M. E. Turner, J. V. Beckett, and B. Afton
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208044
- eISBN:
- 9780191716577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208044.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter begins by reviewing the traditional historiography on mainly English but also touching more widely on British agricultural production, output, and productivity from the pre-industrial ...
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This chapter begins by reviewing the traditional historiography on mainly English but also touching more widely on British agricultural production, output, and productivity from the pre-industrial period c.1700, through the early, middle, and mature stages of the industrial revolution, to 1914. It reviews the contested ground over the chronological turning points of the agricultural revolution, turning points that have been determined by historians' estimates of agricultural output. Those estimates, both the contemporary ones by observers such as Charles Smith and Arthur Young, and the recent ones by modern scholars are tabulated, compared, and assessed. It is concluded that a new approach is required, an approach based on the product producers themselves, the farmers.Less
This chapter begins by reviewing the traditional historiography on mainly English but also touching more widely on British agricultural production, output, and productivity from the pre-industrial period c.1700, through the early, middle, and mature stages of the industrial revolution, to 1914. It reviews the contested ground over the chronological turning points of the agricultural revolution, turning points that have been determined by historians' estimates of agricultural output. Those estimates, both the contemporary ones by observers such as Charles Smith and Arthur Young, and the recent ones by modern scholars are tabulated, compared, and assessed. It is concluded that a new approach is required, an approach based on the product producers themselves, the farmers.
M. E. Turner, J. V. Beckett, and B. Afton
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208044
- eISBN:
- 9780191716577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208044.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, British and Irish Modern History
This final chapter returns to the question of farm production in the context of when and how an agricultural revolution met the needs of a demographic revolution. In so doing they make two ...
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This final chapter returns to the question of farm production in the context of when and how an agricultural revolution met the needs of a demographic revolution. In so doing they make two calculations. The first is an estimate of net national wheat output for the years 1750, 1800, 1820, and 1850 (that is gross production net of seed input) and compare this with population change. They establish that the initial impact of the demographic revolution may have been to reduce the per capita availability of home food production (hence the observable rise in net imports), but that after the initial population upsurge the farmers responded to the circumstances of a changing market. They did so by producing an agricultural revolution firmly located from about 1820. The second calculation links the new estimates of farm production with existing farm labour estimates to construct a labour productivity estimate which emphatically places that agricultural revolution in the 19th century.Less
This final chapter returns to the question of farm production in the context of when and how an agricultural revolution met the needs of a demographic revolution. In so doing they make two calculations. The first is an estimate of net national wheat output for the years 1750, 1800, 1820, and 1850 (that is gross production net of seed input) and compare this with population change. They establish that the initial impact of the demographic revolution may have been to reduce the per capita availability of home food production (hence the observable rise in net imports), but that after the initial population upsurge the farmers responded to the circumstances of a changing market. They did so by producing an agricultural revolution firmly located from about 1820. The second calculation links the new estimates of farm production with existing farm labour estimates to construct a labour productivity estimate which emphatically places that agricultural revolution in the 19th century.
M. E. Turner, J. V. Beckett, and B. Afton
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208044
- eISBN:
- 9780191716577
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208044.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, British and Irish Modern History
This book studies English agriculture in the 18th and 19th centuries, based on the records of the farmers themselves. Traditionally the period was seen as one of ‘agricultural revolution’, but ...
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This book studies English agriculture in the 18th and 19th centuries, based on the records of the farmers themselves. Traditionally the period was seen as one of ‘agricultural revolution’, but generations of historians have found it remarkably difficult to measure its salient characteristics or to locate it precisely in time. By bringing together a range of qualitative as well as quantitative data found in farmers' accounts, memoranda books, and diaries, this book is able to throw important new light on the way farmers worked, and it also produces new estimates of the output of wheat, barley, oats, and other arable crops, and also of livestock production. The evidence of the farmers' own records has enabled the book to approach the agricultural history of the period in an entirely different light. It shows conclusively that the main impact of the agricultural revolution can be located firmly in the first half of the 19th century as the English farmer successfully fed a growing, and predominantly urban population. This new approach places that revolution later than was formerly thought to be the case, and concurrently with the mainsprings of urban and industrial demand.Less
This book studies English agriculture in the 18th and 19th centuries, based on the records of the farmers themselves. Traditionally the period was seen as one of ‘agricultural revolution’, but generations of historians have found it remarkably difficult to measure its salient characteristics or to locate it precisely in time. By bringing together a range of qualitative as well as quantitative data found in farmers' accounts, memoranda books, and diaries, this book is able to throw important new light on the way farmers worked, and it also produces new estimates of the output of wheat, barley, oats, and other arable crops, and also of livestock production. The evidence of the farmers' own records has enabled the book to approach the agricultural history of the period in an entirely different light. It shows conclusively that the main impact of the agricultural revolution can be located firmly in the first half of the 19th century as the English farmer successfully fed a growing, and predominantly urban population. This new approach places that revolution later than was formerly thought to be the case, and concurrently with the mainsprings of urban and industrial demand.
M. E. Turner, J. V. Beckett, and B. Afton
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208044
- eISBN:
- 9780191716577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208044.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, British and Irish Modern History
Traditionally, the output and production of wheat has served as a thermometer gauge of English or British agriculture. This chapter puts that wheat question back in the spotlight. It begins by ...
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Traditionally, the output and production of wheat has served as a thermometer gauge of English or British agriculture. This chapter puts that wheat question back in the spotlight. It begins by assessing what is already known about the course of wheat yields from the 17th century to the late 19th century. Until the advent of the June returns in the 1860s most estimates were simply that, estimates and not on-farm measurements. This chapter is based on direct farm measurements of output. It gathers together over 3,000 such measurements from the 1720s to the 1910s from a wide geography. There are many nuances in the accompanying assessments, but the main conclusion is that the great leap forward in wheat yields took place in the 19th rather than in the 18th century. This conclusion forms the first evidence which dates the agricultural revolution later than traditional historiography located it.Less
Traditionally, the output and production of wheat has served as a thermometer gauge of English or British agriculture. This chapter puts that wheat question back in the spotlight. It begins by assessing what is already known about the course of wheat yields from the 17th century to the late 19th century. Until the advent of the June returns in the 1860s most estimates were simply that, estimates and not on-farm measurements. This chapter is based on direct farm measurements of output. It gathers together over 3,000 such measurements from the 1720s to the 1910s from a wide geography. There are many nuances in the accompanying assessments, but the main conclusion is that the great leap forward in wheat yields took place in the 19th rather than in the 18th century. This conclusion forms the first evidence which dates the agricultural revolution later than traditional historiography located it.
Tommy Bengtsson and Martin Dribe
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199280681
- eISBN:
- 9780191602467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199280681.003.0015
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
Presents a new view of the standard of living development in Sweden during the agricultural revolution, using evidence on the ability to overcome short-term economic stress. The results corroborate ...
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Presents a new view of the standard of living development in Sweden during the agricultural revolution, using evidence on the ability to overcome short-term economic stress. The results corroborate previous findings, based on a variety of indicators, that standard of living in Sweden increased for most people after the mid-nineteenth century, but also support a more negative view of the immediate effects of the agricultural transformation in the beginning of the nineteenth century on the landless groups in society.Less
Presents a new view of the standard of living development in Sweden during the agricultural revolution, using evidence on the ability to overcome short-term economic stress. The results corroborate previous findings, based on a variety of indicators, that standard of living in Sweden increased for most people after the mid-nineteenth century, but also support a more negative view of the immediate effects of the agricultural transformation in the beginning of the nineteenth century on the landless groups in society.
Robert C. Allen
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198282969
- eISBN:
- 9780191684425
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198282969.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter discusses an analysis in the changes in inequality in terms of people's relationship to agriculture. Although there have been four identified classes of potential beneficiaries, not ...
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This chapter discusses an analysis in the changes in inequality in terms of people's relationship to agriculture. Although there have been four identified classes of potential beneficiaries, not everyone was able to gain from the agricultural revolution. These four classes are the owners of capital, landowners, consumers of farm products, and labourers.Less
This chapter discusses an analysis in the changes in inequality in terms of people's relationship to agriculture. Although there have been four identified classes of potential beneficiaries, not everyone was able to gain from the agricultural revolution. These four classes are the owners of capital, landowners, consumers of farm products, and labourers.
M. E. Turner, J. V. Beckett, and B. Afton
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208044
- eISBN:
- 9780191716577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208044.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter does for barley and oats what the previous chapter did for wheat, and it more or less reinforces the new findings about the timing of the agricultural revolution. But it also allows a ...
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This chapter does for barley and oats what the previous chapter did for wheat, and it more or less reinforces the new findings about the timing of the agricultural revolution. But it also allows a wider appreciation of farm output to emerge based on proper measurements rather than estimates and to bring into the argument an added approach based on productivity. Output is usually measured as grain crop per acre, but this misses out the all important input of seed, or what we call the seeding rate, from which a new measure of productivity based on output per unit of input, can be assessed. This shows that not only were grain yields improving over time, but they improved at the same time as inputs were reduced. This reinforces both the timing of the agricultural revolution and also its magnitude in meeting the extra food needs of the parallel industrial and demographic revolutions.Less
This chapter does for barley and oats what the previous chapter did for wheat, and it more or less reinforces the new findings about the timing of the agricultural revolution. But it also allows a wider appreciation of farm output to emerge based on proper measurements rather than estimates and to bring into the argument an added approach based on productivity. Output is usually measured as grain crop per acre, but this misses out the all important input of seed, or what we call the seeding rate, from which a new measure of productivity based on output per unit of input, can be assessed. This shows that not only were grain yields improving over time, but they improved at the same time as inputs were reduced. This reinforces both the timing of the agricultural revolution and also its magnitude in meeting the extra food needs of the parallel industrial and demographic revolutions.
Robert C. Allen
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198282969
- eISBN:
- 9780191684425
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198282969.003.0015
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter discusses the ways the landlords' agricultural revolution helped increase inequality. Their agricultural revolution was conducted through the concentration of landownership, the ...
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This chapter discusses the ways the landlords' agricultural revolution helped increase inequality. Their agricultural revolution was conducted through the concentration of landownership, the enclosure movement, and the increase in farm size. The discussion also attempts to answer the question: Would it have been possible to avoid or mitigate those adverse effects while still realizing the growth in efficiency?Less
This chapter discusses the ways the landlords' agricultural revolution helped increase inequality. Their agricultural revolution was conducted through the concentration of landownership, the enclosure movement, and the increase in farm size. The discussion also attempts to answer the question: Would it have been possible to avoid or mitigate those adverse effects while still realizing the growth in efficiency?
Thirsk Joan
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208136
- eISBN:
- 9780191677922
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208136.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter focuses on the importance of different strategies devised by farmers to meet the late 19th-century depression. Lord Ernle wrote ...
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This chapter focuses on the importance of different strategies devised by farmers to meet the late 19th-century depression. Lord Ernle wrote something about the agricultural revolution in 1912. When smallholdings were contemplated in the Land Utilization Bill of 1931, he dubbed them an anachronism. The same bias had provoked a much earlier outburst from Arthur Arnold. He appeared before the Select Committee on Small Holdings in 1889. Both of them saw the need for a differently structured system. Moreover, Edwin Pratt, in his book A Transition in Agriculture, focused his gaze on the increasing demand for food other than wheat and meat.Less
This chapter focuses on the importance of different strategies devised by farmers to meet the late 19th-century depression. Lord Ernle wrote something about the agricultural revolution in 1912. When smallholdings were contemplated in the Land Utilization Bill of 1931, he dubbed them an anachronism. The same bias had provoked a much earlier outburst from Arthur Arnold. He appeared before the Select Committee on Small Holdings in 1889. Both of them saw the need for a differently structured system. Moreover, Edwin Pratt, in his book A Transition in Agriculture, focused his gaze on the increasing demand for food other than wheat and meat.
Christopher Hill
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206682
- eISBN:
- 9780191677274
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206682.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, History of Ideas
This is a revised edition of an examination of the motivations behind the English Revolution and Civil War first published in 1965. In addition to the text of the original, the book includes thirteen ...
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This is a revised edition of an examination of the motivations behind the English Revolution and Civil War first published in 1965. In addition to the text of the original, the book includes thirteen new chapters that take account of other publications since the first edition, bringing the work up-to-date. It poses the problem of how, after centuries of rule by King, lords, and bishops when the thinking of all was dominated by the established church, English men and women found the courage to revolt against Charles I, abolish bishops, and execute the King in the name of his people. The far-reaching effects and the novelty of what was achieved should not be underestimated — the first legalized regicide, rather than an assassination; the formal establishment of some degree of religious toleration; Parliament taking effective control of finance and foreign policy on behalf of gentry and merchants, thus guaranteeing the finance necessary to make England the world's leading naval power; abolition of the Church's prerogative courts (confirming gentry control at a local level); and the abolition of feudal tenures, which made possible first the agricultural and then the industrial revolution. The book examines the intellectual forces that helped to prepare minds for a revolution, which was much more than the religious wars and revolts that had gone before, and which became the precedent for the great revolutionary upheavals of the future.Less
This is a revised edition of an examination of the motivations behind the English Revolution and Civil War first published in 1965. In addition to the text of the original, the book includes thirteen new chapters that take account of other publications since the first edition, bringing the work up-to-date. It poses the problem of how, after centuries of rule by King, lords, and bishops when the thinking of all was dominated by the established church, English men and women found the courage to revolt against Charles I, abolish bishops, and execute the King in the name of his people. The far-reaching effects and the novelty of what was achieved should not be underestimated — the first legalized regicide, rather than an assassination; the formal establishment of some degree of religious toleration; Parliament taking effective control of finance and foreign policy on behalf of gentry and merchants, thus guaranteeing the finance necessary to make England the world's leading naval power; abolition of the Church's prerogative courts (confirming gentry control at a local level); and the abolition of feudal tenures, which made possible first the agricultural and then the industrial revolution. The book examines the intellectual forces that helped to prepare minds for a revolution, which was much more than the religious wars and revolts that had gone before, and which became the precedent for the great revolutionary upheavals of the future.
Peter M. Jones
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- December 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198716075
- eISBN:
- 9780191784293
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198716075.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas, Social History
This book explores the knowledge underpinnings of agricultural change and growth in early modern Europe, building on the growing recognition among historians that ‘what people knew and believed’ had ...
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This book explores the knowledge underpinnings of agricultural change and growth in early modern Europe, building on the growing recognition among historians that ‘what people knew and believed’ had a bearing on their economic behaviour. Until recently researchers resisted arguments rooted in non-quantitative explanations of economic change which place the emphasis on cultural agents. The book focuses on the period circa 1750–1840 when an unprecedented amount of agricultural information was put into circulation which facilitated its consumption and incorporation into the practices of cereal and animal husbandry. In Scotland, England, and Denmark this precursor Agricultural Enlightenment triggered a modernization of the rural economy which can be labelled an Agricultural Revolution. Elsewhere the impact of the supply of agricultural knowledge was muted and it is hard to separate out the ingredients of the changes under way by the 1830s and 1840s. Adopting a continental perspective on agricultural growth, the book weighs up the effects of cultural factors by analysing the mechanisms governing knowledge production, diffusion, and adoption by farmers. Issues involving the transfer of knowledge and skill receive particular coverage. But equally the book explores the impact of demographic change, urbanization, and evidence that European agriculture was moving towards market-driven production by the end of the period. Governments were as influenced by the knowledge project of the Enlightenment as landlords and their tenants, and the book examines the proposition that institutional change ‘from above’ was the single most powerful catalyst of agricultural growth before industrialization transformed the European economy.Less
This book explores the knowledge underpinnings of agricultural change and growth in early modern Europe, building on the growing recognition among historians that ‘what people knew and believed’ had a bearing on their economic behaviour. Until recently researchers resisted arguments rooted in non-quantitative explanations of economic change which place the emphasis on cultural agents. The book focuses on the period circa 1750–1840 when an unprecedented amount of agricultural information was put into circulation which facilitated its consumption and incorporation into the practices of cereal and animal husbandry. In Scotland, England, and Denmark this precursor Agricultural Enlightenment triggered a modernization of the rural economy which can be labelled an Agricultural Revolution. Elsewhere the impact of the supply of agricultural knowledge was muted and it is hard to separate out the ingredients of the changes under way by the 1830s and 1840s. Adopting a continental perspective on agricultural growth, the book weighs up the effects of cultural factors by analysing the mechanisms governing knowledge production, diffusion, and adoption by farmers. Issues involving the transfer of knowledge and skill receive particular coverage. But equally the book explores the impact of demographic change, urbanization, and evidence that European agriculture was moving towards market-driven production by the end of the period. Governments were as influenced by the knowledge project of the Enlightenment as landlords and their tenants, and the book examines the proposition that institutional change ‘from above’ was the single most powerful catalyst of agricultural growth before industrialization transformed the European economy.
Robert C. Allen
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198282969
- eISBN:
- 9780191684425
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198282969.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter discusses an assessment of open and enclosed farmers through a comparison of how rapidly they adopted the package of improvements that helped raise productivity during the early modern ...
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This chapter discusses an assessment of open and enclosed farmers through a comparison of how rapidly they adopted the package of improvements that helped raise productivity during the early modern period. One of the strongest arguments that landlords had for their agricultural revolutions was that it was able to raise farm productivity. The discussion in this chapter focuses on the south midlands.Less
This chapter discusses an assessment of open and enclosed farmers through a comparison of how rapidly they adopted the package of improvements that helped raise productivity during the early modern period. One of the strongest arguments that landlords had for their agricultural revolutions was that it was able to raise farm productivity. The discussion in this chapter focuses on the south midlands.
Brian Bonnyman
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748642007
- eISBN:
- 9781474405980
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748642007.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Scottish Studies
The third Duke of Buccleuch (1746-1812) presided over the management of one of Britain’s largest landed estates during a period of profound social, political and economic change. Tutored by the ...
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The third Duke of Buccleuch (1746-1812) presided over the management of one of Britain’s largest landed estates during a period of profound social, political and economic change. Tutored by the philosopher Adam Smith, the Duke was also a leading patron of the Scottish Enlightenment, lauded by the Edinburgh literati as an exemplar of patriotic nobility and civic virtue, while his alliance with Henry Dundas would dominate Scottish politics for almost forty years. Combining the approaches of intellectual, economic and agrarian history, this book provides the first critical study of the life and career of the Duke, focusing in particular on his relationship with Adam Smith and the improvement of his vast Scottish estates. By examining the influence of the eighteenth century’s foremost philosopher of improvement upon the career of one of Britain’s largest landowners, this book provides an important case-study of the cultural, political and economic influences which helped shape Scotland’s distinctive agricultural revolution. The book also argues that under the stewardship of the Duke’s remarkable overseer of improvements, William Keir, ‘benevolent improvement’ became not only the overriding economic aim of land management strategy on the estate, but also the means by which the social, moral and political influence of the Duke would be strengthened and maintained.Less
The third Duke of Buccleuch (1746-1812) presided over the management of one of Britain’s largest landed estates during a period of profound social, political and economic change. Tutored by the philosopher Adam Smith, the Duke was also a leading patron of the Scottish Enlightenment, lauded by the Edinburgh literati as an exemplar of patriotic nobility and civic virtue, while his alliance with Henry Dundas would dominate Scottish politics for almost forty years. Combining the approaches of intellectual, economic and agrarian history, this book provides the first critical study of the life and career of the Duke, focusing in particular on his relationship with Adam Smith and the improvement of his vast Scottish estates. By examining the influence of the eighteenth century’s foremost philosopher of improvement upon the career of one of Britain’s largest landowners, this book provides an important case-study of the cultural, political and economic influences which helped shape Scotland’s distinctive agricultural revolution. The book also argues that under the stewardship of the Duke’s remarkable overseer of improvements, William Keir, ‘benevolent improvement’ became not only the overriding economic aim of land management strategy on the estate, but also the means by which the social, moral and political influence of the Duke would be strengthened and maintained.
E. Fuller Torrey
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231183369
- eISBN:
- 9780231544863
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231183369.003.0007
- Subject:
- Biology, Neurobiology
This chapter describes what has been called “the first human-built holy place”, probably used for ancestor worship. At the same time modern Homo sapiens began domesticating plants and animals and ...
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This chapter describes what has been called “the first human-built holy place”, probably used for ancestor worship. At the same time modern Homo sapiens began domesticating plants and animals and coming together to form villages and towns. As ancestor worship became more formalized “skull cults” emerged. As population increased, the ancestors were assigned places in a hierarchy with the highest eventually emerging as the first gods.Less
This chapter describes what has been called “the first human-built holy place”, probably used for ancestor worship. At the same time modern Homo sapiens began domesticating plants and animals and coming together to form villages and towns. As ancestor worship became more formalized “skull cults” emerged. As population increased, the ancestors were assigned places in a hierarchy with the highest eventually emerging as the first gods.
Michael Horace Barnes
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195396270
- eISBN:
- 9780199852482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195396270.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Primitive cultures differ greatly in their thought style from axial-age classical cultures. This chapter deals with two “in-between” stages of culture: the early and late archaic stages that lie ...
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Primitive cultures differ greatly in their thought style from axial-age classical cultures. This chapter deals with two “in-between” stages of culture: the early and late archaic stages that lie between primitive foraging cultures and literate classical cultures. Each stage of archaic culture is the result of a major revolution in human affairs. The first follows the Neolithic agricultural revolution; the second, the revolution of literacy. Jack Goody holds that literacy may be credited as the human invention that led to the “great divide” between primitive and modern modes of thought.Less
Primitive cultures differ greatly in their thought style from axial-age classical cultures. This chapter deals with two “in-between” stages of culture: the early and late archaic stages that lie between primitive foraging cultures and literate classical cultures. Each stage of archaic culture is the result of a major revolution in human affairs. The first follows the Neolithic agricultural revolution; the second, the revolution of literacy. Jack Goody holds that literacy may be credited as the human invention that led to the “great divide” between primitive and modern modes of thought.
Arlindo Oliveira
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262036030
- eISBN:
- 9780262338394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036030.003.0002
- Subject:
- Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
This chapter provides a brief review of the history of technology, covering pre-historical technologies, the agricultural revolution, the first two industrial revolutions, and the third industrial ...
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This chapter provides a brief review of the history of technology, covering pre-historical technologies, the agricultural revolution, the first two industrial revolutions, and the third industrial revolution, based on information technology. Evidence is provided that technological development tends to follow an exponential curve, leading to technologies that typically were unpredictable just a few years before. An analysis of a number of exponential trends and behaviors is provided, in order to acquaint the reader with the sometimes surprising properties of exponential growth. In general, exponential functions tend to grow slower than expected in the short term, and faster than expected in the long term. It is this property that make technology evolution very hard to predict.Less
This chapter provides a brief review of the history of technology, covering pre-historical technologies, the agricultural revolution, the first two industrial revolutions, and the third industrial revolution, based on information technology. Evidence is provided that technological development tends to follow an exponential curve, leading to technologies that typically were unpredictable just a few years before. An analysis of a number of exponential trends and behaviors is provided, in order to acquaint the reader with the sometimes surprising properties of exponential growth. In general, exponential functions tend to grow slower than expected in the short term, and faster than expected in the long term. It is this property that make technology evolution very hard to predict.
Brian Bonnyman
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748642007
- eISBN:
- 9781474405980
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748642007.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Scottish Studies
Beginning with his first visit to Scotland in 1767, this introductory chapter sets out the broader historiographical context to the Duke of Buccleuch’s career and the improvement of his estates. The ...
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Beginning with his first visit to Scotland in 1767, this introductory chapter sets out the broader historiographical context to the Duke of Buccleuch’s career and the improvement of his estates. The distinctive nature of the Scottish agricultural revolution is examined, which was, to a large extent, instigated, bankrolled and implemented ‘from above’ by the Scottish landowning classes. Given this, it is argued that the attitudes, beliefs and mentalities of these landowners become of crucial importance to understanding the particular nature of agrarian change in Scotland and its distinctive culture of improvement. The close relationship between this improving ideology and the wider Scottish Enlightenment is highlighted, and it is suggested that improvement must be considered as much a cultural concept as an economic one.Less
Beginning with his first visit to Scotland in 1767, this introductory chapter sets out the broader historiographical context to the Duke of Buccleuch’s career and the improvement of his estates. The distinctive nature of the Scottish agricultural revolution is examined, which was, to a large extent, instigated, bankrolled and implemented ‘from above’ by the Scottish landowning classes. Given this, it is argued that the attitudes, beliefs and mentalities of these landowners become of crucial importance to understanding the particular nature of agrarian change in Scotland and its distinctive culture of improvement. The close relationship between this improving ideology and the wider Scottish Enlightenment is highlighted, and it is suggested that improvement must be considered as much a cultural concept as an economic one.
Mona Sue Weissmark
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- June 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190686345
- eISBN:
- 9780197522912
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190686345.003.0006
- Subject:
- Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the way evolving models of human organization—from hunter-gatherer to megacities—have an impact on human psychology, human relations, and the ...
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This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the way evolving models of human organization—from hunter-gatherer to megacities—have an impact on human psychology, human relations, and the development of alienation. The idyllic paradigm, according to some researchers, was the low-population-density hunter-gatherer societies based on mutual exchange and shared resources. The principal organizing mechanism in these societies was kinship, which offered a defined behavioral guide. Eventually, the discovery and development of agriculture led to the Agricultural Revolution, and village-based sedentary societies supplanted the small hunter-gatherer units. Human interaction became more complex and impersonal in the higher-density towns and villages, and the sharing society evolved into one based on private property, trade, and the development of elite social classes. The next critical turning point following the Agricultural Revolution was the Urban Revolution. Several classical and contemporary theorists developed the concept of “social alienation” to describe the impact of the rushed pace of city life and the ephemeral nature of relationships on mental attitudes and social relations. Indeed, the rise of globalization, megacities, and migration in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century revived interest in the alienation theories of the 1950s and 1960s. The chapter then describes the American developmental psychologist Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial identity development.Less
This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the way evolving models of human organization—from hunter-gatherer to megacities—have an impact on human psychology, human relations, and the development of alienation. The idyllic paradigm, according to some researchers, was the low-population-density hunter-gatherer societies based on mutual exchange and shared resources. The principal organizing mechanism in these societies was kinship, which offered a defined behavioral guide. Eventually, the discovery and development of agriculture led to the Agricultural Revolution, and village-based sedentary societies supplanted the small hunter-gatherer units. Human interaction became more complex and impersonal in the higher-density towns and villages, and the sharing society evolved into one based on private property, trade, and the development of elite social classes. The next critical turning point following the Agricultural Revolution was the Urban Revolution. Several classical and contemporary theorists developed the concept of “social alienation” to describe the impact of the rushed pace of city life and the ephemeral nature of relationships on mental attitudes and social relations. Indeed, the rise of globalization, megacities, and migration in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century revived interest in the alienation theories of the 1950s and 1960s. The chapter then describes the American developmental psychologist Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial identity development.
Wes Jackson
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226444666
- eISBN:
- 9780226444970
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226444970.003.0025
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Nature
This chapter imagines a revolutionary shift in agriculture, told from the point of view of a narrator living in the mid-twenty-first century. Given that the twentieth century’s “Green Revolution” led ...
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This chapter imagines a revolutionary shift in agriculture, told from the point of view of a narrator living in the mid-twenty-first century. Given that the twentieth century’s “Green Revolution” led to thirty million acres of land being degraded through soil erosion each year, and given that agriculture is the second largest source of greenhouse gases, this narrator presents agriculture as the top threat to biodiversity on the planet. The chapter thus calls upon future generations to “awaken a new and … creative, diverse, complex, and equally wild human place within that ecosphere.” This shift is based on the development of “new hardware,” in the form of a variety of herbaceous perennial crops. Such crops restore the function of the prairies while providing food and fuel to humans. This shifts the focus of agriculture from fossil fuel intensive industrial farming to the “ecological intensification” of biodiversity. This intensification results in “a soil alive with wildness,” as well as extensive carbon sequestration in these renewed prairie soils. Moreover, this new era of ecological intensification breaks down the “human/nature” split, connecting “all organisms, including ourselves, as enclosed within a ‘miraculous skin’”—what the author refers to as the ecosphere.Less
This chapter imagines a revolutionary shift in agriculture, told from the point of view of a narrator living in the mid-twenty-first century. Given that the twentieth century’s “Green Revolution” led to thirty million acres of land being degraded through soil erosion each year, and given that agriculture is the second largest source of greenhouse gases, this narrator presents agriculture as the top threat to biodiversity on the planet. The chapter thus calls upon future generations to “awaken a new and … creative, diverse, complex, and equally wild human place within that ecosphere.” This shift is based on the development of “new hardware,” in the form of a variety of herbaceous perennial crops. Such crops restore the function of the prairies while providing food and fuel to humans. This shifts the focus of agriculture from fossil fuel intensive industrial farming to the “ecological intensification” of biodiversity. This intensification results in “a soil alive with wildness,” as well as extensive carbon sequestration in these renewed prairie soils. Moreover, this new era of ecological intensification breaks down the “human/nature” split, connecting “all organisms, including ourselves, as enclosed within a ‘miraculous skin’”—what the author refers to as the ecosphere.
Gregory A. Barton
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780199642533
- eISBN:
- 9780191851186
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199642533.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
The introduction briefly surveys the developments that have taken place in the last 500 years relating to the growth of crown capitalism, monoculture, the rise of international trading regimes, the ...
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The introduction briefly surveys the developments that have taken place in the last 500 years relating to the growth of crown capitalism, monoculture, the rise of international trading regimes, the impact of industrial farming, and the scientific and romantic reaction that gave birth to organic farming. Organic farming merged romanticism, holism, ecology, science, and desiccation theory, and fitted within the larger environment movement that spanned from the nineteenth century to the present. It placed an emphasis on wholeness and change that inverted or rejected the main philosophical assumptions underlying scientific rationalism realism and re-introduced into mainstream European culture elements of immanence and mysticism.Less
The introduction briefly surveys the developments that have taken place in the last 500 years relating to the growth of crown capitalism, monoculture, the rise of international trading regimes, the impact of industrial farming, and the scientific and romantic reaction that gave birth to organic farming. Organic farming merged romanticism, holism, ecology, science, and desiccation theory, and fitted within the larger environment movement that spanned from the nineteenth century to the present. It placed an emphasis on wholeness and change that inverted or rejected the main philosophical assumptions underlying scientific rationalism realism and re-introduced into mainstream European culture elements of immanence and mysticism.