Abstract
Before the Industrial Revolution itself, the industry was expanding in Europe both in total product as occupied labor. This expansion took place under a very different production regime that would characterize the Industrial Revolution. Franklin Mendels called this regime as proto-industry and argued that its development was a catalyst for the subsequent modern industrialization. Mendels thus created a line of research that has been developed and criticized by several authors. This work resumes protoindustrial theory and its major developments as well as reevaluates its criticism and its current heuristic power.
Keywords
Proto-industry; Industrialization; Rural Industry; Industrial Revolution; Putting-out System