Pre industrial society criticism reply What I have said is academically correct but I did admittedly not cite references 1 May 2007 If it is valid then it needs a source to authenticate it as such Please consider WP NOR Thanks You could have a look for example at This is part of a larger Dutch research programme looking at the early modern period in the Netherlands and Europe Criticism of the concept In recent times many historians have argued that the popular concepts of pre industrial society must be qualified and relativised The reason is that many of the social and economic phenomena normally associated with industrial society commerce capital markets wage labour etc also already existed on a modest scale in many pre industrial societies like Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome 15th Century North Italy and 17th century Netherlands Moreover in merchant capitalism which preceded industrial capitalism within a largely feudal society capitalist trading activity existed without mechanised factories operated by wage labour Thus the development of capitalist markets in which more and more of the inputs and outputs of production are traded priced goods and services must be seen as a gradual process of evolution and industrialization as a process which occurs unevenly in space and time