Industrial Revolution #3

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from the lecture on the Industrial Revolution, focusing on economic and social reforms, capitalism, socialism, and labor movements.

Laissez-faire

Economic policy of letting owners of industry and business set working conditions without interference; favors a free market unregulated by the government.

Adam Smith

Scottish professor who defended the idea of a free economy, or free markets, in his book The Wealth of Nations.

Capitalism

Economic system in which the factors of production are privately owned and money is invested in business ventures to make a profit.

Utilitarianism

Philosophical idea that people should judge ideas, institutions, and actions on the basis of their utility, or usefulness; the government should try to promote the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

Socialism

Economic system in which the factors of production are owned by the public and operate for the welfare of all.

Karl Marx

German journalist and philosopher who, with Friedrich Engels, wrote The Communist Manifesto, introducing a radical type of socialism called Marxism.

Communism

Form of complete socialism in which the means of production would be owned by the people; private property would cease to exist, and all goods and services would be shared equally.

Union

Voluntary labor association in which workers joined together to press for reforms, such as better working conditions and higher pay.

Strike

To refuse to work; a tactic used by union members when factory owners refused their demands.

Thomas Malthus

Theorist who argued that population tended to increase more rapidly than the food supply, leading to poverty and misery without wars and epidemics.

David Ricardo

Took Malthus’s theory one step further, stating that wages would be forced down as population increased, leading to a permanent underclass.

Robert Owen

Factory owner who improved working conditions for his employees and founded a cooperative community called New Harmony in Indiana.

Charles Fourier & Saint-Simon

French reformers who sought to offset the ill effects of industrialization with a new economic system called socialism

Bourgeoisie

The middle class "haves" or employers

Proletariat

The "have-nots" or workers

Collective Bargaining

Negotiations between workers and their employers aiming for improved working conditions

Factory Act of 1833

Forbade hiring children under 9, and set maximum working hours for children and young people

Mines Act of 1842

Prevented women and children from working underground

Ten Hours Act of 1847

Limited the workday to ten hours for women and children working in factories

Abolition

Movement to end the slave trade and slavery in the British Empire

William Wilberforce

Parliament member who led the fight for abolition

Horace Mann

U.S. reformer who favored free public education for all children

Settlement Houses

A community center that served the poor residents of slum neighborhoods

Effects of the Industrial Revolution

Increased production of goods, new inventions and development of factories, urbanization, and rise of a middle class.