10.03 - Industrial Revolution

Adam Smith

(1723-1790) a Scottish economist who wrote The Wealth of Nations and who supported laissez faire policies and whose ideas support capitalism

capitalism

an economic system in which land, factories, and other resources are owned by individuals instead of the government. In this system, the prices of things we buy are decided by the people who sell them and not by the government

communism

a system of government in which all factories, farms, and other valuable things are owned and controlled by the government

Industrial Revolution

the period in which the production of goods shifted from hand production methods to complex machines. This period of industrialization resulted in social and economic changes. The Industrial Revolution started in Great Britain around 1750. The process of industrialization spread throughout the world in the following centuries.

industrialization

the process of developing manufacturing on a large scale

James Watt

(1736 - 1819) was a Scottish inventor and engineer whose improvements to the steam engine provided much of the force behind the Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx

(1818-1883) a German political philosopher and economist who founded modern socialism and wrote The Communist Manifesto with Friedrich Engels

natural resource

materials the occur in nature and can be used for economic gain (to make money) like forests, water, fertile land, oil, or coal

reform

to make changes in something to improve it; the action or process of changing something

social class

groupings of people in a society usually based on wealth, religion, ethnicity, or other factors

steam engine

a machine that heats water, then uses resulting steam to move machinery. Though other invented the steam engine, James Watt's version of it was popular during the Industrial Revolution.

urbanization

the process of making an area more city-like

working class

a social group lower than the middle class, usually made up of people who earned a living through manual labor and earned a low age