The historical event of the Great Divergence has been relentlessly approached by a considerable number of scholars, especially throughout the last decade. The answer to the question of which is the distinctive element of the Great Divergence, the one that sets it apart it from other forms of economic, social and cultural evolution that have transformed our world since the beginning of time, will differ depending on what group of historians you ask. For this reason precisely, it is crucial that each of us strives to clarify our response to the doubt of what it was that made this process so relevant to the centuries which came after it. In order to accomplish this, we must first delineate our views on Europe and Asia, erasing our former pre-conceived …show more content…
Moreover, there is a prevailing inclination to believe that anything stepping outside of our definition of modernity does not develop towards the better, or is simply not capable of it. Eurocentrism has played a huge role in a number of Great Divergence analyses, and led to the European concept of Western modernity to be put at the core of its explanation. I believe this is the essential point that we must make when taking a critical approach of the differences between Western and Eastern economic development from the eighteenth century onwards. Because of the new inventions that came along with the First Industrial Revolution, agricultural labor started to be viewed as “inferior”, a thing of the past that was now predominant only in areas less developed than Europe. Note the instantaneous association between European industrial development and modernity. This conception of, specifically, some parts of Asia having lagged behind in advancement stayed present throughout much of the following centuries. In part due to this unfolding of events, it is intriguing to currently analyze the relationship of constant competition between Western countries (now possibly even more represented by the US than Europe itself) and Asian economic giants such as China or Japan. Nevertheless, we will not forward deeper into these processes, as it would distance us from our main point of