PSIR205 Week 9 Economic Advance and Industrial Society

Towards an industrial society British industrial leadership: – Natural resources, industrial capital, technology, adequate food supply, and foreign and domestic markets (p. 494). – Leadership in these sectors: textile weaving, ironmaking, shipbuilding, and china production – Belgium, France, and Germany followed the example of Britain

Population and migration: – Migration to cities. – In Eastern Europe industrialization did not develop at a slower pace, with the societies in his region keeping their agrarian economies – Migration created crucial social problems which were due to the shortage of house, water, and food as well as due to the poor infrastructure, lack of sufficient lightning and sewers. – Countryside was better, though land reform and the abolition of serfdom did not make a such a huge impact in changing the lives of the farmers. These reforms, on the contrary reinforced industrialization as they liberated agrarian labour from land in that they could move from the country side to the city (where they would be further transformed into workforce for factories, or proletaranized. – There was a famine in Ireland, causing many people to die or emigrate

Railways: – Widespread in England and growing in Western Europe – They developed owing to the character of the industrial economy which favoured capita goods to consumer goods – Trains----application of the stean engine – Railroad construction----demand for iron, steel, ans skilled labour

The Labour Force Labour force consisted of different groups in the early-nineteenth century: – ‘Factory workers, artisans, cottage industry craftspeople household servants, miners, rural peddlers, farm workers, and railroad workers’ (p. 497). – The ‘labouring poor’ refers to a group of people who continued leaving in abject conditions even though they could find a job to work – Manufacturing industry was totally mechanized – Factory workers were growing: artisanship was becoming more and more less needed – Workers had no security

Proleterianization of factory workers and urban artisans Proleterianization: ‘loss of ownership of the means of production’ People having enough financial resources bought other resources that were necessary in running an industrial enterprise: machinery, raw material, and labor Factory worksers were disciplined: Textile workers were better off than hand-loom weavers Urban artisans proleterianized slower than factory workers. The main threat for artisans was ‘the change in the way facotry system reorganized production’. Here, we should think about the changes in the guild stystem. – Master/apprentice relationship – Guilde had control over the ‘labour recruitment, training, pace of production, quality of product, and price’ (p. 498). – France abonded guilds; they interfered free economy – Guids’s response to industrialization: confection – Apprenticeship lost its appeal, as there was a supply of unemployed who just moved to the city needed a job.

Working Class Political Action: The Example of British Chartism The London Working Men’s Association’s 1838 proposal for political reform that was framed with Sıx Points

Classical Economics Followers of Adam Smith suggsted a limited role for the government. It role should be limited to: – Maintaining a sound currency – Enforcing contracts – Protecting property – Keeping tariffs and taxes low (p. 503).

Malthus on population High wages results in an increase in the population of the worker class It is impossible to prevent workers’ poverty The solution: workers should have less children and spend their on consumer goods

Ricardo on wages Overpopulation leads to lower wages. Excess of children----labor market--- competition for jobs---lower wages---making few children---labor shortage----wage increase To prevent this cycle: low wages

Government policies on classical economics