1. Ch. 24 Mass Society & Democracy
Lesson 2:
The Growth of Industrial Prosperity
Ch. 24 Mass Society & Democracy

2. It Matters Because…
Around 1850 a second Industrial Revolution grew out of the innovations from the first one half a century earlier. This time goods were produced on a much larger scale & involved nations became more urbanized as the growing middle class settled in towns & cities for work. Many new technologies were introduced in the areas of power, transportation & communication.
“The first Industrial Revolution had given rise to textiles, railroads, iron & coal. In the second …steel, chemicals, electricity & petroleum led the way…”

3. Innovations of the 2nd Ind. Rev…
STEEL – 1855 – Sir Henry Bessemer patents a new process for making high quality steel more efficiently & at a lower cost so steel replaced iron in the construction of machinery, transportation & weapons. Steel production became big business for several European nations.
ELECTRICITY – more efficient & easily converted into other forms of energy electricity gave birth to multiple innovations like the electric light, the telephone, electric streetcars & subways, & factory machinery.
TRANSPORTATION – the internal-combustion engine - fired by oil and gasoline – changed transportation forever as ocean liners, airplanes and automobiles took advantage of the new technology.
Inventions that changed the world...

4. Mass Production & Assembly Lines
The output or production (“goods produced”) in industry greatly increased as a result of all the innovation and more manufactured goods were available for sale. Europeans were making higher wages & could afford these new goods.
The costs of producing manufactured (aka “finished”) goods was reduced because of lower transportation costs AND…
The ASSEMBLY LINE – a new manufacturing method pioneered by Henry Ford in America in This more efficient method of production used a line of factory workers and equipment along which a product being assembled passed consecutively from operation to operation until completed. This process led to MASS PRODUCTION - refers to the process of creating large numbers of similar products efficiently. Assembly Line

5. World Economy
Standard of living refers to the degree of wealth and material comfort available to a person or community.
Industrialized nations with rising standard of living… Great Britain, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, the western part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Northern Italy.
Non-industrialized nations with low standard of living…Southern Italy, most of Austria-Hungary, Spain, Portugal, the Balkan kingdoms, Russia.
Europe was divided into 2 economic zones – “haves” and “have nots.” Capital from Europe’s industrialized nations was invested in other nations, who provided markets for Europe’s manufactured goods. Capital – industry – military strength – all led Europe to dominate the world economy by the turn of the 20th century.
global inequality today

6. Karl Marx & the Communist Manifesto
Because transitioning to an industrialized society was hard on workers ideas emerged from the desire to improve their working & living conditions. Socialist political parties proposed one solution…
In 1848 Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels – Germans who were appalled at the horrible conditions in factories – wrote the Communist Manifesto – which blamed industrial capitalism for the condition.
Marx proposed that the world’s history was one of struggles between classes…that the oppressor (owners of the means of production) & the oppressed (owned nothing) were splitting into 2 hostile camps against each other. The BOURGEOISIE (middle class) were the oppressors according to Marx; and the PROLETARIAT (working class) were the oppressed. Marx predicted their struggle would lead to revolution after which the proletariat would form a dictatorship to organize the means of production. Since their victory would abolish economic differences Marx believed this would result in a classless society in which the state itself would no longer exist.

7. Socialist political parties
German Social Democratic Party – fought to improve working conditions for Germany’s working class – ultimately became the largest political party in Germany.
Second International – an association of national socialist groups from various European states that joined together to fight against capitalism worldwide.
Pure Marxists – thought capitalism could only be defeated through a violent revolution.
Revisionists – wanted workers to organize in mass political parties to work for reform (rejected revolution) – would work within democratic systems.

8. Trade Unions
Worked for “evolutionary” not “revolutionary” change. Also called “labor unions” these groups organized workers in a union to improve their conditions. They relied on the strike (a call for laborers to stop work to pressure employers to meet their demands) for change. Initially governments passed laws to make labor unions illegal, however, by 1914 almost 4 million workers in Great Britain were unionized. These unions had varying degrees of success in helping to improve working conditions.