basic economic principle (Principle 1); answering the extra-credit requires knowing and applying another principle (Principle 2).

Be sure you understand these principles!

Principle 1: Core and Periphery. To historians and economists who believe in what is know as "world-systems theory," the system of "core and periphery" is an inherent feature of the world economics. This theory argues that there is a fundamental division of labor in the world -- labor is divided between what the theory calls the core and the periphery: While the core has a high level of technological development and manufactures complex or finished products (in the nineteenth century, that would include fabric, today it might be computers), the role of the periphery is to supply raw materials, agricultural products and cheap labor for the core. Economic exchange between core and periphery takes places on unequal terms: The periphery is forced to sell its products at low prices, but has to buy the core's products at comparatively high prices. This unequal state, once established, tends to continue. Principle 2: Externalities (skip if you don't intend to do the extra-credit) Externalities are a form of economic side-effects. Externalities are costs or benefits arising from an economic activity that affect somebody other than the people engaged in the economic activity and are not reflected fully in PRICES. For instance, smoke pumped out by a factory may impose pollution on nearby residents (a negative externality or a cost); bees kept to produce honey may pollinate plants belonging to a nearby farmer, thus boosting his crop (a positive externality or a benefit). Another example: When a fisherman catches a fish and sells it, that fisherman gets a private benefit -- the revenue from selling the fish. But there is a cost -- because there are fewer fish to reproduce, there will be less fish caught in the next and future years. This cost is spread out over all the fishermen and consumers of fish, and thus is "external" to the individual fisherman's decision how many fish to take. The individual fisherman does not take into account the influence of his fishing on the fish that will be available to other fishermen in the future -- it he isn't going to catch them, why should he care? The result is that he does not limit his catch in such a way as to conserve the fish population to reproduce, and this is why fisheries are overexploited.

 

 

1) p. 95 -- what set limits on the world economy before the period 1750 - 1850 and how did it do so?

2) p. 96 -- what does Marks mean by "conjuncture" in this context? Do not give me the dictionary definition -- rather explain how Marks uses this idea in the context of his argument. Use your own words and only your own words.

3) pp. 100 - 101 & 107 - 108 (read these pages carefully)

Two questions:

4) pp. 102 - 105 --What does Marks mean when he refers to China pushing up against the constraints of the "old biological regime" -- that is, what were the constraints and how was China pushing up against them?

5) pp. 105 - 107 -- Why were China and England equally well poised for industrialization in regards to both the spread of markets and favorable population growth? This question is a little trickier, because Marks first summarizes the view of others, and then critiques that view. Don't get confused between Marks' summary of others and Marks' own analysis. Be attentive to the framing devices Marks uses to indicate he is summarizing the interpretations of others.

6) pp. 107 - 109 -- What did England have that China did not have that mattered for industrialization?

7) As Marks notes, the British move from adopting an ideology of protectionism for themselves (that is, slapping tariffs on foreign goods imported to Britain) to imposing the notion of free trade and laissez-faire economics on others (p. 97, 98, 101). According to Marks, how and why did industrialization encourage the British to shift their position on free trade?

Long Answer Questions

8) Marks argues against an Euro-centric understanding of the Industrial Revolution. In response to the question, "Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in Britain?" this Euro-centric story-line generally credits some mixture of these three elements: (1) British inventiveness or scientific spirit, (2) the spread of markets in Europe, (3) favorable population growth in Europe as opposed to China. The Euro-centric story-line assumes both that these three phenomena were what launched the Industrial Revolution AND that these phenomena were nearly unique to Britain.

Marks disagrees.

In contrast to the Euro-centric storyline, he argues that the Industrial Revolution began in Britain (as opposed to elsewhere) because of historical "conjunctures".

For Marks, what forces converged -- and how -- in a fashion that fostered the growth of industry in Britain but not in China?

Be sure that your ENTIRE ANSWER is in your own words. Be sure to explain HOW and WHY the forces interacted. Be specific.