单项选择题
| The Commercial Revolution was not
confined, of course, to the growth of trade and banking. Included in it also
were fundamental changes in methods of production. The system of manufacture
developed by the craft guilds in the later Middle Ages was rapidly becoming
defunct. The guilds themselves, dominated by the master craftsmen, had grown
selfish and exclusive. Membership in them was commonly restricted to a few
privileged families. Besides, they were so completely choked by tradition that
they were unable to make adjustments to changing conditions. Moreover, new
industries had sprang up entirely outside the guild system. Characteristic
examples were mining and smelting and the woolen industry. The rapid development
of these enterprises was stimulated by technical advances, such as the invention
of the spinning wheel and the discovery of a new method of making brass, which
saved about half of the fuel previously used. In the mining and smelting
industries a form of organization was adopted similar to that which has
prevailed ever since. But the most typical form of industrial production in the Commercial Revolution was the domestic system, developed first of all in the woolen industry. The domestic system derives its name from the fact that the work was done in the homes of industrial artisans instead of in the shop of a master craftsman. Since the various jobs in the manufacture of a product were given out on contract, the system is also known as the putting out system. Notwithstanding the petty scale of production, the organization was basically capitalistic. The raw material was purchased by an entrepreneur and assigned to individual worker, each of whom would complete his allotted task for a stipulated payment. In the case of the woolen industry the yam would be given out first of all to the spinners, then to the weavers, fullers, and dyer in succession. When the cloth was finally finished, it would be taken by the clothier and sold in the open market for the highest price it would bring. |