The Industrial Revolution began during the 18th century as agricultural societies transitioned towards more industrialized and urban societies, spurred on by inventions such as cotton gin production and electricity - both revolutionary innovations that irreversibly changed society.
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Material standards of living increased, goods became more accessible at lower prices, and factory jobs opened up for previously rural people. However, working conditions often worsened drastically; many workers took on multiple shifts per week.
The Industrial Revolution
Innovation was at the core of the Industrial Revolution. This revolution transformed societies from agrarian and handicraft economies to industrialized nations with profound social ramifications. Historians disagree about the exact dates of the Industrial Revolution; most agree it began in Britain near the end of the 18th century and quickly spread. At this time, new manufacturing technologies like cotton mills and spinning jennys emerged to facilitate production. New energy sources like coal and steam also fueled technological advancements. Industrialization brought with it railroads that allowed goods to be transported efficiently over long distances; during this era banks and industrial financiers gained prominence.
As the Industrial Revolution continued, new technologies fueled increased production and efficiency in factories, allowing consumers to buy more products at reduced costs while opening new markets. But increased productivity wasn't always positive - people began working longer hours while factory conditions worsened further, leading to health concerns as well as labor movements throughout the world.
While the industrial revolution vastly improved life for most people, some were concerned it would uproot traditional values and lead to an alienating society made up of robots instead of humans. Films like Fritz Lang's sci-fi dystopia "Metropolis" and Charlie Chaplin's assembly line comedy "Modern Times" captured this fear for future workers who may be replaced with automatons.
The Industrial Revolution brought with it a class system that divided wealthy from working class individuals. As more and more people moved to urban centers to find employment in factories, living conditions deteriorated quickly - pollution became widespread; pollution contributed to widespread slums; poor working conditions were the norm and this increased unskilled labor led to organized labor movements emerging.
The Industrial City
The Industrial Revolution introduced new technologies and transformed urban life. This period marked a dramatic transformation in living and working practices that irrevocably altered society - as well as profound effects on economy, politics and culture.
Before the Industrial Revolution, most people lived a relatively simple lifestyle. Some worked for family businesses like farms or shops while many did piecework at home such as spinning textiles for merchant owners. With new machines and technologies like steam engines, spinning jennys and power looms revolutionizing manufacturing efficiency allowing goods to be mass produced on both local and global markets simultaneously.
Technological advances helped spur the establishment of industrial cities, which often featured factories and large companies. The Industrial Revolution marked a time of rapid economic expansion across Europe, the US and other parts of the globe; its rapid spread brought both challenges and opportunities.
As industrialization spread, factories and mills required more workers; this brought forth a surge of workers into society--the middle class. Prior to industrialization's spread there had only been two classes: aristocracy and low-income commoners. Industrialization's spread necessitated more white collar jobs such as bankers, lawyers, insurance agents merchants accountants managers doctors teachers.
The Industrial Revolution brought with it not only an increase in middle class population, but a remarkable increase in manufacturing productivity as a whole. This was mostly owed to advances in transportation as well as factories producing larger and more complex goods in factories; specifically railroad transportation became an invaluable means of moving goods from place to place and contributed greatly to economic production.
Industrialization was made easier through inventions like cotton gining and steam power that allowed businesses to increase production at greater economies of scale, leading to large industrial firms and, eventually, to modern American-style capitalism.
The Industrial Economy
The Industrial Revolution revolutionized societies, moving them away from agrarian economies towards production economies where goods are manufactured instead of grown or harvested by hand. This brought with it labor-saving inventions, increased production efficiency, reduced prices, new goods being made available at lower costs and higher wages - ushering Europe, United States and other parts of the world into modernity.
Industrial growth transformed family structures, job prospects, education and the environment in profound ways. Wealthier became wealthier while middle classes emerged and new technologies allowed people to travel further and faster than ever before.
Industrialization led to the creation of factories, mines, trains and other business enterprises that employed workers with machines for production processes. Capitalists who owned these enterprises accumulated wealth and power while workers sold their labor for wages despite often suffering long hours, illness, pollution and poor working conditions (Knight 2009). Even children were sometimes used in these operations ("Child Labor," 2009).
Scientific advances during the Industrial Revolution led to new machines and manufacturing techniques that propelled further industrialization and drastic changes to global landscapes and living environments. Cities expanded as factories moved closer to meet consumer demand. It also created new worlds filled with paved roads and railways, steam engines, iron steel production and electricity usage as well as chemical manufacturing.
Over time, the global economy shifted away from protectionist and mercantilist government policies toward more liberal laissez-faire approaches that encouraged foreign trade. Globalization led to service-based economies and high technology industries in developed nations; manufacturing continued as usual for export and to satisfy local demands in developing nations.
The Industrial Revolution led to the formation of universities and colleges, providing an avenue for educated classes to transition into manufacturing jobs. It also saw technological breakthroughs like assembly lines, telegraphs, sewing machines, X-rays, light bulbs and calculators emerge during this era - each contributing to creating a different type of world that has altered all societies and economies around the globe, for better or for worse.
The Post-Industrial Economy
Although most people associate industrialization with Europe's 18th-century economic surge, other regions - including Asia - also saw similar economic development. Industrialization brought with it modern economies where mass production of goods became the norm and an incredible middle class emerged that drove people from small farms and rural communities into cities where new industries provided employment.
With the proliferation of railroads, factories, coal-fired steam engines and other labor-saving inventions came an increase in production rates, leading to massive increases in consumer goods production - which in turn drove demand and drove population shifts. Factory workers faced long and demanding workdays; traditional labor protection mechanisms like guilds or mandated wage and price standards began dissolving.
Industrialization allowed a relatively few, wealthy business owners to control a great deal of economic life for the country, giving rise to a new form of capitalism that created entrepreneurs and middle classes with disposable income, but also produced large blue collar workers with few social options outside factories - it was an unrest-inducing period.
Sociologist Daniel Bell coined the term post-industrial society to refer to a social classification based on economic analysis. If manufacturing sectors no longer contribute significantly to gross domestic product (or pass a certain threshold of contribution to economy), such societies are considered post-industrial.
Many observers now use the term post-industrial to refer not only to specific forms of society but also a period in economic growth in which service industries overtake manufacturing as the dominant sector. This necessitates new ways of looking at economics.
Imagine our modern world without industrialization: it is hard to fathom. No one should underestimate its significance in human history, even though its effects may not always be apparent today.
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