"The Great Transformation" is a phrase used to describe the sum total of a collection of changes, possibly connected in their origin, that occurred in Europe from about 1700 to about 1900. A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... Events January 1 - Russia accepts Julian calendar. ... 1900 is a common year starting on Monday. ...

Though historians and social scientists would differ on an exact definition of the term, the two changes most central to the Great Transformation are the growth of modern market economies in economics, and in politics the development of the modern nation-states and a state-based system of international relations. Other changes potentially included would be the technological changes involved in the industrial revolution, advances in military technology and organization, and the expansion of the franchise and erosion of aristocratic privileges. Generally, the Great Transformation might be said to represent the development of modern society. A market economy is a term used to describe an economy where economic decisions, such as pricing of goods and services, are made in a decentralized manner by the economys participants and manifested by trade. ... This article is about the political concept. ... International relations (IR) is an academic and public policy field, a branch of political science, dealing with the foreign policy of states within the international system, including the roles of international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations (MNCs). ... The Industrial Revolution was the major technological, socioeconomic and cultural change in the late 18th and early 19th century resulting from the replacement of an economy based on manual labor to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture. ... Meanings of franchise: Full rights of citizenship given by a country or a town, especially suffrage (political franchise) In a wider sense: any right or privilege granted by constitution or statute. ... Aristocracy is a form of government in which rulership is in the hands of an upper class known as aristocrats. ...

The phrase was popularized by its use as the title of historian Karl Polanyi's 1944 book, The Great Transformation. In this book, Polanyi argued that the development of the modern state went hand in hand with the development of modern market economies and that these two changes were inexorably linked in history. His reasoning for this was that the powerful modern state was needed to push changes in social structure that allowed for a competitive capitalist economy, and that a capitalist economy required a strong state to mitigate its harsher effects. For Polanyi, these changes implied the destruction of the basic social order that had existed throughout all earlier history, which is why he emphasized the greatness of the transformation. His empirical case in large part relied upon analysis of the Speenhamland laws. Karl Paul Polanyi (Vienna October 21, 1886 - Pickering, Ontario April 23, 1964) was a Hungarian intellectual known for his opposition to traditional economic thought and his influential book The Great Transformation. ... 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Speenhamland was an English system of outdoor relief intended to mitigate rural poverty during the early 19th century. ...