La modernización de la industria del alcohol en Tarragona, Ciudad Real, Navarra y Granada (1888-1950)

Resum

This paper analyses the process of modernization of the alcohol industry, one of the most traditional and widespread sectors of Spanish industry, between 1888 and 1953. The research reported in this work bases on administrative sources and assesses the effects of technological and commercial modernization on the distilleries of four provinces, each one of them representing one subsector of the alcohol industry. The main conclusion of this work is that modernization gave rise to a dualization within the distilling industry and to a diversity of problems and interests for which public regulation -changing though standardizing- became the only solution.