I have begun to do more thinking about the origins of modern industrial commerce.
First of all I am stuck with the term ‘industrial’ until we find a better one. Industrial is wrong because as was discussed in an earlier blog industry has been transported whole to many non-industrial societies and the output was pathetic. Therefore I am forced to think about what the true elements of the industrial revolution were.
One is the clock. The entire commercial issue of the clock has been described in the brilliant work Revolution in Time by David Landes.
Landes makes the point that there have been clocks throughout history. The first modern clocks with escapement mechanisms were wooden in central clock towers. In Europe. These were designed to help monasteries arrange their complex daily prayer schedule. They were later used in Europe to get workers to their jobs on time.
The real revolution in time occurred in the 18th century with the manufacture and widespread distribution of clocks for homes and offices. This came with the evolution of a middle-class. The middle-class is first seen in the early 17th century in Holland. Middle-class businessmen found themselves in an equal relationship to other businessmen. That meant that when they had meetings they needed some mechanism to make sure both arrived at the same time. This was the new role of the clock.
Before the middle-class businessmen needed to meet each other at the same time the custom was for the lower ranked person to arrive early and the higher-ranked person to arrive whenever he damn pleased.
We now have a key element in the modern industrial commercial world. The clock and the need for timekeeping on the part of individuals.
I will keep working on the other elements.