Proto-industrialization
Proto industry (including proto-industrialization or Protoindustralisierung ) is a history of scientific technical term for a particular form of early industrialization.
Under the proto- industrial forms of industrial production are understood to constitute a mass production of goods and merchandise in distributed workshops and manufactories. Parts of the production process found this place on the basis of homework.
Characteristics
The term means something like "pre- industrialization ". This refers to a process that started long before the Industrial Revolution. During this time began rural residents, decentralized manufacture goods for export to the country. Particularly widespread was this publishing system in the field of textile manufacturing. With increasing demand in many places developed a market production. Thus arose a rural domestic industry, which was determined not by machines, but also not out of agriculture. Merchants brought commodities, which usually worked the whole family and from them products such as manufactured clothes. These products bought them then the dealer again.
To Protoindustralisierung include the cameral efforts of enlightened absolutist princes of the 18th century, the intended targeted promotion as in the field of mining or ceramic industry to develop their economy. The proto- industry led, according to a thesis to increased population growth, there now also outside the purely agrarian activities were employment opportunities. This growth, however, can not be empirically or evidenced by micro studies only for individual regions in Germany.
Through the proletarianisation of large sections of the population, the increase of the market as well as through increased capital accumulation, the proto-industrialization fostered the actual industrialization. But this thesis is strongly criticized by historians today. These lead to a counter-arguments, that only a part of the flowed into the industrialization capital was generated in the home industries and the commercialization of agriculture is demonstrated even before the alleged proto-industrialization.
Periodization and examples
A fixed period of time for the proto- industrial time can not fix it, because this development has regional variations and in parts of the developing world still persists. In general, the time period of the Proto industry in Central Europe from the late Middle Ages and modern times with strong regional variations to the 18th to 19th centuries ranges. The proto- industry was replaced by the early and high industry, the transitions were in turn regionally due fluent or abruptly.
Examples of proto- industry are local accumulations of water-driven hammer mills, grinders and grinding cotta to the watercourses, which are responsible, such as in the Wupper square in entirety for a high degree of industrialization of the region without forming a clear industrial center.
- See also Industrial Revolution in Germany.
Switzerland
Characteristic of the period of proto-industrialization in Switzerland were especially the above-mentioned principles of the publishing system and some manufactories. In the late 18th century, but it was on Swiss territory is still only around 50 factories with between 50 and 100 workers. They served a certain production rationalization in the form of an organizational centralization and a partial work decomposition. The majority of them also used the water power as an aid. In the textile industry, but clearly dominated the publishing system, with a more rational use of the pre- farm work at home.