Industrial Revolution

Effects of the Industrial Revolution What was the industrial revolution? –Machines coordinated to make goods –Energy from non-animal sources –Industry grew 4 times faster Changed all aspects of society –Most profound effect since agriculture –Government change Political and military balance Europe as dominant power –Transformed social classes –Higher standard of living for most

Effects of the Industrial Revolution

Origins Agricultural revolution -Fertilizer use –Yields improved 300% Growth of foreign trade for manufactured goods –Foreign colonies Successful wars and foreign conquest Rise of Capitalism Steam Engine

Origins – Why England? Factors in England –No civil strife –Government favored trade –Laissez faire –Large middle class –Island geography –Mobile population –Everyone lived within 20 miles of navigable river –Tradition of experimental science –Weak guilds

"In most of Europe, then, craft guilds eventually became responsible for a level of regulation that stifled competition and innovation. They did this by laying down meticulous rules about three elements of production that we might term 'the three p's': prices, procedures, and participation." – Mokyr, Joel, The Gifts of Athena, Princeton University Press, 2002, p.259.

"The weak position of the guilds in Britain in the eighteenth century can go some way in explaining the series of technological successes we usually refer to as the British Industrial Revolution and why it occurred in Britain rather than on the European continent, although clearly this was only one of many variables at work." – Mokyr, Joel, The Gifts of Athena, Princeton University Press, 2002, p.260.

Manufacturing Textiles –4-5 spinners per weaver Flying Shuttle

Manufacturing Textiles Cotton gave stronger fibers Invention of Spinning Jenny –Demand for skilled weavers Mechanical looms (flying shuttle) Jacquard looms

Richard Arkwright – 1771 Invents the spinning water frame Constructs the first spinning factory –Realized that several machines could be linked to create a factory –Needed water power to turn the machines (water wheel expert) –Needed gears (watchmaker) The creation of the first spinning factory was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution

Manufacturing Textiles Jacquard looms

Manufacturing Negatives Poor working conditions Children supplied labor Luddites –Handicraftsmen replaced by machine –Organized to stop industrialization

Energy and Transportation Animal power and plant burning Water emerged as energy source Iron industry energy crisis –Lack of wood –Coal discovered –Steam pumps for mines Steam engines Railroads

England vs. Continental Europe

Produced 20% of industrial goods Gross national product rose 4x Population increase Inventors took inventions abroad Belgium’s coal and iron resources Germany iron and wool factories France slow to industrialize Mechanization came but late

Technology The Industrial Revolution was built on rapid advances in technology Is technology good? Is complexity good? How do we control technology without stifling progress?

"Technology comprises all that bewilderingly varied body of knowledge and devices by which man progressively masters his natural environment..." - T.K. Derry and T. I. Williams, A Short History of Technology, 3

Technology: short, medium and long-term consequences Short-term: Benefits are helpful and desirable (this is why we use it). If proven to be a dud, it is discarded quickly. Medium-term: Negative consequences are noted and strong resistance often arises. Sometimes the short term causes disruptions (loss of jobs, etc.) and attempts are made in the medium term to stop technology (Luddites, etc.); but these are rarely successful (except current efforts by environmental groups who have the backing of politicians, courts, and many people). This resistance is outside market forces. Long-term: May require changes/evolution in the technology but we rarely abandon the technology all together because the benefits are great and the negatives are worked around. – Mokyr, Joel, The Gifts of Athena,

"Complexity creates unpredictability. The more complex a system, the more difficult it is to understand all the different ways the system may behave–and, in particular, to anticipate all the different ways it may fail. Interdependence among parts creates entirely new ways that things can go wrong, ways that engineers often overlook or ignore." – Pool, Robert, Beyond Engineering, Oxford University Press, 1997, p.131.

Effects of Industrialization Urbanization Cheaper products Products made faster More people participate in politics Child Labor Hard working conditions (12-16hrs, 6 days) Little sanitation Child labor utilized

Effects of Industrialization Socialism Communism Utopianism Luddism Imperialism Militarism Nationalism