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The market economy we hold to be a universal fact of nature first appeared as a social phenomenon in London around the year 1600. From there its influence spread to cover the globe.
"In Third World societies before colonial rule and the infusion of Western systems, people lived in relatively self-sufficient communities planting rice and other staple crops, fished and hunted for other food, and supplied housing, clothing and other needs through small-scale industries which made use of local resources and indigenous skills. The mode of production and style of life were also in harmony with the natural environment. Political colonial rule - accompanied by the imposition of new economic systems, new crops, industrial exploitation of minerals and participation in the world market - changed the social and economic structures of Third World societies.
"The new structures, consumption styles and technological systems had become so in-built that after the attainment of political independence, the importation of Western values, products, technologies and capital not only continued but expanded. … Foundations, research institutions and scientists in the rich countries sponsored and carried out research on new 'Green Revolution' technologies which would 'modernize' the Third World - in other words create the conditions whereby the Third World would have to depend on the transnational companies for technology and inputs.
"In order to pay for the import of modern technology and inputs, Third World countries were forced to export even more goods, mainly natural resources like timber, oil and other minerals, and export crops which took up a larger and larger portion of total land area. Economically, financially and technologically, Third World countries were sucked deeper and deeper into what has proved to be the whirlpool of the world economic system. In the process the Third World has lost or is in the process of losing its indigenous products, resources and skills. Our peoples are losing their capacity for self reliance, their confidence, and in many cases the very resource base on which their survival depends. The world economic and technological systems are themselves facing crises. The Third World is now hitched onto these systems over which they have very little control." Martin Khor, "Development, Trade, and the Environment," in The Future of Progress, ed. by Edward Goldsmith, Martin Khor, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Vandana Shiva, et al. (1992; The International Society for Ecology and Culture, P.O. Box 9475, Berkeley, CA 94709): pp. 26-7.
Who are the real winners and losers in the economic development game? Is it really such a good idea for everyone to join in? (Remember the play Stop the World I Want to Get Off?) What are the impacts of this new social dispensation on Eastern Europe? On other cultures? On women? On the physical environment? On children?
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