Industrialization

Industrialization is a historical process of economic and social change whereby a society is transformed from a pre-industrial, agrarian economy to an industrial state. Industrialization is typically associated with technological innovation, particularly the development of large-scale production because of the use of new, inanimate energy sources (e.g., coal and steam engine). In addition to technological components, industrialization also entails broad political and social changes. The first known Industrial Revolution took place in Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and became the prototype for the early industrializing nations of Western Europe and North America. Some place the Industrial Revolution as early as 1750 but others use the first quarter of the nineteenth century. In Great Britain, the textile industry is commonly seen as the starting point of industrialization.

Basic conditions of an industrial order are the following:

• 1.
  Production is geared to exchange rather than subsistence; in other words, agriculture must be able to produce a surplus of food suitable for mass distribution and consumption.
• 2.
  Inanimate sources of power in economic production largely replace humans and animals.
• 3.
  The application of scientific and engineering knowledge to production where mass production techniques become current knowledge.
• 4.
  Factors of production (e.g., labor, capital, and raw materials) are concentrated in large units (e.g., factories).

New social and economic relationships also developed in growing cities and factories as societies became more differentiated and complex in their social structure. Large numbers of workers concentrated in factories grew to be a strong political factor and created a material basis for civil society because resources were distributed away from the state into private hands. Industrialization also created an impetus for democracy as new social classes emerged, facilitating collective action.

Early industrializers became global economic leaders, creating a free market of labor and a pivotal role for the entrepreneur. Later industrializers, such as the Soviet Union (USSR) in the early twentieth century, attempted to industrialize in a few decades with predominately forced labor strategies. During the Cold War, several third-world countries industrialized guided by either the United States or the USSR. In the mid-twentieth century, industrialization spread to countries such as Japan, China, and India.

In the major industrialized nations of the late twentieth century, traditional large-scale industrial sectors, for various reasons, could no longer compete with flexible companies or high value-added industry as technological improvements and new industrial jobs required specialized skills, giving rise to mass unemployment. This shift away from manufacturing toward service industries aggravated by the increased liberalization of international trade has signaled what many see as the emergence of a postindustrial society.