English summary of the book "Origins of the Modern World (3d edition)", written by Robert B. Marks, which is part of the material for the exam for the subject Global History of Ineuqality, given at the VU (to anthropology and sociology). The summary is structured per chapter and there is also a sho...
Robert B. Marks – The Origins of the Modern World (third edition)
Introduction
The reason for the high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere is human action. The world has come to a
point where human action influences the global environment. By looking at events that have
happened and lessons we have learned in the past, we can look at our modern world and see its
developments, which can help us to fully understand our modern world.
The story in this book revolves around 4 interrelated themes:
1. Industrialisation
2. Political organisation and the creation of nation states
3. The gap in power and wealth between these nation states, which arose with industrialisation
4. The environment: how did it shape our modern world and how are we shaping the
environment now?
Why is it that European nations came to be dominant is this world? The process on how this
happened is called ‘the rise of the West’. Europe has had several periods in which it made clear they
were in fact superior to others. During the Renaissance they used the argument that they were
Christians and the counties they conquered weren’t. In the time of the enlightenment, they were
superior because of their Greek heritage of rationalism and scientific thinking. Eventually came the
industrial revolution, in which famous thinkers like Adam Smith made it clear that the ideas of the
capitalistic, industrial developments in the West were progressive. Other continents which didn’t
experience this industrial revolution were seen as backward and despotic. Max Weber looked at
western values and culture (in particular at rationalism and the work ethic associated with
Protestantism), which he saw as the base for the rise of capitalism. According to his argumentation,
other continents could only achieve capitalism if they drastically changed their culture.
Because Europe (and other countries) saw they could become rich with the use of industry,
the gap between rich and poor countries grew. Furthermore, we should not forget that al great
thinkers like Marx, Weber and Smith saw Europe as exceptional, and thus their ideas and theories are
based on that particular fact. Smith and Marx for example saw colonialism as crucial for the
development of the West. Opponents say that the rise of Europe came to be by exploiting others.
This book looks at the history of the west to make us understand our history, which makes it
possible for us to predict and form actions for the future. The idea most of the west has is that
Western culture and civilisation is great and that it is and should be applicable to all the world. There
should be more democracy and free market trade, because this, in their view, would solve all
problems experienced in different nations. This book however tries to show a new perspective on the
rise of Europe.
Eurocentrism sees the world from a European perspective and is ethnocentric.
Ethnocentrism is a way of thinking about your own culture; that yours is the best. In European form
this accentuates the European superiority and has the idea that European culture isn’t just for
Europe, it should spread across the world.
Here we can see a paradox: how can there be a non-European explanation for a world full of
European traits? According to Marks we must look at a deeper, broader storyline, a storyline which
includes parts of the world that were first excluded, and which is not focussed on Europe as the
centre.
The idea that is central in the European explanation of the rise of the west is that it was
inevitable (contingency), it was the only way the world could have evolved. However, is we look at a
larger storyline, we can see that several independent events happened at other places on earth that
influenced this rise of the west. So not only the west had influence on its development, other nations
also had some influence (agency). Examples of these events are historical accidents. For example,
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