ORGANIZATION: THE FRAMEWORK OF SOCIETY PART 2

Medieval organizations

After the collapse of Roman Empire a new type of organization arose, the feudal system. In the feudal system the feudal lord owned many serfs. Serfs were required to work for free in Lords land .Rest of the time he could work on his own land. He was also supposed to give military service when called for. He was free to marry ut was not allowed to leave his Feudal lord. The system was better than direct slavers as it gave some initiative to individual serfs to produce on his own land. 

   Alongside the feudal system was the Church with its hierarchical system of priests,with the Pope at the top. The church worked by persuasion to adhere to the religious code. But it also had vast land wealth and even a military. There were clashes between church and kings over the exercise of power.

   The last organization was of craftsmen and traders. They usually lived in cities in organizations called guilds. The guilds were protective of their knowledge and had extensive control over the workers. The goods produced by craftsmen was sold by traders in country fairs or internationally in cities in Italy and Netherlands. 

  In Europe because of a long coast line ,there was intense sea trade which allowed accumulation of new knowledge in ship building,navigation with compass and maps. However the greatest innovation was the printing press in sixteenth century allowing dissemination of scientific and religious knowledge. In the religous field new reformation organization such as Lutherism arose. New education organizations such as universities arose which served as creators of new scientific knowledge. The greatest change however was in craftsmen guilds and trading organizations. Trading companies were given exclusive rights to trade with distant nations. The stock market and banks arose to pool resources and finance trade. The traders supported the craftsmen financially to expand their production. Thus by eighteenth century the economy was dominated by craft production and trade  especially in England and Netherland.

    The king was becoming more powerful over feudal lords as he could control national trade trough taxes. The military organization requires canons and guns and specialised troops leading huge requirement of money to fight wars . Theses resources were not available to the feudal lord. Moreover spread of vernacular books led to growth of a national culture in England ,where stories of Endglish people were circulated. This was the beginning of National organizations.Gradually in England feudal laws were abolished as by this time the craftsmen and traders constituted forty percent of population and feudalism was not as profitable .With this the rural economy became converted into wage workers and free farmers.

The Industrial Revolution

In eighteenth century England the volume of trade led to mechanisation of production and use of steam power. This required a new organization of work ,the factory with its workers and managers. The craftsmen require only their tools for production but factories require capital goods such as machinery. Thus the craftsmen could not afford to buy the tools required to produce and became wage workers. 

  The British naval superiority had led to a huge colonial empire . In colonial countries manufacturing was suppressed while they were forced to buy British produced goods.This mercantile economy produced huge trade surpluses and capital accumulation. Moreover slave trade and forced work in plantations produced huge profits. The factory wages were low because of a large worker population on England and this kept wages low. Due to increase in productivity there were huge profits which went to the factory owners. Only by end of nineteenth century wages rose as population was stabilised by then. 

    The British government did not invest in infrastructure like roads and railways as this was done by joint stock firms. It also did not establish scientific laboratories to advance read each and industrial productivity. The inventors of steam engine and Bessemer steel production were educated craftsmen. However it did keep high tariffs to prevent imports of foreign goods till British industries learnt to be most productive. 

 The neighbouring countries of Europe ,especially France ,Germany had to play catch-up with England. For this they initiated state sponsored public works. Especially in Germany scientific laboratories were built for research in chemicals. Most nations had colonies and capital accumulation from unequal trade was available to them.However many of them had remnants of feudal relationships unlike in England. Ultimately the French Revolution put an end to feudalism in France. Morever through conquest of Germanand Spanish lands feudalism was abolished all over Wesrern Europe.

   The United States of America was a nation of free farmers from beginning as it was settled by European migrants. However large plantations based on slave labour was present in the South and led to huge accumulation of capital. Morever discovery of Gold in West and agriculture in huge farms enabled by mechanisation produced large capital accumulation. Craftsmen and technology for factories came from immigrants. However very large capital inflows came from Europe during the Industrial Revolution.The capital however ended in buying stocks of infrastructural projects such as railroads. However foreign capitalists were not given voting rights and the American firms remained in local hands.                                   This was unlike South American nations which depended on commodity trade and exports to Europe of food and minerals. Due to fluctuating demand these countries often went in recession. These nations moreover depended on plantations ,initially based on slavers. The political class was dominated by land owning class who had no interest in manufacturing. Later import substitution without export was tried which led to a protected capitalist class with low productivity. Again open invitation  to FDI led to entry of foreign capital . This was not interested in developing new technology but adapting existing technology to local conditions. When recession occurred they took out their money from the economy.

     So the principal problem for South American nations was lack of capital accumulation internally. When they depended on foreign capital it took flight during adverse trade imbalance. The same conditions occurred in other developing countries and led to their lack of economic progress  . The political will to develop a manufacturing infrastructure and promotion through subsidies was absent.

    Power of organizations in democratic nations

In developed democracies individual organizations weird power as per their wealth, persuasive power and physical power. Threat of physical punishment is exercised only in military organizations and prisons. Most organization use economic coercion or persuasion. Moreover in case of conflict between organizations they try to get help of the state. The state itself is composed of beaurocracy and political parties with their own interest in their well being. The ability to influence state depends on monetary incentives by rich and threat if agitations by other organised groups. Today the Internet has allowed rapid spread of grievances and creation of groups based on individual issues. Leaders also arise in social media to influence the agitation by these groups. At many times these groups threaten the political authorities and force them to resign from power.