Charles Fourier's Socialist Thinking

The Industrial Revolution has been viewed as one of the most influential events to occur on to the economic world in the history of modern society. The invention of many new items that all helped people performed certain tasks more efficiently lead the world to be able to produce many more goods in a much shorter time frame. The impact of the Industrial Revolution on the world as a whole was that it catapulted the world economy into an almost frenzy like state, in which people had access to a much wider variety of goods and services offered to them by businesses. The impact that this event had on the worker’s life was not necessarily a good or bad thing, however. With

During this era, modern people were beginning to gain a voice while the Church was becoming less powerful and losing their control over everyone. Since people were gaining confidence and were allowed to live with some autonomy, they began to innovate ways to develop the world while minimizing effort and costs in the process. Examples of the innovations that took place were with Ben Franklin and his lightning rod, Watt’s and his steam engine, and many more that can be held on a large scale of importance and value, but in the end all of the developments led to the same result. That result was the betterment of the livelihood of all social classes whether one was poor or rich, which was all thanks to the efforts to increase productivity and minimize opportunity

After the introduction of new science and technology in France, a transformation of the social class structure of the 19th century occurred. The idea that this novel science and technology made a significant impact, the cause for the transformation, on social class structures after the Industrial Revolution in France is debatable. The mere thought that science and technology having any negative impact would be harsh criticism of today’s 21st century thinking. In an era that revolves around a want for an endless cycle of information and socializing, the thought of science and technology not being progressive and demoralizing is unheard of or denied. During the 19th century there was a push for progress or modernity- a transition from agricultural work to industrial work- this gave birth to many reforms and revolutions amongst social classes. The Industrial Revolution had brought a substantial improvement to the quality of life. To determine if science and technology had an influence on social classes, it is necessary to take into account how the new and “improved” quality of life, capitalism, and determinants of social classes due to new innovations affected the European people from the working class to the upper class. Using accounts found in diaries, letters, novels, and historical scholars ' work, this paper will demonstrate the initial presumption of how science and technology, thought

The Industrial Revolution brought about great changes in how goods were produced and consumed, but it also brought about social and political changes. Some were positive, such as machines relieving much of the toil previously placed on worker’s muscles. But there were also negative changes.

The Industrial Revolution began in England in the late 1700’s. The Industrial Revolution was a time of new inventions, products, and methods of work. The results of the Industrial Revolution led to many short and long-term positive and negative effects. These results have been assessed from many viewpoints such as the factory workers, the factory owners, the government, and other people who observed the conditions in industrial cities.

The introduction of this new technology and knowledge did not simply effect those that created or possessed the knowledge. Instead, it caused problems and raised issues among the common people of Europe which lead to their subsequent disapproval of the overall revolutionary phase. When the industrial revolution began to emerge, most people typically worked for themselves on a subsistence farm or as an apprentice. Their main goal was truly to take care of themselves and their families. When the change came around though, everything changed. Factories appeared and cheap labor was needed. Thus, workers began to flock towards cities in hopes of making it big at a factory. Sadly though,

The Industrial Revolution was a predominantly negative period in history, greatly affecting the lives of the poor working-class. Starting in 1750, rapid urbanization occurred, resulting in the higher and middle-class benefiting; but only because they were rich before it began. The working-class, however, became even more unfortunate as the era went on and were forced to become factory workers or miners. These men, women and children all faced harsh environmental factors, including the new technology of advanced machines and a shift in their family lifestyle.

Revolutionary socialist Karl Marx believed that the economic calculation problem should be solved adopting a communist approach; he expressed his ideas in his most notable work “The Communist Manifesto” in 1848. Marx believed that capitalism should be replaced by socialism and eventually communism and it should be done through abolishing markets, prices and private property. To understand Marx’s ideas it is important to define capitalism socialism and communism. Capitalism can be defined as ‘an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state’. On the other hand socialism can be defined as ‘a political and economic theory of social organization, which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole’.

Our author’s humble beginnings forged his socialist sentiment, he grew up poor, the son of an alcoholic father in New York City, but he also made regular visits to his more wealthy grandparents who were wealthy, it is from this contrast of wealth and poverty that his political orientation began to develop as he later admitted (Simkin). In 1902, he met other writers who advised him to read the writings of Karl Marx and other socialist writers he followed the advice and became active in the socialist movement (Simkin

The European ideas, moving into the beginning and middle of the 19th century, greatly shaped the Europeans’ response to the industrial revolution. There were also many social changes, inspired by the industrial revolution, which lead to much poorer living conditions. The abuses which common people endured ranged from being taken advantage of, to being forced into inhumane conditions. Along with these physical problems, it is apparent that the workers likely felt devalued, as they went from having physical products to sell to only being able to sell their labor. The fact that many workers were also unable to buy the simple goods they were producing created many problems and changed the social dynamic.

There were a few major ideas or movements that became increasingly popular in Europe in 1848. These ideas were very important in the Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx with the help of Frederick Engels. The first idea was socialism, which could be defined as: “an economic system based on collective ownership of the means of production, economic planning, and the equal distribution of goods and services.” In this new way of thinking, agriculture and manufacturing satisfied essentially all of humans wants and needs. According to the Manifesto, this new economic structure would lead to a shift in ownership of production from the bourgeois to the proletariat party. There would be no longer be a need for any set positions or responsibilities. Instead, there would be an emergence of the working class.

The workers of these factories men, women, and children were subjected to dangerous working conditions and unhealthy, crowded living conditions. The workers were not the only to suffer the effects of the Industrial Revolution, before industrialization most products were made by trained craftsmen, many of whom resided in rural areas. Factory production economically devastated the people of these areas, this would lead to a large movement of people from the country to the city in search of factory jobs, adding to the crowded conditions. Even then, employment was not guaranteed. And of the workers in the factories, there was no control of wages and there was dangerous lowering of wages as well as the long (sometimes up to 14-16 hours) working shifts without significant breaks. These conditions were the cause of factories’ focuses on maximizing profits as strong capitalistic enterprises. During the Industrial Revolution, political theorists of liberalism and socialism witnessed the potential negative effects of the capitalistic laissez-faire governments of England and other European nations at the time which highlighted these effects inside the

Not only did the bourgeoisie run the businesses, but also political matters. The power was shifting to the side of the owners, causing the gap between the proletariats and the bourgeoisie to grow bigger and bigger. The dominant force in Europe was actually creating a weapon without the realization of what they were doing. The labors, living conditions, and status of the proletariats created tension within the structure of the French society. The peasants even paid for the way of others, "it was on the peasants that all the abuses in the assessment

The Industrial Revolution was the quintessence of capitalistic ideals; it bred controversy that led to Karl Marx’s idea of communism as a massive grass roots reaction to the revolution’s social abuses. Firstly, the Industrial Revolution featured the construction of machines, systems and factories that allowed goods to be manufactured at a faster rate with a lower cost. The seed drill made it so there could be “a semi-automated, controlled distribution and plantation of wheat seed”(Jones 2013). Secondly, there was a great social and economic divide between the wealthy owners and the poor workers, which gave rise to the mass’s vulnerability to the advent of extreme socialism. Figures of authority severely oppressed their employees by giving them insufficient pay, a treacherous work environment, and even making some children work more than 12 hours per day (Cranny 150). Finally, far right capitalism created a brutal boom and bust cycle of economics that made, for the multitude at the bottom, a perpetual nightmare of poverty and death. People responded to this social situation by taking part in violent protests; oppression sires rebellion. The Industrial Revolution was the chassis of great imagination and progress of political, economic, and social force that still affects this world today.

The aims of this paper are to evaluate the effects the Industrial Revolution had on the wider world. This essay will be assessing the impact of technology and innovation on employment of the era, and how the factory system gave rise to socialism. In addition, it will be evaluating how the Industrial Revolution was the precursor to the phenomenon of consumerism and the resulting globalization.