Why Europe Was First: Social Change and Economic Growth in Europe and East Asia 1500-2050For most of its history Europe was a thoroughly average part of the world: poor, uncouth, technologically and culturally backward. By contrast, China was always far richer, more sophisticated and advanced. Yet it was Europe that first became modern, and by the nineteenth century China was struggling to catch up. This book explains why. Why did Europe succeed and why was China left behind? The answer, as we will see, does not only solve a long-standing historical puzzle, it also provides an explanation of the contemporary success of East Asia, and it shows what is wrong with current theories of development and modernization. |
Contents
the logic | vii |
The Nature Origin of Modern Society | 1 |
The Failure Success of East Asia | 13 |
The SelfTransforming Machine | 27 |
reflection | 41 |
The Discovery of Distance | 43 |
The Face in the Mirror | 61 |
Institutions that Reflect | 75 |
Institutions that Deal with Conflicts | 187 |
european paths to modernity | 203 |
Institutions Revolutions | 205 |
China | 219 |
Reflection | 221 |
Entrepreneurship | 243 |
Pluralism | 259 |
Europe China Compared | 275 |
entrepreneurship | 93 |
Origins of the Entrepreneurial Outlook | 95 |
The Age of the Demiurge | 113 |
Institutions that Get Things Done | 131 |
pluralism | 149 |
A World in Pieces | 151 |
The Polite Alternative | 171 |
reform revolution in Japan China | 291 |
Foreign Challenges Japanese Responses | 293 |
Japans China in a Modern World | 309 |
the future of modern society | 323 |
The New Politics of Modernization | 325 |
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