Capitalism and its Origins
Capitalism is the state of ownership in which the private sectors in a given country individual factors of production. The elements of production are four, namely; labor, natural resources, capital goods, and the entrepreneurship. The coefficients of production are the pillar of the economy and led to the emergence of capitalism. The development of capitalism either in the city or in the countryside has raised many questions. People argue that capitalism began in the town while others contend that it started in the country. To settle on the right place where capital originated a person has to analyze the agrarian capitalism during the agricultural revolution critically. Woods did not believe as the majority did to think that capitalism began in the city. In her writing, she traces for the origin of capital across the political spectrum. The disagreement that capitalism started in the city is due to the combined markets in the city. People forget to trace the origins critically but rather follow what is already available. Denaturalizing, non-circular explanation for the origins of capitalism according to Ellen Woods (2), must be traced to the changing property and English countryside in the 16th century. Neither manufacturers nor wholesalers did not drove the early growth of entrepreneurship. The revolution of social property associations lives in the country let to the change of the English trade and industry. Thus, caused the upsurge of the capitalism in the countryside.
The Role of Labor in Capitalism
The capitalism depended on social property relations in which people began to offer their service to work on the agrarian lands and stimulated capitalism. The labor provided by the peasants backed to the emergence and advance in capitalism.
The Agrarian Revolution and its Contribution to Capitalism
The development of the agrarian revolution contributed to the emergence of capitalism. Human beings for millennia have provided their material needs by working on the land. The areas they worked are the gathering before the evolution of agrarian agriculture. In the agricultural sector, human beings found themselves in different classes of society (Wood 10). The different courses are between those who appropriated the work of others and those who worked on the land. In various places and times, the division of workers and those who employed them led to the appropriators and the producers (Wood 11). One thing common is that those who worked for the appropriators remained to be peasants on the farm. In that regard, the peasants continued to be in possession of the means of production in the area of land. The peasants worked diligently to ensure that good output was realized in the agricultural sector.
Role of Manufacturing and Market Dependence in Capitalism
The capitalist at that time never had direct production of the goods in their farms. Marxist who had earlier tried to explain about the economist, his explanation of the extra-economic must have been realized at the time when the capitalism was emerging. Since the landowners employed the workers, then it means that at times when there was surplus labor they were appropriated by the exploiters (Wood 8). Since economist activities are based on production and provision of labor service, it is evidenced in the agrarian communities which were involved in the production of agricultural products. The peasants working on the farms as laborers and landowners acted as the appropriators. Thus, agricultural activities stimulated the development of capitalism which began in the agrarian communities.
The Market as a Determinant in Capitalism
Woods had her way in which she differentiates between pre-capitalist and capitalism. Woods argues that in the difference, it does not matter whether production is taking place in the rural or urban areas. She emphasizes that it has to do with specific property between the appropriators and the producers in either agriculture or industry. In capitalism, the surplus assumption is dominant mode based on the deficiency of direct producers whose excess labor is appropriated by decently means of economic. The reason is that in capitalism, direct producers are fully developed property and less access to the means of production for their production.
The Role and Influence of the Market in Capitalist Societies
The market dependent was majorly on the relationship between the producers and the appropriators. The market can be said to have mediated the relationship between the producers and the appropriators. In the chronicled history, different markets have occurred throughout of various kinds. Before the progress of capitalism, people have sold their excess and traded in many different ways for different specific purposes (Anievas 86). In capitalism, markets have a unique and distinctive function. In a capitalist society, everything is produced for the market. In that connection, labor and capital are utterly dependent on the market. When the demand for a particular product is high, the factors of production especially labor and capital are connected to ensure that the basic need commodity is available for sale. Workers entirely depend on the market to sell their labor force(Anievas 95). When the market is high, the labor demand will be high leading to more workers required in the production sector unlike when the market is low. The role the market plays in capitalism has a control factor in the ways the capitalist societies behave. Thus market gives a unique position in the capitalist societies due to its market-dependence. A market is a principal determinant that regulates the social reproduction.
Impact of Market Dependence on Production and Social Reproduction
With the little available market, the production in the manufacturing sector goes down, and the low demand for labor is required. The social reproduction also goes down due to low production. Likewise, when the market is high due to increased demand for basics, the labor reproduction also increases to provide the required workforce for manufacturing. The production of life's most basic necessity such as food under production majorly depended on the market since it is the determinant of output. Distinctive laws such as laws of motion were entailed in the unique system of market dependence. The reason is that some mode of production required specific market coercion. The method of invention led to the accumulation, profit maximization, and significant competition. The imperatives of markets mean that the capitalism must, and can expand in ways in which other forms of society cannot. The continually searching out new markets, steadily accumulating, constantly imposing imperatives on new spheres of life and territories on the natural environment and human beings are the degrees at which the capitalist system works.
Tracing the Emergence of Capitalism through Market Dependence
On recognizing the unique processes and social relations of how different they are from the social form and dominated most of human history, it becomes easier to explain the emergence of capitalism. Complex and lengthy historical processes that lead to the dependence of the market can easily be traced back. The question that can lead to the origin is to identify when apparent the social dynamic was evident to derive — the market dependence that derives the dynamics of the leading economic players.
Market-Driven Imperatives and the Expansion of Capitalism
In the outlined imperative, most of the world including Europe was free from the market-driven imperatives as late as the seventeenth century (Anievas 85). The existence of a vast system of trade was undoubted across the globe. However, nowhere in the Islamic world, Asia nor in Europe was imperative of accumulation and competition due to economic activity in production. At that time, the dominant principle of trade was buying cheap and selling dear or profit alienation. Goods were purchased cheaply in one market and sold dearly in another market at the local level. The type of trade consisted of barter trade before the evolution of money.
Evolution of Trade and the Transformation to Capitalism
With the increase in production, exchange of goods on a large scale became essential and was carried out by merchants (Anievas 89). The merchants engaged in purchasing products from one location and sold them to another place at a profit. As production intensified, the unified European kingdom changed the way merchants operated. Instead of buying goods from one market and selling to other markets in a different location, the production sectors began to buy and sell in the same market locality through cost-effective manner. The buyers bought on a large scale which enabled them to enjoy market economies of scale; thus, were able to compete with others in the same market.
The Role of Luxuries and the Different Classes in Capitalism
The luxurious goods were also traded in the origin of capitalism. The different classes that were outlined by the labor appropriators and the landowners brought in the status quo. The diverse needs at different household led to luxuries. The basic requirement for some household were luxuries to another household.
Market Access and Income Generation in Capitalism
Still on the market as a determinant, the accessibility of the means of production such as land by peasants without having to offer their labor as a market commodity was determined by the market of the goods (Anievas 100). Office-holders and landlords who had privileges and powers by the help of extra income, extracted labor from peasants through the taxes and rental charges. The scenario shows how others got their income exclusion from production of goods to the market. In other words, while others were striving to get income from the creation of products, office holders and landlords depended on the market through appropriating what others produced.
The Unique Role of England in the Emergence of Capitalism
In England, the general rule was exceptional by the sixteenth century. The country had already developed in all ways apart from some areas which were under the monarchical states and were less incorporated. The landlord, the corporates, and the municipal bodies concentrated in the central state after eliminating the monarchial rule; in contrast to European nations. The material foundations and outcomes consisted of the distinctive political centralism of the English state. Due to market structure and capitalism, England by the 16th century had an inspiring network of means of transport in water and road which united the nation and improved production.
The Global Influence of Capitalism
The origin and emergence of capitalism emerged from the agrarian lands from the simple agriculture and developed until it was intensified through ownership at the global level by the property owners which is traced back to agricultural revolution came to increase and the present day due to market structure capitalism took of the world. Capitalism has transformed the world. The destructive effects of capitalism have over stripped the globe with the pressure of accumulation, competition, and exploitation and without the appropriator and producer, the capitalist may not have a guarantee in the world.
Works Cited
Anievas, Alexander, and Kerem Nişancıoğlu. How the West Came to Rule: The Geopolitical Origins of Capitalism. Pluto Press, 2018.
Anievas, Alexander, and Kerem Nisancioglu. "What’s at stake in the transition debate? Rethinking the origins of capitalism and the ‘rise of the West’." Millennium 42.1 (2013): 78-102.
Wood, Ellen Meiksins. "The agrarian origins of capitalism." Monthly Review 50.3 (1998): 14.
