Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period in modern history when the production of goods by hand was gradually converted to methods of manufacture using large machines and assembly lines. This shift is seen by many historians as the force chiefly responsible for the birth of the modern era and for the ongoing phenomenon of globalization that emerged in the 19th century and now continues into the 21st.

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain. In 1650 the population of England was approximately 10 million, of which 90% earned a livelihood through farming of one kind or another. In 1821, Thomas Malthus wrote Principles of Political Economy, in which he discussed the concern that a lack of moral restraint by the British working class might lead to unchecked population growth. This behavior on the part of some people would create a fall in production, and the world would face a famine. Malthus gave a very gloomy prediction that worldwide mass starvation would eventually occur. In just 200 years, 1650 to 1850, the English population soared to more than 30 million, with less than 20% at work in fields, barns, and granaries. During this time England experienced the first Industrial Revolution, as entrepreneurs and capitalists began procuring the natural resources and labor power to produce goods for profit on a scale hitherto unknown.

The Industrial Revolution succeeded the longstanding agrarian age, which had begun millennia before when much of humankind developed agriculture and gave up nomadic lifestyles. Agrarian societies allowed people to escape from dependence on food sources over which they had no control. In such societies people produced surpluses that could be used to feed new classes of non-food-producers. At the same time, these societies required increasing amounts of land, which led to conflicts over territory. The need to store and defend food supplies and to house non-food-producers resulted in the growth of villages and small cities. Agrarian societies developed extensive division of labor and interdependence.

In Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, economist David Ricardo furthered the explanation for the changes that were occurring during the [Page 709]Industrial Revolution. Ricardo explained the notion of cooperation as a consequence of prosperity in his theory of comparative advantage. Ricardo concerned himself with explaining the factors that caused growth in an agrarian economy. At the time, modern science and technology had not been applied to agriculture, and capital tools such as hoes and plows were of relatively minor importance as productivity inputs. Ricardo argued that the average productivity of labor would eventually decrease. This decrease in productivity would lead to falling wages for workers.

Figure: Homestead Steel Works, by B. L H. Dabbs, 1893–1895. Workers watch as a foundry ladle prepares to pour molten iron into ingot molds at Carnegie Steel Company's Homestead Steel Works

The Industrial Revolution in the simplest terms can be described as the advent of a decline in household production. It started in Britain for several reasons. The increased population provided labor for factories and markets. Britain had a rich supply of raw materials. Britain had many small shop owners that knew how to run a business. The change in production was an economic one, yet over time it became a political one as well as a social one.

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