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.
The Industrial Revolution was a period from 1750 to 1850 where agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and technology went through a period of significant change. These changes had a profound impact on the social and cultural conditions of the time, beginning in the Untied Kingdom and spreading throughout Western Europe, North America, and
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The textile factory system of the United Kingdom was mainly located around the areas of Greater Manchester and the towns of Pennines and Lancashire. These areas would become the bedrock of the textile industry in Britain, as Rosen states: ‘The true industrialization of Britain, and subsequently, the world, depended on a commodity that could attract consumers not by the thousands, but the millions’ . A commodity, like, for example: cotton.
The textile industry, which came to make up the majority of Britain’s factory system, was going through a period of substantial change. The pre-industrial cloth industry, consisting mainly of wool, was organized on the domestic system by using hand-powered machinery. By 1850, this system was giving way to steam power and the factory system, and the primacy of wool was replaced with the primacy of cotton . The invention of James Hargreaves’ ‘Spinning Jenny’ and Richard Arkwright’s ‘Water Frame’ had already revolutionized the textile industry, however, the development of the ‘Mule’, so-called because it was a cross between the Jenny and Water Frame, by Samuel Crompton, led to the rapid establishment of many cotton mills. The ‘Mule’, which incorporated the steam engine to increase its output, would produce seven times as much cloth as hand operated looms. This led many employers rushing to replace male hand weavers with machines, as noted by Richard Guest in his 1823 publication Compendium History of Cotton-Manufacture: ‘the same
British cotton textile industry grew into the worlds most productive; its railway network became the nation’s principal means of inland transportation and communication; and a new fleet of steam-powered ships enabled Britain to project its new productivity and power around the globe.
Short staple cotton could not be grown in England, but England needed cotton to make clothes, bed sheets, etc., but couldn’t produce enough cotton on their own. England started buying cotton from the South or would trade goods in exchange for cotton. Other inventions that contributed to trades with Britain during the Industrial Revolution include Joseph Eve’s cotton roller, James Hargreaves’ spinning jenny, and James Watt’s invention of steam power which was used in textile production.
Manchester, often referred to as "Cottonopolis," displayed the industrial prowess of the 19th century with its expansion of textile mills and factories. This surge in industrial activity not only attracted a burgeoning population but also reshaped the urban landscape, leading to unparalleled urbanization and demographic shifts. Document 5, written in 1843 amidst industrial expansion, presents an optimistic narrative, depicting improved living standards in certain communities, symbolic of the potential benefits of industrialization. Conversely, Document 6, from 1844, reveals the stark realities faced by many industrial workers, condemning injustices and advocating for reform. Together, these documents underline the multifaceted effect of industrialization on living conditions, offering a nuanced perspective that aligns with the thesis.
In the 19th century, America saw major expansions and technological advances that paved way for the grand expansion of agriculture that boosted the nation’s economy. Regardless of the fact that Great Britain had tried to keep secrets regarding machinery and inventions, most of America’s advances were propelled by inventions such as the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793, steel plow by John Deere, railway, steamboats, telegraph, and canals. In addition, technology’s profound effect on agriculture also led to the rise of the textile industry whereby factories produced materials such as cotton thread and cloth. Many of these initial factories are recognized in historical texts, but the Lowell factory system is one that is famous – precisely the
Just because of the industry system, factory owners have an inner drive to despite everything expand the production scale just to earn more profit and this can be implemented and amplified with machines - material strength. Therefore, in the 1830s, textiles were built in an astonishing speed. “The ships of the English swarm like flies; their printed calicoes cover the whole earth”. Not only did occurred frantically build factories, they also invested to build railroads. In a hundred years of industrial revolution, just as Marx
The Industrial Revolution marked a time in history when advancements in technology proceeded to transform the industries and lifestyle of Europeans. Between the steam engine for factories, to the telegraph for communication, the people of the time benefitted from the new progress in society. Factories began producing
“The cotton manufacture was the most important kingdom in value of product and was second compared next to wool” (Landes 42). At this point, the cotton mill played a superior role in the society when it came to processing cotton. British cotton goods were being exported all over the world and were worth twice the amount being sold. “The cotton mill was the symbol of Britain’s industrial greatness; the rise of an industrial proletariat” (Landes 42).
In 1789 a young man came to America from England with a plan in his head. The plan was a detailed layout for a water-powered spinning machine and the man was Samuel Slater. The introduction of this technology sparked the start of the, eventually, massive textile industry. The textile industry in America was slow moving at first, with failures along the way. However, President Jefferson’s embargo in 1807 allowed the industry to pick up; during the War of 1812 textiles exploded onto the scene. However, these textiles often had poor working conditions, workers led difficult lives, and the technology was still developing. Textile mills would continue to change and grow from their boom in the early 1800s and throughout the 1900s.
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 Industrial Revolution that took place throughout the 18th and the 19th centuries had major effects which influenced every aspect of society and life such as, urbanization, imperialism and nationalism. The industrial revolution had an unfathomable effect on shaping the modern world to what it is today. Before the revolution, society revolved around farming and agriculture. There were only two social classes, the nobility and the working class. Little did they know, that their lives were about to change dramatically and continue changing for the next generations to come.
The earliest factories in England came up by the 1730s and, with the technology enabled production processes like carding, twisting, spinning and rolling became faster and easier consequentially, between 1760 and 1787 raw cotton imports to British cotton industry rose from 2.5 million pounds to 22 million pounds. On the contrary, the traditional market of cotton cloth from India witnessed a steady decline from 30 per cent around 1800 to 15 per cent by 1815 and to 3 percent in 1870s. While exports of cloth declined rapidly, export of raw materials increased equally fast. Between 1812 and 1871, the share of raw cotton exports rose from 5 per cent to 35 per cent. This was not something triggered by the industrial revolution but the protectionist measures of the British t which imposed tariffs on cloth imports. The creation of cotton mill by Richard Arkwright brought processes under one roof and management, allowing better supervision, quality control, and the regulation of labour. Thus not only the trade the way business of production was handled also underwent a quantum change.
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
Be the 1750's, the Industrial Revolution had begun. In the beginning, inventions were limited to cotton weaving. This quickly changed with new inventions such as the spinning jenny and the water powered frame. A problem existed in which yarn was not being fed fast enough to the weaver, but in 1769 the spinning jenny and the water powered frame solved this problem by providing yarn faster. Edmund Cartwright, in 1880, invented the power loom, and it combined both the machine's characteristics and purposes in one machine. Cleaning cotton was always an extremely difficult and time consuming job. In 1793, Eli Whitney created a brilliant invention, the cotton gin. This marvelous invention could clean cotton 50 times faster then the average person. These new inventions all assisted the manufacturing of cotton goods by speeding up the process. (members.aol).
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of the world. The Industrial Revolution began in the United Kingdom as large deposits of coal and iron were found throughout the land which brought the rise of factories and machines, the idea then subsequently spread throughout the world. It was perhaps one of the greatest moments in human history, as it gave rise to industrialization and the switch from manpower to machine power. It completely revolutionized the world and forever changed the course of humanity. However, many scholars and historians believe that the Industrial
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.