Marx vs. Smith

Chapter 23

1)              The revolutions created new states in Greece, Belgium, Italy, and Germany. The greatest impact was in eastern and central Europe, previously a region without strong national centralization. The emergence of the new states was accompanied by economic growth. Germany became an economic threat to Britain. Both Germany and Italy wished to participate in the scramble for world empire. Such economic and colonial competition upset previous power balances and led to two competing blocks, the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) and Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia).

2)           Before industrialization Europe had a social order based on the peasantry and other workers, the aristocracy and those with political power, and the church. With industrialization the aristocracy and church remained, but with diminished power. Social status became based on wealth, and importance went to those associated with capital and the industrial economy. The political world reflected the change. Liberals sought to gain political power consonant with the economic power of the middle classes; they wanted limited, constitutional government. Radicals and socialists aimed at extending power to the working classes: both wanted an extension of voting rights, while socialists wanted control of the economy. All political groups were manipulated by conservative politicians, often through the use of nationalism. Bismarck, for example, offered political reforms in return for social stability and national power.

3)             The chief political issues surrounded what was referred to as the “social question.” With the emergence of the social question, socialism and feminism became newly powerful political movements. Karl Marx promoted a more aggressive form of socialism after 1848. Marx’s system was based oon class conflict. He believed that modern political systems would be shaped by the resolution of the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Marxist theory provided a context in which working-class movements could confront governments. Socialism spread rapidly among Germany. Socialist parties developed as strong political alternatives in France and Austria. Socialism proved less successful initially in Britain and the United States.

Journals 1/30 – 2/3

January 30
Economic fairness would mean that everyone has the same income, pays the same amount for taxes, and pays the same amount for everyday things (cars, food, electronics, clothes, etc.). I don’t think that economic fairness is possible to achieve in the world we live in. People who have less money will always be jealous of the higher class. If everyone did have the same income and money, it wouldn’t be fair for people who work harder. The only way to have economic fairness would be for everyone to have the same jobs, income, and everyone would have the same exact things. in the society we live in, it is not possible to make everyone uniform.

January 31
“A man’s maturity: to rediscover the seriousness he possessed as a child at play.” -Nietzche

February 1
My ideal place is Paris, France. The Eiffel tower at night, when it’s sparkling, is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. To be able to just walk around the city and enjoy myself and see all the sites is my ideal place.

February 2
I want to go to college. I don’t know which college, but I want to go to a big, fancy university that will make people say, “Wow, I can’t believe she got in there!” I know that this sounds shallow, but I really just want to be seen as successful. After I graduate from college, I want to travel all over the world and get married by 28. I want to have my first child by 30 and my second by 32. Most likely this all won’t happen, because it’s life and life doesn’t always go as planned because we don’t live in a story book. I have all the material things that I need or want right now.

Industrial Revolution Prezi!

Industrial Revolution

Journals 1/24 – 1/27

1/24
The most important invention of all time is the Internet. We use the Internet to find information, socialize, shop, and even do our jobs. People completely rely on the Internet to complete daily tasks. Without the Internet our world would not be able to function.

1/26
Empathy is understanding how others feel and being able to relate. By having empathy one goes through the same emotions. Most people are not truly empathetic, sympathy is more common. By having empathy we have try to put yourself in someone else’s position, which is difficult to do.

Chapter 22

1) In south and southeast Asia and East Africa, the Portuguese were acutely aware that the Muslims had arrived before them. This discovery prommised resistance to Portuguese trading and empire building. Ports of East Africa made up only a small portion of a larger nerwork of commercial exchange and cultural interaction. The trading system stretched thousands of miles from the Middle East and Africa along all the coasts of the giant Asian continent. The Asian Sea Trading Network could be broken down in to three sections; each focused on major centers of handicraft manufacturing. Two general characteristics of the trading system at the time of the Portuguese arrival were crucial to European attempts to regulate and dominate it. There was no central control and military force was usually absent from commercial exchanges within it.
2) In 1700, after 2 centuries of European involvement in south and southeast Asia, most of the peoples of the area had been little affected by efforts to build trading empires and win christian converts. European sailors added several new routes to the Asian trading network. The most important one was the link around the Cape of Good Hope between Europe and the Indian Ocean and the connection between the Philippine Islands and Mexico in the Americas. European’s need for safe harbors and storage areas led to the establishment and growth of trading centers such as Goa, Calcutta, and Batavia. Indigenous commercial centers also declined, especially the muslim cities on the East coast of Africa and somewhat later the fortress town of Malacca. Also, Europeans introduced sea warfare into the peaceful commercial world, but they eventually realized they were better off adapting to the already present commercial arrangements. Christianity aroused more hostility than interest from the adherents of the ancient faiths of Asia and the more recent converts to Islam.
3) In the 17th century the Dutch were able to overpower the Portuguese because they were stronger and had more man power. The resistance of Asian rivals, poor military discipline, rampant corruption among crown officials, and heavy Portuguese shipping losses caused overloading and poor design had taken a toll on the empire by the end of the 16th century. The Dutch were able to capture the critical Portuguese port and fortress at Malacca and built a new port of their own in 1620 at Batavia on the island of Java. The Dutch concentrated on the monopoly control of certain spices rather than on Asian trade more generally. The Dutch trading empire had the same basic components as the Portuguese: fortified towns and factories, warships on patrol, and monopoly control of a limited number of products. The Dutch had more numerous and better armed ships and went about the business of monopoly control in a much more systematic fashion.
4) Growing doubts about European intentions, and fears that both merchants and missionaries might suvert the existing social order, led to official measures to restrict foreign activities in Japan, beginning in the late 1580’s. Hideyoshi first ordered the missionaries to leave the islands, then actively prosecuted them. His successor, Ieyasu, continued the persecution and then banned the faith in 1614. The persecution of the Christians eventually grew into a broader campaign to isolate Japan from outside influences. By mid- 17th century, Japan’s retreat into almost total isolation was complete. In China, a succesion of brilliant jesuit scholars, such as Matteo Ricci and Adam Schall, spent most of their time in the imperial city correcting faulty calendars, forging cannon, fixing clocks imported from Europe, and astounding the Chinese scholar-gentry with the accuracy of their instruments and their ability to predict eclipses. Most court officials were suspicious, and they tried to limit their contact with the imperial family. In the 1850’s when the second push by the western powers for entry into Japan, the japanese knew much more clearly than the Chinese, what they were up against.

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