Industrialization in Great Britain: A New Era

Changes began in the late of the 1700’s when power-driven machines began to replace the work people did. It took off in Great Britain. It began to influence other countries such as Europe and the United States. The Industrial Revolution could have only meant several things were coming to change human kid. Not only that, but it was going to leave the people in these countries affected in a negative and positive way. Britain enjoyed a significant economic and technological advantages during the early years of the Industrial Revolution. Not to mention, that there were several major modern political traditions untimely emerging out of the Industrial Revolution.

The topic I have chosen to discuss related to the last 400 years in Western Civilization is the industrial revolution in Britain. The industrial revolution was what created the modern capitalist system. Britain was the first to lead the way in this huge transformation. Technology changed, businesses, manufactured goods, and wage laborers skyrocketed. There was not only an economic transformation, but also a social transformation. The industrial revolution is such an interesting subject to further explore, because it truly made a difference in Britain in the late 1700s. The industrial revolution brought an increased quantity and variety of manufactured goods and even improved the standard of living for some individuals, however, it resulted in grim employment and living conditions that were for the poor and working classes. The industrial revolution had a bright and dark side to it. It was dark due to all the horrible working conditions, crowded cities, unsanitary facilities, diseases, and unsafe work environment, but the bright side is that it was a period of enormous social progress.

The Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was arguably the most important turning point in history. It transformed the manufacture of goods from craftsmanship to commercialism, exponentially increasing output and decreasing production cost leading to prosperity and an unprecedented supply of goods for the markets of the world. Industrialization and mass production was the fuel which ignited the flame of capitalism which was already established creating bringing sweeping changes in wealth and its distribution. Within a few generations the very fabric of society was virtually remade as millions left the farms and villages of the countryside for jobs in the cities. This monumental change did not immediately sweep

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.

From around 1750 to 1900 Britain went through major changes or transformation in industry, agriculture and transportation that affected everybody’s lives. For some it generally improved their lives, however not all were so lucky. The industrial revolution brought with it many changes good for some and bad for others.

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain during the late 1700s. It took place during the 18th and 19th centuries. Document 3 displays the look of the environment at the beginning of this shift in society. It is filled with smoky chimneys. Machines and factories led to great productions, such as new systems of transportation, more efficient communication, banking systems, a variety of manufactured goods, and an overall improvement of living. Britain was the perfect place for the Industrial Revolution to begin due to its coal and iron. Factories became a necessity because of the increase in demand for British goods (Staff, 2009). Before the Industrial Revolution, transportation consisted of wagons, led by horses. “In the early 1800s, American Robert Fulton built the first commercially successful steamboat” (Staff, 2009). Along

The Industrial Revolution was a huge turning point in history. The place where the Industrial Revolution began was in Great Britain because they had many natural resources and a strong economy. By the 1850’s many country villages had grown into industrial towns and cities, and their inhabitants bought food and clothing in stores that offered a large variety of machine-made goods. While some might argue that Industrialization had primarily negative consequences for society because of poor working conditions, it was actually a positive thing for society. Industrialization’s positive effects were transportation became more efficient, more jobs were available, and more inventions were created.

Since the beginning of man, the human race has gone through many changes throughout history. One of the most significant and critical changes was the Industrial Revolution of Great Britain. Characterized by the development of new manufacturing processes, the Industrial Revolution was a period between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that spurred extensive changes in almost every aspect of society. These changes stimulated a major transformation in the way of life and created a modern urban society based on industrial manufacturing and not agricultural production. The Industrial Revolution debuted in England because of changes in the textile industry and agriculture leading to a more stable economic platform, an ever-increasing demand for coal, and international success in the trading market, resulting in the development and improvement of daily

The Industrial Revolution was a revolution in every sense of the word, as it altered almost every aspect of live in the nineteenth century including technology, government, communication, environment and eventually society as a whole.1 Although industrialisation created many positives for modern society, for people in Britain up to the end of the nineteenth century it had many significantly negative consequences. With the long term advances made for society came the then current development of overcrowding cities abundant with pollution, health problems and poor living conditions for the working class. These poor conditions continued into the work place with young children exploited as workers as young as the age of four or five.2 There were consequences of the Industrial Revolution for people outside of the core of Britain. India, being the periphery in the model were exploited for their raw materials which were exported to Britain.

Many laborers worked over sixty hours a week, without any breaks. Unions were formed and demanded terms that workers today often take for granted, “8 hours work, 8 hours rest, 8 hours recreation” (Document #5). Regulation was slowly introduced by the government after backlash over lack of intervention. In order for a child to work, the child had to complete “his or her ninth year” of school, work no more than “twelve hours in...one day,” and “attend some school” (Document 4). Although these rules were a step forward, the government still needed to reform the wage gap and ensure that workers would be able to work in conditions that would not risk the lives of any workers.

The movement was one example where the working class converged to persuade the government to lessen their work hours. Although the 1833 Factory Act was a disappointment for the workers since it did not grant a ten-hour day, it did reduce the working hours for children. It also created allowed for the passing of the 1847 Ten Hours Act, which made it illegal to work more than ten hours a day. The combined effort of the working class became a relentless burden on the government as it became hard to ignore the demands of the people and they felt obliged to pass limited form to avoid further more violent

The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain did little to improve life for the common people; the Industrial Revolution negated the principle of Utilitarianism as seen through the lack of support given to the middle and lower classes. Although the Industrial Revolution may have provided work for the lower classes, the work required was dangerous and paid next to nothing. The Industrial Revolution also led to the creation of monopolies which prevented Adam Smith’s idea of a capitalist market driven by competition nearly impossible. Industrialization left many people poverty stricken and uneducated. The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain reduced living conditions in Great Britain through income inequality, the degradation of the environment,

     In mid-eighteenth-century England the industrial revolution was in full swing. However, workers lived near the level of physical subsistence, and their condition worsened in latter half of the eighteenth century. Monotony and repetition characterized factory work; the tyranny of the factory clock and the pace of the assembly line were beyond the control of all workers. The division of labor, praised by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations as the means to productivity growth and rising living standards, made work so routine that women and children could perform jobs just as easily as men. Business owners logically preferred such workers because they could be hired for less.

Before the Industrial Revolution, Great Britain’s economy relied heavily on agriculture, which at that point of time was based a flawed system dating back to the Middle Ages. This system, known as the open field system, showed agricultural inefficiencies, and was disallowing of innovation. These inefficiencies eventually led to the privatization of land for agriculture, in an effort to solve what is now commonly referred to as “the tragedy of the commons”. Great Britain was now moving forward, and as the country (and continent) began enclosing their land, Britain began a period of modernization, with new technologies that would increase productivity in industry to a level never before seen. This is the period commonly referred to as the Industrial Revolution, and was an era of unprecedented growth in industry from the middle of the 18th century until around the middle of the 19th century. In 1760, 53% of the British population worked in agriculture. By 1840, that had dropped to 29%. The evolution from water and wind power to steam engines, as well as the creation of many pieces of machinery for the textile industry (such as the Spinning Jenny, which reduced the production time on yarn) vastly improved British manufacturing of goods, and the reliance on agriculture continued to drop. The development from an agricultural focus

There is no doubt that the Industrial Revolution plays a central role in the modern British history. The structure of British society has forever changed by the impact and consequences of Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution is often stated as the increase of the number of factories, the exercise of steam power in a wide range of area and the mass-production produced by new technology in the course of 1750 to 1850 (Lane, 1978: 72). Engles (1986: 37) argued that the Industrial Revolution’s mainly development were the invention of the steam engine and the cotton industry. As the improvement of technology, the steam engine could produce more power with less