The Pros And Cons Of Industrialism

Throughout recent history, two main schools of thought have been formed based on the distribution of wealth and the involvement of the state in “private” affairs. One side taking a more conservative approach by not wanting the state 's involvement in their financial status and reducing regulations on their private enterprises. The other side calls for more regulation on business even going as far as making the state directly involved and the equal distribution of wealth. Regarding which side is correct is widely up for debate.

At the time the government did not regulate the economy and did not bother themselves with the growing market. This system was known as laissez faire which is the policy of letting things take their own course, and not interfering. The idea of laissez faire itself seem well intentioned, but many felt that monopolies in big businesses had too much power over the people to go unchecked by the federal government, thus many people pushed for the government to regulate big businesses from controlling too much of the market. The push for government control over the economy is what brought about the form of government we have today where the government controls the economy and the

I’ve always wondered how people from 1800’s felt about the Industrialization Era and I’ve also asked myself so many questions. For example, I’ve asked myself “Did they see any benefit or did it bring lots of trouble to the people in the United States”? Sometimes I’ve tried to imagine myself in their place and honestly, I wouldn’t want to be in their place. Industrialization rose to the top when factories started to develop machines like steam engines, railroads, and telegraphs , just to name a few. This machines allowed factories to grow world wide because it made manufacturing easier, traveling faster, and communication better because now people were able to get in contact with people from long distance. The Industrialization Era was the transition from home businesses, where products were usually hand made, to machines making the products in factories. Machines were very helpful in factories and of much use because work was done faster and it brought the companies more money but as for the workers, it wasn’t a good thing because machines took many jobs from them. For the consumers it was also a positive thing because things were more affordable. Although industrialization had many benefits, it also brought negative impacts such as working conditions, low wages, and child labor. In response to this negative impacts, people created unions to help out with this problems because the laws weren’t doing their jobs.

The industrialization of America affected all workers in both positive and negative ways. One of the pros to the industrialization was the freedom that skilled workers gained. These skilled workers often "commanded high wages and exercised considerable control over the production process" (Foner, 2013, p. 600). The skilled workers were granted what was known as "the miner's freedom," which consisted of rules that left the skilled workers free of supervision (Foner, 2013, p. 600). This allowed the workers to fix output quotas and control the training of apprentices; however, this group of skilled workers was very small in comparison to the rest of the working class. The rest of the workers, the semi-skilled workers, did not have an easy life.

Big, unrestricted business, on the other hand, is controlled by primarily the producers (Rand, “What is Capitalism?”) and secondarily the consumers, who keep in business the products they want or need. Ayn Rand heavily maintained that unregulated business protects the choices of the individual by treating him as a self-governed, self-owned, altogether “independent” (Rand, “What is Capitalism?”) person; it encourages healthy selfishness by letting each person look to their own interests and needs, rather than having to “subordinate” their desires to an “industry as a whole” (Rand, Atlas Shrugged 75).

During the late 19th and all of the 20th century many events took place affecting the current situation our world is facing today.  The broad term, industrialization, refers to the development of goods produced by machinery and the discovery of new energy resources.  Industrialization had many positive and negative effects on the citizens of the world during these two centuries.  The events under industrialization could be said to have fallen victim to the “snowball effect” and been a cause of the situation that our world is facing today.

In the years following the brutal Civil War, the United States saw the rise of economic powers that have never been seen before. These economic powers became known as Big Business. The government’s economic approach of the time was a very hands off technique. This hands off technique was called laissez faire and the government believed giving businesses freedom would cause a lot of companies to grow and prosper. It was believed at the time that pure freedom for businesses would create a substantial amount of competition throughout the business world and prices would be made competitive, which means less expensive for the everyday American consumer. Sadly, the U.S. government was tremendously outsmarted by savvy entrepreneurs who believed in

Industrialization was a time period where the United States experienced prosperity and many advancements in technology. Nevertheless, while many beneficial events came from this time period, there were also numerous negative outcomes. This can be seen three decades after The Civil War, where the idea that anyone could rise upwards in society with the use of hard work, thriftiness, and a bit of luck, became widespread among American citizens. However, this idea was only proven correct in individual cases, as the majority of the working class remained in the same financial position despite their strong work ethic.

Industrialization brought about new technology that helped reduce the cost of production. Before industrialization manufacturing costs were high. The invention of machines and assembly lines enabled the production of things in masses and this led to reduction in cost, and the prompt availability of products.

The core idea in Laisse-Faire is one of non-involvement by government in the workings of a nations economy. This is typified by a lack of regulation or interference in the capitalist marketplace, allowing businesses and industries to compete for consumers dollars based on the efficiency of their production and the quality of their products. The roots of Laisse-Faire lay in the writings of English economist Adam Smith in his work The Wealth of Nations. In The Wealth of Nations, Smith hypothesized that no government regulation was necessary because the competition among businesses will insure that the best and most necessary products at ideal prices will be produced. This "self-regulating market" would, according to Smith, be guided by an "invisible hand". During the late 1800's, as the US economy expanded at a furious rate, the lack of government regulation over the economy led to many abuses by businesses. As a result by the Progressive Era of the early 1900's, the government was forced by public outcry to begin to enact consumer and worker protections via

There are continuous discussions regarding a number of things in today’s society, such as “Do Corporations have rights?” and “To what limit should Government be allowed to impose regulation on the Private Sector?” which can accurately be assessed as being partially symptomatic of this increasingly prevalent line of thinking.

Laissez Faire was policy that stated that the government should interfere as little as possible in the nation's economy in the 1800s. This means that the government has little regulation in business and that businesses can operate in a purely free market. It had advocated individual self-interest and competition, and opposed the taxation and regulation of commerce by government. It had reached its peak during the age of industrialization in 1870s; a time when American manufacturing was made easier as factories were operated free handed. However, the governmental policy of Laissez Faire was in fact encouraged and continued by a direct government intervention. Not many know but government did include a big hand in the policy of Laissez Faire

The Industrial Revolution had many positive and negative impacts on society. The positive include cheaper clothes, more job opportunities, and improvement in transportation. And the negative would include exploitation of women and children, workers work long hours and environmental damages. These are just a few that I believe had an impact on the Industrial Revolution.

In his concept, Adam Smith explains that in a free market no regulation of any type would be needed to ensure that the mutually beneficial exchange of goods and services can take place, since the ”invisible hand” would guide market participants to trade in the most mutually beneficial manner. (www.investorwords.com)

It is not only unnecessary for the government to intervene to maintain a free market, it is extremely wrong. Intervention by any outside party in corporate matters is inappropriate and basically contradicts the meaning of a free market.