The Rice Economies

Here in Japan every one at school is taught that 1) The Japanese were agrarians that learnt to cooperate with each other, and thereby became collectivists 2) The Europeans were axe weilding hunter gatherers that retain their individualism. Whatever you think of the outcome, the picture is simplictic. This book helps by giving another point of view. Francesca Bray (friendly - She answered my email) is looking for the origin of the industrial revolution in the types of agriculture that existed in Europe and Asia. The basic idea seems to be that 1) In "Rice economies" one can grow crops on the same land over and over again, if one tends ones paddie field over and over again. In this situation, other than the need for irrigation (which Dr. Bray does not emphasise so much), rice farmers are quite indpendent, autonomous, expert tenders of their paddy field. 1) In Europe the need for crop rotation (cow, fallow, wheat, cow, fallow wheat) meant that there were inherently different skills (cow heards, wheat harvesters) and this allowed for divisions of labour and economies of scale, that lead to the industrial revolution. Points to note At the time that Dr. Bray is refering to, the West is also very agrarian. The Western style of agriculture is even more cooperative than that of the Japanese, since the cow-herd and the wheat shearer depended upon each other and their cooperation in a large whole. The Japanese paddy field farmer does most things him/herself. The Westerners become more "unique" in that each has their own skill, whereas the Japanese become more alike. One could say therefore that Dr. Bray's book does come out in favour of a homogenous and in that sense collectivist society. In any event, it compares the social structure and economics of European and Asian societies effectively from a comparison of their agriculture. So it can be used perhaps to dispell the legacy of the axe weilding aryan hordes. All in all a very interesting book that deserves more press.