The Great Asymmetry between Agrarianism and Industrialism

This book begins with the introductory remarks, especially with respect to the industrial revolution. Reddy considers it to be the greatest break in world history. It began with the invention of the spinning jenny by James Hargreaves and the steam engine by James Watt. It brought about a revolutionary change in the world economy. He quotes Galbraith to the effect that on the eve of the revolution China and India produced 33 per cent and 25 per cent of the world’s manufactures respectively but their share fell to just 2 per cent by the 1950s, accompanied by an enormous increase in the share of western Europe and America. The ground for the conversion of the society from the agrarian to industrial had ischolar_mains in four great movements. They were the renaissance, humanism, reformation and scientific revolution. The book is in two parts. Part I deals with these movements and Part II with ten ideologies.