The Rise of the West—or Not? A Revision to Socio-economic History
Jack А. Goldstone
The debate over the “Rise of West” has generally been which factor or factors—cultural, geoographic, material—in European history led Europe to diverge from World's pre-industrial civilizations. This article aims shift terms by arguing that there were no causal factors made Europe's industrialization inevitable even likely. Rather, most would not and could move toward any more than China India Japan. a very accidental combination events in late seventeenth century placed England on peculiar path, leading constitutional democracy. These accidents included compromise between Anglican Church Dissenters, Crown Parliament, settlements 1689; adoption Newtonian science as part cosmology its spread craftsmen entrepreneurs throughout Britain; opportunity apply idea vacuum mechanics solve particular technical problem: pumping water out deep mine shafts near coal mines. Without these history, is reason believe have ever advanced Asian civilizations eighteenth nineteenth centuries.
Sociological Theory