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Descriptive Essay: The Industrial Revolution and its Effects

The Industrial Revolution was a time of great age throughout the world. It represented major change from 1760 to the period 1820-1840. The movement originated in Great Britain and affected everything from industrial manufacturing processes to the daily life of the average citizen. I will discuss the Industrial Revolution and the effects it had on the world as a whole.

The primary industry of the time was the textiles industry. It had the most employees, output value, and invested capital. It was the first to take on new modern production methods. The transition to machine power drastically increased productivity and efficiency. This extended to iron production and chemical production.

It started in Great Britain and soon expanded into Western Europe and to the United States. The actual effects of the revolution on different sections of society differed. They manifested themselves at different times. The ‘trickle down’ effect whereby the benefits of the revolution helped the lower classes didn’t happen until towards the 1830s and 1840s. Initially, machines like the Watt Steam Engine and the Spinning Jenny only benefited the rich industrialists.

The effects on the general population, when they did come, were major. Prior to the revolution, most cotton spinning was done with a wheel in the home. These advances allowed families to increase their productivity and output. It gave them more disposable income and enabled them to facilitate the growth of a larger consumer goods market. The lower classes were able to spend. For the first time in history, the masses had a sustained growth in living standards.

Social historians noted the change in where people lived. Industrialists wanted more workers and the new technology largely confined itself to large factories in the cities. Thousands of people who lived in the countryside migrated to the cities permanently. It led to the growth of cities across the world, including London, Manchester, and Boston. The permanent shift from rural living to city living has endured to the present day.

Trade between nations increased as they often had massive surpluses of consumer goods they couldn’t sell in the domestic market. The rate of trade increased and made nations like Great Britain and the United States richer than ever before. Naturally, this translated to military power and the ability to sustain worldwide trade networks and colonies.

On the other hand, the Industrial Revolution and migration led to the mass exploitation of workers and slums. To counter this, workers formed trade unions. They fought back against employers to win rights for themselves and their families. The formation of trade unions and the collective unity of workers across industries are still existent today. It was the first time workers could make demands of their employers. It enfranchised them and gave them rights to upset the status quo and force employers to view their workers as human beings like them.

Overall, the Industrial Revolution was one of the single biggest events in human history. It launched the modern age and drove industrial technology forward at a faster rate than ever before. Even contemporary economics experts failed to predict the extent of the revolution and its effects on world history. It shows why the Industrial Revolution played such a vital role in the building of the United States of today.

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Industrial Revolution

By: History.com Editors

Updated: March 27, 2023 | Original: October 29, 2009

The Industrial Revolution was a period of scientific and technological development in the 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies—especially in Europe and North America—into industrialized, urban ones. Goods that had once been painstakingly crafted by hand started to be produced in mass quantities by machines in factories, thanks to the introduction of new machines and techniques in textiles, iron making and other industries.

When Was the Industrial Revolution?

Though a few innovations were developed as early as the 1700s, the Industrial Revolution began in earnest by the 1830s and 1840s in Britain, and soon spread to the rest of the world, including the United States.

Modern historians often refer to this period as the First Industrial Revolution, to set it apart from a second period of industrialization that took place from the late 19th to early 20th centuries and saw rapid advances in the steel, electric and automobile industries. 

Spinning Jenny

Thanks in part to its damp climate, ideal for raising sheep, Britain had a long history of producing textiles like wool, linen and cotton. But prior to the Industrial Revolution, the British textile business was a true “cottage industry,” with the work performed in small workshops or even homes by individual spinners, weavers and dyers.

Starting in the mid-18th century, innovations like the spinning jenny (a wooden frame with multiple spindles), the flying shuttle, the water frame and the power loom made weaving cloth and spinning yarn and thread much easier. Producing cloth became faster and required less time and far less human labor.

More efficient, mechanized production meant Britain’s new textile factories could meet the growing demand for cloth both at home and abroad, where the British Empire’s many overseas colonies provided a captive market for its goods. In addition to textiles, the British iron industry also adopted new innovations.

Chief among the new techniques was the smelting of iron ore with coke (a material made by heating coal) instead of the traditional charcoal. This method was both cheaper and produced higher-quality material, enabling Britain’s iron and steel production to expand in response to demand created by the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) and the later growth of the railroad industry. 

Impact of Steam Power 

An icon of the Industrial Revolution broke onto the scene in the early 1700s, when Thomas Newcomen designed the prototype for the first modern steam engine . Called the “atmospheric steam engine,” Newcomen’s invention was originally applied to power the machines used to pump water out of mine shafts.

In the 1760s, Scottish engineer James Watt began tinkering with one of Newcomen’s models, adding a separate water condenser that made it far more efficient. Watt later collaborated with Matthew Boulton to invent a steam engine with a rotary motion, a key innovation that would allow steam power to spread across British industries, including flour, paper, and cotton mills, iron works, distilleries, waterworks and canals.

Just as steam engines needed coal, steam power allowed miners to go deeper and extract more of this relatively cheap energy source. The demand for coal skyrocketed throughout the Industrial Revolution and beyond, as it would be needed to run not only the factories used to produce manufactured goods, but also the railroads and steamships used for transporting them.

Transportation During the Industrial Revolution

Britain’s road network, which had been relatively primitive prior to industrialization, soon saw substantial improvements, and more than 2,000 miles of canals were in use across Britain by 1815.

In the early 1800s, Richard Trevithick debuted a steam-powered locomotive, and in 1830 similar locomotives started transporting freight (and passengers) between the industrial hubs of Manchester and Liverpool. By that time, steam-powered boats and ships were already in wide use, carrying goods along Britain’s rivers and canals as well as across the Atlantic.

Banking and Communication in the Industrial Revolution

In 1776, Scottish social philosopher Adam Smith , who is regarded as the founder of modern economics, published The Wealth of Nations . In it, Smith promoted an economic system based on free enterprise, the private ownership of means of production, and lack of government interference.

Banks and industrial financiers soon rose to new prominence during this period, as well as a factory system dependent on owners and managers. A stock exchange was established in London in the 1770s; the New York Stock Exchange was founded in the early 1790s.

The latter part of the Industrial Revolution also saw key advances in communication methods, as people increasingly saw the need to communicate efficiently over long distances. In 1837, British inventors William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone patented the first commercial telegraphy system, even as Samuel Morse and other inventors worked on their own versions in the United States.

Cooke and Wheatstone’s system would be used for railroad signaling, as the speed of the new steam-powered trains created a need for more sophisticated means of communication.

Labor Movement 

Though many people in Britain had begun moving to the cities from rural areas before the Industrial Revolution, this process accelerated dramatically with industrialization, as the rise of large factories turned smaller towns into major cities over the span of decades. This rapid urbanization brought significant challenges, as overcrowded cities suffered from pollution, inadequate sanitation, miserable housing conditions and a lack of safe drinking water.

Meanwhile, even as industrialization increased economic output overall and improved the standard of living for the middle and upper classes, poor and working class people continued to struggle. The mechanization of labor created by technological innovation had made working in factories increasingly tedious (and sometimes dangerous), and many workers—including children—were forced to work long hours for pitifully low wages.

Such dramatic changes and abuses fueled opposition to industrialization worldwide, including the “ Luddites ,” known for their violent resistance to changes in Britain’s textile industry.

Did you know? The word "luddite" refers to a person who is opposed to technological change. The term is derived from a group of early 19th century English workers who attacked factories and destroyed machinery as a means of protest. They were supposedly led by a man named Ned Ludd, though he may have been an apocryphal figure.

In the decades to come, outrage over substandard working and living conditions would fuel the formation of labor unions , as well as the passage of new child labor laws and public health regulations in both Britain and the United States, all aimed at improving life for working class and poor citizens who had been negatively impacted by industrialization.

The Industrial Revolution in the United States

The beginning of industrialization in the United States is usually pegged to the opening of a textile mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1793 by the recent English immigrant Samuel Slater. Slater had worked at one of the mills opened by Richard Arkwright (inventor of the water frame) mills, and despite laws prohibiting the emigration of textile workers, he brought Arkwright’s designs across the Atlantic. He later built several other cotton mills in New England, and became known as the “Father of the American Industrial Revolution.”

The United States followed its own path to industrialization, spurred by innovations “borrowed” from Britain as well as by homegrown inventors like Eli Whitney . Whitney’s 1793 invention of the cotton gin (short for “engine”) revolutionized the nation’s cotton industry (and strengthened the hold of slavery over the cotton-producing South).

By the end of the 19th century, with the so-called Second Industrial Revolution underway, the United States would also transition from a largely agrarian society to an increasingly urbanized one, with all the attendant problems.

By the mid-19th century, industrialization was well-established throughout the western part of Europe and America’s northeastern region. By the early 20th century, the U.S. had become the world’s leading industrial nation.

Effects of the Industrial Revolution

Historians continue to debate many aspects of industrialization, including its exact timeline, why it began in Britain as opposed to other parts of the world and the idea that it was actually more of a gradual evolution than a revolution. The positives and negatives of the Industrial Revolution are complex.

On one hand, unsafe working conditions were rife and environmental pollution from coal and gas are legacies we still struggle with today. On the other, the move to cities and ingenious inventions that made clothing, communication and transportation more affordable and accessible to the masses changed the course of world history.

Regardless of these questions, the Industrial Revolution had a transformative economic, social and cultural impact, and played an integral role in laying the foundations for modern society. 

Photo Galleries

Robert C. Allen, The Industrial Revolution: A Very Short Introduction . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007  Claire Hopley, “A History of the British Cotton Industry.” British Heritage Travel , July 29, 2006 William Rosen, The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention . New York: Random House, 2010 Gavin Weightman, The Industrial Revolutionaries: The Making of the Modern World, 1776-1914 . New York: Grove Press, 2007 Matthew White, “Georgian Britain: The Industrial Revolution.” British Library , October 14, 2009 

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Essay on Industrial Revolution

Students are often asked to write an essay on Industrial Revolution in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Industrial Revolution

What was the industrial revolution.

The Industrial Revolution was a big change in how things were made. Before, people made goods by hand at home. Then, machines in big buildings called factories started doing this work. This change began in Britain in the late 1700s and spread to other countries.

Changes in Technology

New machines could spin thread much faster than by hand. The steam engine was also invented. This could power machines and move trains and ships. These inventions made making things and moving them around quicker and cheaper.

Impact on People

Many people left farms to work in factories in cities. Life became hard for these workers. They worked long hours for little money. But, more goods were made, and over time, people’s lives improved as new jobs were created.

Global Effects

The Industrial Revolution changed the world. Countries with factories got rich and powerful. They used resources from other places to make goods. This led to big changes in trade and made some countries very wealthy.

The Industrial Revolution was a major event that changed how we make things, live, and work. It started over 200 years ago, and its effects are still felt today. It made life better for many, but also created new challenges.

Also check:

• Advantages and Disadvantages of Industrial Revolution

250 Words Essay on Industrial Revolution

What was the industrial revolution.

The Industrial Revolution was a big change in the way things were made. Before this time, people made goods by hand at home or in small shops. Around the late 18th century, this changed. Machines began to do the work in big factories. This started in Britain and then spread to other parts of the world.

Changes in Industry

Machines could make things faster and cheaper than humans could by hand. This meant more products could be made and more people could buy them. Steam engines powered these machines, and coal was the fuel. This led to a rise in coal mining and iron production.

Life During the Revolution

Because of factory work, cities grew as people moved there for jobs. This was a big shift from life on farms. Working in factories was hard, and many worked long hours for low pay. The air and water got dirty from the factories, too.

Impact on Society

The Industrial Revolution changed life a lot. Travel became easier with trains and steamships. Communication got better with inventions like the telegraph. People’s lives improved with new goods and technology. But, there were also bad parts, like child labor and pollution.

The Industrial Revolution was a time of big changes in the way we make and buy things. It made life better in many ways, but also brought challenges. Today, we still feel its effects in our daily lives and the way our world works.

500 Words Essay on Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a time of big change in how people worked and lived. It started in the late 1700s and went on until the early 1800s. Before this period, most goods were made by hand, and people lived in small villages and worked on farms. But during the Industrial Revolution, machines began to do the work that people and animals used to do. This change began in Britain and then spread to other countries, including the United States and parts of Europe.

New Inventions

One of the most important parts of the Industrial Revolution was the creation of new machines. These machines could make things faster and cheaper than before. For example, the spinning jenny allowed one worker to make several threads at the same time, and the steam engine could power different kinds of machines. Because of these inventions, factories were built where many machines could work together. This was much different from the old way of making things at home or in small workshops.

Life in Factories

With factories, the way people worked changed a lot. Instead of making goods at their own pace at home, workers had to follow a strict schedule in the factories. They worked long hours and often in tough conditions. Many workers moved from the countryside to cities to find work in these new factories. This led to cities growing very fast and becoming crowded.

Transportation Changes

The Industrial Revolution also changed how goods and people moved from place to place. The steam locomotive made it possible to build railways, which could transport goods and people much faster than horses and carts. Ships also got steam engines, which made travel across oceans quicker and easier. This meant that goods could be sold far away, and it was easier for people to move to new places.

The Industrial Revolution had a big impact on society. It made some people very rich, especially those who owned the factories. But many workers lived in poor conditions and did not get much money. Over time, this led to new laws to protect workers and improve their lives.

Children also worked in factories, and this led to laws about child labor. Education became more important, and more children went to school instead of working.

Changes in Agriculture

Farming also changed during the Industrial Revolution. New machines like the seed drill and the mechanical reaper made farming more efficient. This meant fewer people were needed to work on farms, so they went to work in the factories instead.

The Industrial Revolution was a time of great change. It made life different in many ways, from how people made things to how they lived and worked. It was not always easy or good for everyone, but it led to the modern world we know today. We still feel the effects of these changes in our daily lives, as the new ways of making and doing things that started back then continue to shape our world.

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Home — Essay Samples — History — Industrial Revolution — Positive and Negative Effects of the Industrial Revolution

Positive and Negative Effects of The Industrial Revolution

• Categories: Industrial Revolution

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Words: 715 |

Published: Sep 5, 2023

Words: 715 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Positive effects: technological advancements and economic growth, negative effects: harsh working conditions and exploitation, positive effects: urbanization and social mobility, negative effects: environmental degradation, positive effects: advances in education and medicine, negative effects: social inequalities and class struggles.

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The Industrial Revolution in America

This essay about the Industrial Revolution in America explores its origins and progression, highlighting key innovations and societal changes. It discusses the transformative impact of the American Revolution and examines the rise of industries such as textiles and transportation. Despite challenges like harsh working conditions, industrialization propelled America to unprecedented economic prosperity by the mid-19th century. Through technological innovation and entrepreneurship, the nation emerged as a global industrial powerhouse, shaping modern society in profound ways.

How it works

Industrial shock in America stands so as one yields processing période in national history, catalyzes économiques, social, and technological enormous advancements. While historians discuss a choice time his exact beginning, widely sanctified, that seed industrialization was sown in investigation American revolution. It essay inhales to investigate moments and central postmen, that affected despite introduction and moving forward industrial shock in America. American revolution, moves from 1765 at first 1783, marked not at all above all bend in American history. Newfound independence from the British line not only defined political changes and ideological and and put foundation for an economic appeal.

With moving colonial limitations and constitution republican government, the American associations of businessmen were the greater given autonomy, to innovate and to keep on trot economic efforts. It newfound freedom placed a stadium for an increase industry in one dismisses he country. 18 – ?? and century 19 – ?? a move beginning testified the gradual transferring from economies agraire-basées despite industrialized that. Only from the earliest indicators industrialization in America was mechanization agriculture. Innovations so as for example cotton gin Whitney Eli, patented in 1794, revolutionized cotton making, does this personnel and profitable. This innovation not only transformed south economy, and and put foundation for an increase industrial making. Simultaneous, advancements in a transfer frisked an in critical role lumber-room industrial increase. Construction channels, so as for example channel Erie, completed in 1825, assured, vital encumber he between areas middle west and centers a bank is municipal agricultural. It transfer the cleared infrastructure dropped a cost one the shop-windows depart and materials, so encourages trade and trade. However, it was a textile increase, that on present tense ushered era industrialization in America. Constitution textile mills in a novice England, driven voiture started, marked an above all care from handicraft courses making traditional. Innovateurs in manner from Francis dog Lowell did modern the use professions in weaves power and mechanized an equipment spinning, conducts despite a wave in a textile production. This moving on the founded setting despite making on a factory not only increased effectiveness, and and put foundation for the system, that dominate above American industry in years, to arrive factory. Industrial shock in America except that moved innovations and spirit entrepreneurship technological. Invention engine, added persons in manner from James watt and later improved Robert fulton, revolutionized transfer and making. Locomotives and steamboats avancer-renforcées unloaded advancement shop-windows and people rapid, opens new markets and manages economic expansion.

Except that, increase stakes, deficit persons in manner from Whitney Eli interchangeable rapid, revolutionized manufacturing processes, conducts despite effectiveness and greater standardization. This concept, celebrates so as system making American, frisked an in critical role making shop-windows and increase massive industry through well-assorted natural habitats. Industrial shock too brought from public deep changes, include an increase urbanization and appearance working new employments. Because factories germinated in municipal centers, migrated rural populations in searches possibilities employment. This impulse labour force supplied a fuel increase cities and led despite a display industrial centers so as for example Lowell, Massachusetts, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However, side sideways possibilities were present industrialization arrived above all appeals, include working terms and business exploitation hard. Factory workers, often included women and children, fortified train long hours for subzero payments in risky environments. Business advancement appeared ? answer for this injustices, quarrel for terms work, payments, and right to inspire just cleared. In vexation from this criticisms, industrial shock in America in eventual addition moved nation on setting despite unprecedented economic expansion and global influence. Mid-19th century, actual unis appeared so as leading industrial authority, competes industrial smog European nations. Abundance methods, enterprise spirit foncières, and a technological innovation supplied a fuel continuous increase and innovation. ? conclusion, industrial shock in America was one yields processing période, that co-ordinated an aspect economy, society, and national culture novice. Appears in investigation American revolution, industrialization managed an innovation, entrepreneurship technological, and mimiced dynamic social. While industrial shock brought from appeals and above all criticisms, his durable inheritance continues to bring up the world of contemporary. From mechanization agriculture despite an increase making based on a factory, influence industrialization in America remains cave every society in an aspect.

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Industrial Revolution’ Process and Challenges Essay

Introduction, causes of industrial revolution, technological developments, effects of industrial revolution, works cited.

The period of eighteenth century was characterized by several developments in Europe. One of the key developments during this period was industrial revolution. Industrialization began in the second phase of eighteenth century. “Industrial Revolution was a period from 18 th to the 19 th century when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the socio economic and cultural conditions of the times” (Hudson 3).

Britain took a lead in Industrial Revolution and from this place it spread to other nations in Europe. The idea of industrialization later spread to North America and it eventually reached Asia and Africa. Industrial revolution brought drastic changes which influenced many aspects of mankind. For instance, there was a remarkable population growth and the level of economic production also improved. The mode of production also changed. In this case there was a shift from the use of human labor to the use of machines and modern tools.

Several factors accounted for the onset of industrial revolution in Britain and they include the following. Availability of raw materials from the colonies overseas boosted industrial production in Britain. The British government had established several colonies and it always exploited them economically.

For example, Britain got many raw materials from India which served as one of its prime colonies. Britain was also endowed with a lot of natural resources. For example, it had minerals like iron, tin, and copper. In addition to these, it had coal which was used for driving engines in the factories (Licht 23).

Availability of capital enabled Britain to invest in industries. Capital was derived from many sources. For example, they generated revenues from colonies inform of taxes. Part of this revenue was invested in industrial production of goods. Financial markets also provided loans to entrepreneurs.

Political stability also kept Britain safe from social economic upheavals. In 18 th century a wave of nationalism was quickly spreading in many territories in Europe. Unlike other European countries that had political instability, Britain remained politically stable for a long time. The peaceful environment therefore gave the investors enough confidence to participate in economic investments. Britain had a strong naval power which insulated it from external invasions that would probably interfere with its investments.

Agrarian revolution that preceded industrial revolution was also an important factor in the sense that it boosted the production of agricultural raw materials. For example, cash crops and dairy products promoted the development of agriculturally based factories.

Availability of efficient modes of transportation enabled Britain to participate actively both in local and international commerce. Britain developed good transportation networks. For example, it had good sea transport that made it possible for it to import raw materials, and at the same time it exported finished products to overseas markets. Road and railway networks were also constructed in Britain and they facilitated the supply of raw materials to factories, and finished goods to markets.

Scientific revolution introduced new concepts and skills. During the18 th century many people were preoccupied with making new discoveries which led to the invention of several machines and tools. In addition to these factors, trade also played a decisive role in this process.

Since there existed a high demand for the new finished products trading activities also increased and several products were transported to overseas markets. The finished goods fetched good prices in the international markets. The sale of goods overseas improved profit margins of the industries. The profits were further reinvested in industrial development.

The invention of the modern machines and other items was not a simple process as many people may think. It was a gradual process which was characterized by a series of experiments that were conducted over a long period of time.

The scientists and entrepreneurs who are today accredited for these inventions faced myriad challenges. Some of them even died in the process of conducting the experiments. In some cases they even faced criticism from individuals who were opposed to them. During the industrial revolution many items were invented and they included the following.

First, there was improvement of machines. The making modern tools encouraged the development of factory equipment. Chemicals such as acids and alkalis were produced and they facilitated the manufacturing of other items. “Steam power was used both in mines and in factories” (Hudson 150). The textile industry was among the first mechanized factories. This was done through the construction of the spinning jenny.

Social Effects

One of the social developments that emerged during this period was urbanization. Most of the places that had industries attracted huge populations and social amenities were also developed. This is because many people went looking for labor in factories. Urban centers therefore emerged. For example, Manchester city emerged because of industrialization (Engels 134).

Child labor became wide spread because of many reasons. Education opportunities were still minimal at this time and many children were given the responsibility of working. Children were often exploited by employers and they were paid very little money compared to adults, for equal work done.

Since child labor was more economical, many employers used it and it was quite common especially during the early period of industrialization. Poor working conditions coupled with long working hours really affected the health of children. Some of them contracted fatal diseases, while others were hurt in the factories. Most of them ended up dying at an early age.

Housing units for the industrial workers were inmost cases very poor. Many people who worked in the industries lived in deplorable conditions. They mostly lived in crowded slums which did not have basic social services. The squalid conditions in the slums often led to perennial outbreak of diseases like cholera which claimed many lives. Because of these problems strikes and job boycotts were prevalent among the workers who demanded for better services and working conditions.

Loss of labor also occurred with the invention of new machines. People who worked as artists or weavers lost their jobs considerably because they could not compete with machines. These led to serious protests against industrialists. The attackers were called luddites.

Trade unions were formed out of the need to come up with a bargaining power. The trade unions always served the interests of the workers and they aimed at making working conditions better. For example, they could bargain for the improvement of working conditions.

The standards of living generally varied depending on an individual’s social class. People who had meager wages led miserable lifestyles, while those who had stable incomes had improved lifestyles because they could buy new goods. The employers generally enjoyed life because they had a lot of resources.

Economic Effects

Industrial Revolution uplifted the economy of Britain and it emerged as the richest country in the 18 th century. Since it got a lot of income from trade, it was able to expand its investments to other territories. Banks and other financial institutions developed tremendously. However, there was a huge economic set back in the colonies which were over exploited by the colonialists.

Political Effects

Industrial revolution was characterized by capitalism which brought about saturation of markets due to over production which could not much the level of demand. As the markets for goods reduced, trade barriers were introduced by various countries in order to safeguard their markets. European powers therefore had to seek colonies in order to get more markets. “This is what led to colonization of Africa and Asia in the 19 th century” (Hudson 189).

Industrial revolution was a gradual process which was affected by many challenges. Industrial revolution indeed brought many improvements in the life of mankind. This process did not come to an end at the beginning of the new century, but it continued spreading to other places.

Today many countries still strive to achieve their long term dream of getting industrialized. Sophisticated items and machines are currently being invented. I therefore envisage a better future for the human race because of the high rate of technological advancement.

Engels, Friedrich. The condition of the working class in Britain. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Hudson, Pat. The industrial revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Licht, Walter. Industrializing America: the nineteenth century (the American moment). New York: Wiley, 1995.

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IvyPanda. (2023, December 25). Industrial Revolution’ Process and Challenges. https://ivypanda.com/essays/industrial-revolution-3/

"Industrial Revolution’ Process and Challenges." IvyPanda , 25 Dec. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/industrial-revolution-3/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Industrial Revolution’ Process and Challenges'. 25 December.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Industrial Revolution’ Process and Challenges." December 25, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/industrial-revolution-3/.

1. IvyPanda . "Industrial Revolution’ Process and Challenges." December 25, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/industrial-revolution-3/.

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Industrial Revolution began in 17th not 18th century, say academics

Researchers find shift from agriculture to manufacturing first gained pace under Stuart monarchs

The Industrial Revolution started more than 100 years earlier than previously thought, new research suggests, with Britons already shifting from agricultural work to manufacturing in the 1600s.

Seventeenth century Britain can be understood as the start of the Industrial Revolution , laying down the foundations for a shift from an agricultural and crafts-based society to a manufacturing-dominated economy, in which networks of home-based artisans worked with merchants, functioning similarly to factories.

The period saw a steep decline in agricultural peasantry and a surge in people who manufactured goods, such as local artisans like blacksmiths, shoemakers and wheelwrights, alongside a burgeoning network of home-based weavers producing cloth for wholesale, according to University of Cambridge research .

Textbooks typically mark the Industrial Revolution as beginning around 1760, when mills and steam engines proliferated and technologies such as the spinning jenny were created, yet according to the most detailed occupational history of a nation ever created – built from more than 160m records and spanning over three centuries – the UK was emerging as the world’s first industrial powerhouse during the reign of the Stuarts.

The University of Cambridge’s Economies Past website uses census data, parish registers, probate records and more to track changes to the British labour force from the Elizabethan era to the eve of the first world war.

Prof Leigh Shaw-Taylor, the economic historian who led the project, said: “A hundred years has been spent studying the Industrial Revolution based on a misconception of what it entailed.

“By cataloguing and mapping centuries of employment data, we can see that the story we tell ourselves about the history of Britain needs to be rewritten.

“We have discovered a shift towards employment in the making of goods that suggests Britain was already industrialising over a century before the Industrial Revolution.”

In fact, by the early 1800s, when William Blake was writing of “dark satanic mills”, many parts of Britain were even deindustrialising as manufacturing declined in favour of coal mining, the researchers discovered.

In the 19 th century the service sector almost doubled in size – a boom often thought to have begun closer to the 1950s – which spurred growth that has continued for nearly 300 years. These included sales clerks, domestic staff, professionals such as lawyers and teachers, as well as a huge increase in transport workers on the canals and railways.

“The question of why the industrial age dawned in Britain is a much-debated one, with coal, technology and empire all major factors,” said Shaw-Taylor.

“Our database shows that a groundswell of enterprise and productivity transformed the economy in the 17 th century, laying the foundations for the world’s first industrial economy. Britain was already a nation of makers by the year 1700.”

The website sheds light on changes in the workforce. It observes that as much of Europe languished in subsistence farming, male agricultural workers in Britain fell by over a third (64% to 42%) from 1600 to 1740. At the same time, from 1600 to 1700, the share of the male labour force involved in goods production rose by 50% to reach 42% of all men.

This means that the share of the British labour force working in manufacturing rather than agriculture was three times that of France by 1700, Shaw-Taylor calculated. “The English economy of the time was more liberal, with fewer tariffs and restrictions, unlike on the continent,” he noted.

Adding pre-19 th century data for female workers is a major next step for the project, though the researchers estimate that labour force participation for adult women was between 60% and 80% in 1760, and went back down to 43% by 1851, only returning to mid-18 th century levels in the 1980s.

The website also allows users to track rates of child labour after 1851. For example, the booming textile mills of Bradford saw huge numbers of young girls put to work, with over 70% of girls aged 13 and 14 working in 1851. Sixty years later, this figure was still over 60%.

Over 40% of girls in Bradford aged 11-12 were also working in 1851, but this had fallen to nearer 10% by 1911, by which time education had been made compulsory for young children.

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Effects of the industrial revolution

Updated 13 November 2023

Subject Workforce ,  History of The United States

Downloads 57

Category Economics ,  History ,  Sociology

Topic Industrial Revolution

Industrialization

Industrialization refers to the period during which textile manufacturing, transportation, and agricultural activities were mechanized alongside a change of power which encompassed economic and cultural conditions, railroads and ships development (James-Chakraborty, 257). The industrial revolution began in Britain at the end of late 18th century providing a roadmap through which nations in the North American and Western Europe were industrialized. Industrialization brought with it a lot of social development manifested by the creation of a free labor market through abolishing customary obligations and labor feudal. The industrial revolution was facilitated by factors such as the revolution in agriculture in Britain, technological innovations and availability of coal and iron, while improved working conditions, improved standards of living and urbanization were some impacts of the industrial revolution which highly relates with sociology.

What led to the industrial revolution?

First, technological innovations are of the factors that led to the industrial revolution. Britain was famous for cotton, and woolen textile was woven manually, but the cotton type of cloths had more merit over the woolen ones. Cotton was relatively stronger, cheaper, and easier to color than woolen fabrics. However, the cold climate of Britain and the shortage of labor force hindered cotton growth and there Britain imported cotton from India. Frame jenny was invented in 1769 and influenced the implementation of the first weaving plant the enabled conversion of raw material to finished cloth — this then paved the way for the factory system, which was the stepping stone for the revolution of industries (Maw, 758).

Second, the availability of iron and core in Britain had a contributive effect toward industrial revolution. Before the industrial revolution core was the primary source of fuel and much of it was required to melt iron ore and in transportation among other uses. When an engine powered by coal was invented raised demand for coal and this made it necessary to improve coal mining techniques. The mining of coal in Britain made it the world largest producer of coal and had the biggest coal industry. Availability of stronger and cheaper coal it Britain made it able to start and run major industries like steam engines, shipbuilding construction, railroads and tools (Maw, 789).

Third, the sound transport system in Britain is another factor wish facilitated the industrial revolution. In the late 17th century and early 18th century, Britain economy was low and could not finance for the development of the transport system. In the late 18th century the Britain economy rose to build up pressure for roads and a group of people known as Turnpike mandated to maintain highways and receive toll as the pay for their services. In the early 19th century the Britain government took control of transport system and built many railways and canals accompanied with powering the transport industry with coal which made the progress of industrial revolution possible (Maw, 841).

First, the industrial revolution led to the improvement of working conditions. Before the industrial revolution, the newly employed staff did not have bargaining power with their new bosses because the population was growing very fast in Britain making many people flock in town in search for jobs. Employees were neither provided with protective gears nor medical cover and thus it was their duty to watch out on their safety. After industrialization, the government of Britain passed the law that required employees to have a fair pay, safe working condition and medical cover catered for by the employer (O'Brien, 29).

Second, the industrial revolution led to the improvement of living stands in Britain. According to James-Chakraborty (265), before the industrial revolution, people in Britain lived in their local area, and life was simple and relied on agriculture for the living since there were nor employment opportunities in the towns. Most people were their bosses since many relied on weaving, raising animals, and setting up small shops as their sources of money. This effect relates with sociology since after the industrial revolution, many factories were started in town, and the substantial number of skilled and unskilled relocated to cities where they lived decent life with furnished houses and predictable source of income since most of the experienced people were employed in the factories (O'Brien, 35).

Third, industrialization led to urbanization in Britain. In pre-industrial period many people in their local areas depending on agricultural activities, while others operated small shops selling the household item as their means of surviving. This effect created a sociological impact on many since people moved from their local area and other from the countryside to the small towns which later grew big cities. The cities continue growing with more industries being set up to absorb the rapidly growing labor force in the market. The urbanization process triggered the start of many industries though locating factories and workers together (O'Brien, 43).

Industrial evolution is the process by activities like transportation, weaving and agricultural activities slowly changed from simply operated to mechanized form. Availability of iron and core in Britain, innovation in technology and availability of sound transportation system led to the industrial revolution. Through the industrial revolution, working conditions improved where employees could get fair pay, medical cover paid by their employers and provided with safety gears when working in the factories. Factories set up in the industrial revolution led to the growth of cities attracting people to move from their local area in search of employment opportunities and have better living standards.

James-Chakraborty, Kathleen. “The Industrial Revolution.” Architecture since 1400, University of Minnesota Press, 2014, pp. 255–272. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctt9qh39w.21.

Maw, Peter. “Canals, Transport and the Industrial Revolution in Manchester.” Transport and the Industrial City: Manchester and the Canal Age, 1750–1850, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2013, pp. 229–266. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt21216kz.14.

O’Brien, Patrick K. “Deconstructing the British Industrial Revolution as a Conjuncture and Paradigm for Global Economic History.” Reconceptualizing the Industrial Revolution, edited by Jeff Horn et al., MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England, 2010, pp. 21–46. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hhgdm.6.

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