Focusing on the great population movement of British emigrants before 1914, this book provides a new perspective on the relationship between empire and globalisation. It shows how distinct structures of economic opportunity developed around the people who settled across a wider British World through the co-ethnic networks they created. Yet these networks could also limit and distort economic growth. The powerful appeal of ethnic identification often made trade and investment with racial 'outsiders' less appealing, thereby skewing economic activities toward communities perceived to be 'British'. By highlighting the importance of these networks to migration, finance and trade, this book contributes to debates about globalisation in the past and present. It reveals how the networks upon which the era of modern globalisation was built quickly turned in on themselves after 1918, converting racial, ethnic and class tensions into protectionism, nationalism and xenophobia. Avoiding such an outcome is a challenge faced today.
Author(s): Gary B. Magee, Andrew S. Thompson
Edition: 1
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 315
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Figures......Page 10
Tables......Page 11
Preface......Page 13
Acknowledgements......Page 20
Abbreviations used in the footnotes......Page 23
Introduction......Page 25
Introduction......Page 46
Imperial networks......Page 50
Britishness at home and abroad......Page 54
A ‘British’ or an ‘Anglo-’ World?......Page 62
The British World economy......Page 64
Introduction......Page 69
Social capital......Page 70
Network dynamics......Page 75
Networks and the British World economy......Page 80
Conclusion......Page 85
Introduction......Page 88
The flows of migrants from Britain: an overview......Page 90
An empire effect?......Page 96
Networks and information flows......Page 102
Family networks......Page 106
Settler societies......Page 109
Emigration agents, railways, and shipping companies......Page 113
Charities......Page 117
Trade unions......Page 120
Migrant remittances......Page 121
Britishness......Page 129
Conclusions......Page 135
Introduction......Page 141
Exports and empire......Page 143
Official policy......Page 150
Trans-national networks......Page 157
Professional diasporas......Page 161
Patents systems......Page 167
Chambers of Commerce......Page 169
Exhibitions......Page 174
Britishness: cultures of consumption......Page 178
Conclusions......Page 190
Introduction......Page 194
An overview......Page 195
An imperial subsidy?......Page 200
Investors and the press......Page 209
Financial networks......Page 222
Social webs......Page 228
Britishness......Page 233
Institutional investment......Page 238
Commercial banks......Page 239
Insurance companies......Page 247
Conclusions......Page 253
Conclusion......Page 256
Parliamentary command papers and other officialr eports (british)......Page 269
Books and journal articles......Page 270
Secondary sources......Page 271
Index......Page 308
