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Industrial Revolution, in modern history, the process of change

from an agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated


by industry and machine manufacturing. These technological
changes introduced novel ways of working and living and
fundamentally transformed society. This process began
in Britain in the 18th century and from there spread to other
parts of the world. Although used earlier by French writers, the
term Industrial Revolution was first popularized by the English
economic historian Arnold Toynbee (1852–83) to
describe Britain’s economic development from 1760 to 1840.
Since Toynbee’s time the term has been more broadly applied as
a process of economic transformation than as a period of time in
a particular setting. This explains why some areas, such
as China and India, did not begin their first industrial revolutions until
the 20th century, while others, such as the United States and
western Europe, began undergoing “second” industrial revolutions by the
late 19th century.

A brief treatment of the Industrial Revolution follows. For full treatment


of the Industrial Revolution as it occurred in Europe, see Europe, history
of: The Industrial Revolution.

Characteristics of the Industrial Revolution


The main features involved in the Industrial Revolution were
technological, socioeconomic, and cultural.
The technological changes included the following: (1) the use of
new basic materials, chiefly iron and steel, (2) the use of
new energy sources, including both fuels and motive power, such
as coal, the steam engine, electricity, petroleum, and
the internal-combustion engine, (3) the invention of new
machines, such as the spinning jenny and the power loom that
permitted increased production with a smaller expenditure of
human energy, (4) a new organization of work known as
the factory system, which entailed increased division of
labour and specialization of function, (5) important developments
in transportation and communication, including the
steam locomotive, steamship, automobile, airplane, telegraph,
and radio, and (6) the increasing application of science to
industry. These technological changes made possible a
tremendously increased use of natural resources and the mass
production of manufactured goods. There were also many new
developments in nonindustrial spheres, including the following:
(1) agricultural improvements that made possible the provision
of food for a larger nonagricultural population, (2) economic
changes that resulted in a wider distribution of wealth, the
decline of land as a source of wealth in the face of rising
industrial production, and increased international trade, (3)
political changes reflecting the shift in economic power, as well
as new state policies corresponding to the needs of an
industrialized society, (4) sweeping social changes, including the
growth of cities, the development of working-class movements,
and the emergence of new patterns of authority, and (5) cultural
transformations of a broad order. Workers acquired new and
distinctive skills, and their relation to their tasks shifted; instead
of being craftsmen working with hand tools, they became
machine operators, subject to factory discipline. Finally, there
was a psychological change: confidence in the ability to use
resources and to master nature was heightened.

The first Industrial Revolution


In the period 1760 to 1830 the Industrial Revolution was largely
confined to Britain. Aware of their head start, the British forbade
the export of machinery, skilled workers,
and manufacturing techniques. The British monopoly could not
last forever, especially since some Britons saw profitable
industrial opportunities abroad, while continental European
businessmen sought to lure British know-how to their countries. Two
Englishmen, William and John Cockerill, brought the Industrial
Revolution to Belgium by developing machine shops at Liège (c. 1807),
and Belgium became the first country in continental Europe to be
transformed economically. Like its British progenitor, the Belgian
Industrial Revolution centred in iron, coal, and textiles.

France was more slowly and less thoroughly industrialized than either
Britain or Belgium. While Britain was establishing its industrial
leadership, France was immersed in its Revolution, and the uncertain
political situation discouraged large investments in industrial
innovations. By 1848 France had become an industrial power,
but, despite great growth under the Second Empire, it remained
behind Britain. Other European countries lagged far behind.
Their bourgeoisie lacked the wealth, power, and opportunities of
their British, French, and Belgian counterparts. Political
conditions in the other nations also hindered industrial
expansion. Germany, for example, despite vast resources of coal
and iron, did not begin its industrial expansion until after
national unity was achieved in 1870. Once begun, Germany’s industrial
production grew so rapidly that by the turn of the century that nation was
outproducing Britain in steel and had become the world leader in the
chemical industries. The rise of U.S. industrial power in the 19th and
20th centuries also far outstripped European efforts. And Japan too joined
the Industrial Revolution with striking success.

The eastern European countries were behind early in the 20th


century. It was not until the five-year plans that the Soviet
Union became a major industrial power, telescoping into a few
decades the industrialization that had taken a century and a half
in Britain. The mid-20th century witnessed the spread of the
Industrial Revolution into hitherto nonindustrialized areas such
as China and India.

The technological and economic aspects of the Industrial Revolution


brought about significant sociocultural changes. In its initial stages it
seemed to deepen labourers’ poverty and misery. Their employment and
subsistence became dependent on costly means of production that few
people could afford to own. Job security was lacking: workers were
frequently displaced by technological improvements and a large labour
pool. Lack of worker protections and regulations meant long work hours
for miserable wages, living in unsanitary tenements, and exploitation and
abuse in the workplace. But even as problems arose, so too did new ideas
that aimed to address them. These ideas pushed innovations and
regulations that provided people with more material conveniences while
also enabling them to produce more, travel faster, and
communicate more rapidly.

The second Industrial Revolution


Despite considerable overlapping with the “old,” there was
mounting evidence for a “new” Industrial Revolution in the late
19th and 20th centuries. In terms of basic materials,
modern industry began to exploit many natural
and synthetic resources not hitherto utilized: lighter metals, rare
earths, new alloys, and synthetic products such as
plastics, as well as new energy sources. Combined with these
were developments in machines, tools, and computers that gave
rise to the automatic factory. Although some segments of
industry were almost completely mechanized in the early to mid-
19th century, automatic operation, as distinct from the assembly
line, first achieved major significance in the second half of the
20th century.
Ownership of the means of production also underwent changes.
The oligarchical ownership of the means of production
that characterized the Industrial Revolution in the early to mid-
19th century gave way to a wider distribution of ownership
through purchase of common stocks by individuals and by
institutions such as insurance companies. In the first half of the
20th century, many countries of Europe socialized basic sectors
of their economies. There was also during that period a change in
political theories: instead of the laissez-faire ideas that dominated
the economic and social thought of the classical Industrial
Revolution, governments generally moved into the social and
economic realm to meet the needs of their more complex
industrial societies. That trend was reversed in the United
States and the United Kingdom beginning in the 1980s.

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