Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

• The Industrial Revolution accelerated numerous aspects of society.

Agricultural Movement

• Enclosure Movement: to bring together of farmland to enhance productivity.

• Crop Rotation: Rotating crops ensures that soil nutrients are replenished.

• Effects: Increased farm productivity leads to a greater number of people migrating to cities in search of work, and more inventions and other things getting better

Industrial Revolution Begins in England

• Two Key Ingredients:

  • Mechanization: Use of automatic machinery to improve production speed.

  • Factors of Production:

    • Land: Natural resources required for production.(coal, rivers for power, harbors for trade)

    • Capital: Financial resources available for investment. (money)

    • Labor: Workforce, including the population increase and migration of farmers to urban areas.

    • Entrepreneurs: Individuals who take risks to establish new businesses.

Factors of Production

• Land: Includes natural resources like coal, ore, rivers (for power), and harbors (for trade).

• Capital: Comprises tools, equipment, and factories used in production.

• Labor: Involves people’s efforts and abilities, especially from the growing workforce.

• Entrepreneurs: Those who initiate new businesses and bring products to market.

Textile Industry Advances

• 1733: Invention of the Mechanized Loom to weave cloth. - weaves thread into cloth and because we needed more thread the spinning jenny was invented.

• 1760: The Spinning Jenny, which spun cotton into thread at eight times the speed of traditional methods.

• 1793: Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin.

• Effects: Cotton consumption in England soared from 4 million pounds in 1761 to 100 million pounds by 1815.

Steam Engines

• Initial power sources relied on water, but geographical constraints existed.

• James Watt : 1769 invented a more efficient steam engine that operated faster and consumed less fuel.

Problems with Steam Engines

• Major risk of explosions.

• Solutions: Implementation of safety valves to prevent explosions.

Iron vs. Steel

• Henry Bessemer developed a process to inject air into molten iron, which removed impurities and made steel more malleable.

• Rising demand for steel for machinery because of malleability and strong

Transportation Innovations

• Increased demand for goods led to a need for faster transport methods.

• Development of steam-powered transportation:

  • Steam boats enhanced travel through canals and across the Atlantic, reducing trips to 17 days from 34.

  • George Stephenson: Developed the first steam-powered locomotive.

Communication Advancements

• Samuel Morse created Morse Code to communicate using electric currents over long distances.

• Benefits: Enhanced long-distance communication and coordination.

International Morse Code

• Structure of Morse Code:

  • SOS in Morse Code: Save our ship and save our souls

    • S: represented by three dots (•••)

    • O: represented by three dashes (---)

    Complete Representation of SOS:

    • Written as: ••• --- •••

Impact of Industry on Society

• Changes:

  • Emergence of the Middle Class.

  • Rise of Mass Production, Corporations, and Banking.

Middle Class Development

• The Industrial Revolution contributed to a robust middle class, including:

  • Bankers, manufacturers, merchants, lawyers, doctors, engineers, and professors.

• Industry made products cheaper, allowing the middle class to expand.

• Gained significant social influence and political power over time.

Mass Production Techniques

• Division of Labor: Each worker specializes in a specific j.

• Interchangeable Parts: Identical parts made production and repair more efficient.

• Assembly Line: Product moves from worker to worker, enhancing efficiency; famously utilized by Henry Ford.

Rise of Corporations

• Introduction of stocks helped companies to raise capital for investment.

• Corporations: Businesses owned by stockholders, sharing profits, but not liable for debts.

Rise of Banks

• Corporations required financing for expansion.

• Example: JP Morgan financed the first billion-dollar corporation, the United States Steel Company.

Adam Smith's Economic Theories

• Advocated for free economies reduce government interference.

• Three Natural Laws of Economics:

  • Self-Interest: Individuals act in their own best interest.

  • Competition: Drives innovation and product improvement.

  • Supply and Demand: Determines prices and availability in markets.

• Advocated for Free Enterprise or "Laissez-Faire" economics.

  • basically let the people do what they want and owners of industry set working conditions not government.

Factories and Labor Shift

• Machinery replaced handmade products, affecting employment.

• Labor Issues:

  • Preference for hiring women and children

    • due to lower wages

    • ability to work longer hours (14-16 hours, 6 days a week)

    • smaller hands for repair

Factory Wages

• Shift from piece work to hourly wages.

• Sex Discrimination: Men earned double what women did for similar labor.

Socialism's Emergence

• Result of inequality from laissez-faire economics;

  • calls for more government intervention.!!!

• Socialists = no more profit motives and competition.

Combatting Working Conditions

• Unions: Initially deemed illegal ( threat to order and stability) but later legalized in most Western European countries.

• Strikes

• Collective Bargaining : negotiations between workers and employers.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels : Communism

• Belief: wealth is created by labor. Under capitalism laborers only receive a small portion of wealth, which is not fair.

  Goal: Even distribution of wealth

Economic Ideologies Overview

• Capitalism: Ownership and control of property and production by individuals and businesses.

• Socialism: Public ownership of production means; state control.

• Communism: A community of workers controls the government, and the government controls the economy.

  The main difference is that under communism, most property and economic resources are owned and controlled by the state (rather than individual citizens); under socialism, all citizens share equally in economic resources as allocated by a democratically-elected government.