Key Terms from the Industrial Revolution

Industrialization

The shift from making goods by hand at home to making them with machines in factories

Factory system

A way of producing goods where workers are brought together in one place to work with machines on a set schedule

Textile mills

A factory where cloth, thread, or fabric is made, often using large machines and low-paid workers.

Mechanization

Using machines to do work that people used to do by hand

Mass production

Making large amounts of the same product quickly and cheaply

Division of labor

Breaking work into small, repetitive tasks, with each worker doing only one part of the job

Productivity

How much work or materials are produced. Generally, this measures the amount of a finished product that is made in a given time period

Capital

Money or resources used to start businesses, buy machines, or expand production

Capitalism

The economic system where businesses are privately owned and exist to make a profit for their owners

Urbanization

The movement of people from rural areas into cities, often to find factory work

Tenement

A crowded, poorly built apartment building where many working-class families lived

Working class

People who must work for hourly or daily wages and usually have little wealth or power

Middle class

During the Industrial Revolution, these were people who often owned businesses or held jobs as managers and had more money and influence than factory workers

Labor union

An organization formed by workers to protect their rights and improve working conditions

Exploitation

Treating workers unfairly by paying them very little, overworking them, or keeping conditions unsafe

Collective bargaining

When workers negotiate together with employers instead of one person at a time

Laissez-faire

The belief that the government should not interfere in business or the economy (Hands off)

Enclosure movement

A process in England where common land was taken over by wealthy landowners, forcing many rural families to move to cities for work

Raw materials

Natural resources like cotton or coal that are used to make finished products

Markets

Places or groups of people who buy and sell goods

Empire

A group of territories controlled by one powerful country, often for resources or profit

Social Darwinism

The belief that the rich and powerful deserve their success because they are “stronger”, and that inequality is natural

Paternalism

When a person or group in power makes decisions for others because they think they know what’s best, often without asking or listening to the people affected