ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns comparatively early capitalist industrializations and very briefly examines the difference between Britain and later capitalist industrializations, with a particular focus on the role of the state. It illustrates the differences through an examination of Japanese industrialization. Industrialization is regarded as having its own dynamic independent of social and political factors, and this “logic of industrialism” will lead to a convergence between industrial societies irrespective of political ideology and social structure. Moreover, British industrialization promoted a new international division of labour in which different regions produced different goods. The leading sector in Britain's industrialization was the cotton industry, which had a major impact on the rest of the world. Industrialization led to the separation of production from consumption, and the replacement of the household as the basic unit of production by the factory system.
