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.