EH.Net Abstracts in Economic History

                EHS Abstract Submission
                    (c) 1996 EH.Net
       -----------------------------------------------------------
              Name:  Richard N. Langlois
             Email:    Langlois at UConnVM.UConn.edu
       Institution:   University of Connecticut  
        
         Co-author: None 
 
             Title:  The Coevolution of Technology and
Organization in the Transition to the
Factory System
 
 Internet Address
of abstracted work:  http://www.lib.uconn.edu/Economics  

           By mail:  
                     Department of Economics U63
                     University of Connecticut
                     322 Monteith, 341 Mansfield Road
                     Storrs, CT  06269-1063 USA  
  
        Language:  English
 
          Abstract:
This essay is a reinterpretation of the debate over the origins
of the factory system.	In the end, it argues, the explanation
for the rise of the factory system lies in the realm of
organization, but not in the qualities of organization envisaged
by either the "radical" view or the transaction-cost view.
Drawing on the recent explanations of Clark and Lazonick, the
paper suggests that the explanation lies in the volume effect
rather than in the division-of- labor effect of increasing extent
of the market.	The essay closes with some musings on the logic
of both efficiency and exploitation in historical explanation.
 
Bibliography: Langlois, Richard N. "The Coevolution of Technology and
Organization in the Transition to the Factory System."	Paul L. Robertson, 
ed., _Authority and Control in Modern Industry_. London: Routledge (in
preparation).
 
Subject:  R
Geographical Area:  4
Country/Region:   Britain
Time Period:  7