Chapter 9- AP World Vocabulary

Steam Engine

The core technological innovation of the Industrial Revolution, significantly improved by James Watt, which utilized coal to generate power and allowed for the transition to mechanized production in factories and transportation.

British Textile Industry

The first industry to undergo large-scale industrialization, transitioning from cottage industries to factory-based production of cotton and wool goods using machines like the power loom.

Middle Class Society

A social group composed of businessmen, professionals, and shopkeepers that grew significantly during the 19^{th} century, emphasizing values of hard work, morality, and social respectability.

Ideology of Domesticity

A set of beliefs prevalent in middle-class society that defined the home as a woman's sphere, emphasizing her role as a homemaker, moral beacon, and mother, separate from the public world of work.

Lower Middle Class

A distinct social layer including service workers, clerks, secretaries, and police officers who made up roughly 20\% of the British population by the end of the 19^{th} century and valued their status above the laboring classes.

Laboring Classes

The majority of the population who performed manual labor in factories, mines, and workshops; they faced harsh working conditions, low wages, and rapid urbanization in the industrial era.

Karl Marx

A German philosopher and economist who argued that industrial capitalism was inherently unstable and would lead to a class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, eventually resulting in a socialist revolution.

Socialism in the US

A political movement that remained relatively weak in the United States compared to Europe, largely due to the relative prosperity of workers, the lack of class-based political parties, and deep ethnic and racial divisions.

Progressives

American reformers in the early 20^{th} century who sought to address the social ills of industrialization through government intervention, promoting better wages, hours, and anti-trust laws.

Russian Revolution

The 1917 upheaval that overthrew the tsarist regime and brought the Bolsheviks, a radical socialist group led by Vladimir Lenin, to power, creating the world's first socialist state.

Caudillos

Military strongmen in post-independence Latin America who frequently seized political power in response to instability and conflict between liberal and conservative factions.

Latin American Export Boom

A period of rapid economic growth in the late 19^{th} century driven by the export of raw materials like copper, rubber, and grain to industrializing nations in Europe and North America.

Mexican Revolution

A decade-long violent conflict (1910-1920) triggered by the desire for land reform and the overthrow of the dictator Porfirio Díaz, resulting in a democratic constitution and social transformation.

Dependent Development

An economic pattern in Latin America where growth was fueled by foreign investment and exports, preventing the region from developing its own independent industrial base.