Britain in Decline: Structural Change in British Capitalism since the Industrial Revolution

Abstract

The Industrial Revolution which began in Britain in the late eighteenth century has been aptly described as ‘the most fundamental transformation of human life in the history of the world recorded in written documents’ (Hobsbawm, 1969: 13). As Harold Perkin remarked, ‘Modern society … has its roots in the Industrial Revolution’ (Perkin, 1969: 1). Britain’s pioneering role in this transformation has left lasting marks on its subsequent history. In particular it helps to account for the characteristic combination of archaism and modernity in its culture and institutions. Norman Stone in the early 1980s described England as ‘the last of the ancien regimes’ (Stone, 1983: 18), and ‘modernisation’ has been a recurring motif in political discourse for the last forty years. We cannot hope to appreciate the problems facing British politicians in the twentieth century without some understanding of the development of British capitalism over the last two centuries.