class 2.1 Flashcards
WHAT IS THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION?
Period primarily between 1750 and 1850 with significant changes in technology and industrial output
Rejection of the mercantilist economic system that operated during the first wave of colonialism
Rise in trade under mercantile system is a precursor to industrial revolution
–> Significant increase in raw materials flowing into Great Britain (and
elsewhere)
mercantilism
national wealth increases through exports
URBAN TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Modes of energy production
Mechanization of industry
URBAN IDEA CHANGE DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
- Capitalism]
- Competition
URBAN SOCIOECONOMIC CHANGE DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Creation of the factory system
Primacy of wage-based labour
Expansion of suffrage (right to vote)
Labour organizing
Impact on cities DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Rural-urban migration
Rapid population increase
Environmental and health harms
Housing need
infrastructure gaps
SOCIOECONOMIC & POLITICAL CHANGES OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Capitalist economic system gradually replaces mercantilism.
Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations in 1776 describing a new system of private ownership, division of labour, capital accumulation, and free trade.
Intellectual basis for rise of small/medium businesses and business-owning middle class
Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations” main ideas
Underpins much of the economic reforms of the industrial revolution:
- Specialized production
- Investing profits in mechanization
STEAM ENGINE AND THE URBANIZATION OF PRODUCTION
Uses coal and boiling water to create mechanical motion.
Replaces water mills and the need to locate production along waterways.
Boulton and Watt steam engine 1775 becomes a major source of power.
Allows companies to set up production facilities anywhere.
See factories emerging in cities.
SPINNING JENNY AND WAGE-BASED FACTORY LABOUR
Revolutionizes textile manufacturing.
Created by James Hargreaves in 1764.
Weaving moves from a specialized craft to wage-based work employing hundreds of people per factory.
Replaces the ”cottage industry” of skilled textile workers with factory production that can be operated by anyone.
NEW MODES OF TRANSPORTATION EXPAND MARKET ACCESS
Canals (1870s – 1930s)
Railways (1830s – 20th century)
Prior to the industrial revolution, what were most
people involved in?
agricultural production or specialized cottage industries.
Mills, factories and mines had to be located near running sources of water
with the modern factory system of production, where can factories be?
Now factories can locate anywhere – they get larger and move closer to towns and cities.
rapid urban population growth during industrial revoltuion
Britain shifts from an agrarian to urban country.
Factories move closer to cities, and people move closer to factories.
Firms cluster as they seek access to transportation hubs, capital, labour.
Urban growth shifts from just London to the north of England (Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield), Wales (Cardiff), and Scotland (Glasgow)
who benefits from industrial revolution?
Certainly see general improvements in welfare (e.g. child mortality rates, literacy rates)
However, we also see:
Ø Huge increase in income/wealth inequality
Ø Poor working conditions
Ø Labour exploitation
Ø High rates of unemployment
Ø Poor working class living conditions
POVERTY AND THE NEW WORKING CLASS by Engels
Engels argues that the industrial revolution has made workers (the industrial proletariat) worse off:
The new manufacturing economy is creating a more polarized class structure of rich and poor.
The manufacturing economy has a centralizing economy, drawing workers into towns and cities.
But the living conditions of the urban poor are horrendous – starvation, overcrowded slum housing, unsanitary streets, high homelessness.
THE MARXIST CRITIQUE
Karl Marx writes the second defining book of the industrial revolution – Capital published in 1867.
Critique of the economic system underlying capitalism and the political and legal systems that create it.
Argues that capitalism is predicated on exploitation – the bourgeoisie is protected at the expense of workers.
Predicts capitalism was collapse.
PROTEST MOVEMENTS
First efforts to unionize labour begin in the early 1800s.
Trade unions legalized in 1824 in Britain.
Cities as sites for labour mobilization and protest.
Largely excludes women (and children).
Luddites organized to protest textile manufacturing.
Luddite movement was formed by skilled textile workers displaced by factories.
Movement squashed with military force.
INCREMENTAL REFORMS TO ADDRESS SOCIAL UNREST
Britain responds with graduate expansion of voting rights that shifts balance of political power from rural to urban areas
reform act of 1867
representation of the People Act 1918
representation of the People Act 1928
reform act of 1867
extends voting rights to urban dwellers
maintains a property qualification that disqualifies 40% of men from voting
representation of the People Act 1918
property restrictions are lifted and all men over the age of 21 given the right to vote. Women over 30 years of age who own property are given the right to vote (about 40% of women)
representation of the People Act 1928
equal suffrage for men and women over the age of 21, no property restrictions
OVERALL CHANGES IN BRITAIN DURING INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Factories move into the cities
–> Large population growth in towns and cities. London becomes the first city to reach 2 million people.
–> Work becomes mechanized and demand for “unskilled” factory labour explodes
Challenges: Growing inequality between middle/upper classes and working class
Benefits: rising literacy, reduced infant mortality, rising standard of living for many
Harms: environmental and health impacts of industrialization
DECLINE IN AIR QUALITY
The industrial revolution is powered by coal.
At the beginning, Britain produced about 5.2 million tons of coal per year.
By 1850 coal production reaches 62.5 million tons per year.
Causes enormous air pollution, with terrible health consequences
