In five pages this paper considers European society in terms of its definitive traits that have characterized the modern world including individualism, rationalization, constitutionalism, and capitalism. Five sources are cited in the bibliography.
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information on using this paper properly! It is difficult to imagine what the modern Western world would be like without the contributions of European society. It was Europe
which initiated the transition from the Medieval to the modern world, introducing distinctive concepts which have not only shaped contemporary society itself, but continue to influence perceptions about the roles
of people in society. Society is a construct of man, an intricate assemblage of rules and regulations. But it is man and his ideas that shape society, and
change it in unimaginable ways. Once upon a time, European society had been indistinguishable from any other. However, the ideas of an impressive succession of innovative thinkers and
visionaries throughout the centuries transformed what was once ordinary into something extraordinary, in terms of revolutionary contributions to economics and commerce, class structure, and political philosophy. In Medieval times, the
European economic structure was based on the mercantile system composed of guilds and merchants, which meant profits were concentrated in the hands of the few (Greer, 1977). During the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Italian merchants began exploring other economic options other than those they had learned from Middle East traders, which resulted in the creation of capitalism (Greer, 1977).
Transactions through the circulation of coins and paper commenced throughout Europe, and soon, banking and credit institutions were established, which encouraged entrepreneurial growth. The change from mercantilism to
capitalism wasnt dramatic; in fact according to Professor Richard Hooker, it was based upon the same principle. In mercantilism, goods were transported from one place to another and sold
for a profit; capitalism was "the large-scale realization of a profit by acquiring goods for lower prices than one sells them" (Hooker, 2001). Because profits had been so sharply