Rise of the Modern StateSession3 – Capitalism and the Development of the Modern

State

Tonight’s lecture

• Introduction

• What is capitalism?- Marx’s historical materialism- Capitalism and the state

• What is industrialisation?- Industrialisation in Britain- Industrialisation and the state

• Concluding remarks

Introduction: What is capitalism?

“Capitalism is an economic system that is based on private ownership of the means of

production and the creation of goods or services for profit”

(Tormey, 2004)

“Capitalism is a system in which all economic actors…depend on the market for their most

basic needs” (Meiksins Wood, 2003)

Marx’s Historical Materialism

Hegel’s philosophical idealism: ideas are key to understanding society and social change.

Marx: The real world is not to be inferred from the study of the ideal; rather, it is the

ideal which has to be understood as a historical outcome of the real.

Marx’s Historical Materialism

• Means of production

the productive forces required to produce food, shelter and clothing (land, animals, tools etc.)

• Relations of production

the relations which economically bind one class to another (owners and non-owners of the means of production

• Modes of productionthe constitutive characteristic of a societies, based on the socio-economic system predominant within it

‘Base’ and ‘Superstructure’‘In the social production of their life, men enter into definite relations

that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of production which correspond to a definite stage of development of their material productive forces. The sum total of these relations of

production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to

which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political, and

intellectual life process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being

that determines their consciousness. […] With the change of the economic foundations the entire immense superstructure is more or

less rapidly transformed.’ [Karl Marx (2000/1977 [1859]) 'Preface to A Critique of Political Economy', in David McLellan (ed.) Karl Marx: Selected Writings, 2nd Edition, Oxford: Oxford University

Press, pp. 424-428, here p. 425 (emphasis added).]

Marx and the State

• The state has a material origin, and must be seen in relation to the economic structure of society.

• The state reflects the prevailing class structure of a given society, and it acts as an instrument of the dominant class.

• The state is not an independent institution above society or a public power which acts for the common good.

Capitalism and absolutism

Three central aspects definitive of the absolutist state (Giddens):

(1) centralisation and expansion of administrative power;

(2) the development of law;

(3) changes in fiscal management

Industrialisation• Industrialism is a form of social and economic

organisation that began to emerge in the late 18th century. Industrialism is associated with mechanised technology and factory production and with a particular organisation of social relations

• The Industrial Revolution is a period of rapid social, economic, demographic and technological change which took place in Britain from the latter half of the 18th century to the first half of the 19th century

Industrialisation in Britain

The textile industry

Industrialisation and social change

• Shift from countryside to urban areas (urbanisation)

• Urbanisation in Britain: 1750: 15%; 1800: 25%; 1880: 80%

• The creation of two new classes: the capitalist owners of the means of production and the working class

• Formation of political parties and movements

Industrialisation and the state• The state set the preconditions for industrial

development: certain legal frameworks; the standardisation of currency; the creation of common systems of weights and measures; the construction of infrastructure

• The extended reach of the state into society: the state became a lot better at monitoring, regulating and otherwise intervening in social life. The state gained a greater capacity to project its power into society

Concluding remarks