Chapter 17 M.U.B Study (Great Britain and Industrialization)

Patterns of Industrialization

· Technological developments made possible production by machine rather than by hand

·  Inanimate sources of energy-coal, petroleum-harnessed.

·  Factory dominated industrial production

·  Encouraged new divisions of labor, belt-driven assembly lines, mass production

·  Expense of equipment led to formation of large businesses

Coal and Colonies

· Coal in Great Britain played crucial role

o   Previous use of wood led to wood shortages

o   Large coal deposits in easy reach of water

·  Richness of coal deposits made Britain’s experience unique

Ecological Relief

·  Americas supplied Europeans with growing volume of raw materials

·  Plantation economics provided sugar and cotton; created markets for manufactured imports

o   Consumer demand encouraged transformation of British cotton industry

Mechanization of the Cotton Industry

·  Flying shuttle (1733), John Kay

· Sped up weaving output; stimulated demand for thread

·  Spinning jenny (1768)

o   Increased supply of yarn, faster than flying shuttle could process

·  The “mule” (1779), Samuel Compton

o   Could produce 100 times more thread than a manual wheel

·  Power loom (1785), Edmund Cartwright

o   Supplanted hand weavers in cotton industry by 1820s

Steam Power

·  Development of general-purpose steam engine, 1765, by James Watt

o   Coal-fired

o   Multiple uses

· Horsepower to measure energy generated

·  Especially prominent in textile industry

New Sources of Power

·  Steam Engine

o   James Watt (1736-1819)

o   Coal fired

o   Applied to rotary engine, multiple applications

· 1760: 2.5 million pounds of raw cotton imported

·  1787: 22 million

·  1840: 360 million

Iron and Steel

·  1709, British smelters began to use coke rather than charcoal

o   Iron production skyrocketed

o   Iron fittings and parts for stronger machinery

·  Nineteenth century was age of steel

o   1856: Henry Bessemer built refined blast furnace, Bessemer converter

o   Made production of steel faster and cheaper

Transportation

·  Railroads

o   1815: first steam-powered locomotive

o   Rocket (1829), 28 mph

·  Steamships

·  Dense transportation networks developed

o   13,000 miles of railroads laid between 1830 and 1870

· Rapid and inexpensive transportation encouraged industrialization

The Factory System

·  Early modern Europe had adopted “putting-out” system

o   Individuals worked at home; employers avoided wage restrictions of medieval guilds

·  Rising prices caused factories to replace both guilds and putting-out system

o   Machines too large, expensive for home use

o   Large buildings could house specialized laborers

o   Urbanization guaranteed supply of cheap labor

Working Conditions and Industrial Protest

· Dramatic shift from rural work rhythms

o   Six days a week, fourteen hours a day

o   Immediate supervision, punishments

·”Luddite” protest against machines, 1811-1816

o   Masked Luddites destroyed machinery, enjoyed popular support

o   Movement died out after 14 Luddites hung in 1813

The Early Spread of Industrialization

·  By mid-nineteenth century, industrialization had spread to France, Germany, Belgium, U.S.

· French revolution and Napoleonic wars set stage

o   Internal trade barriers abolished

o   Dismantling of guilds that discouraged innovation and restricted movement of labor

· German industrialization proceeded more slower

o   But after 1871, Bismarck sponsored rapid industrialization

Industrialization in North America

· Began in 1820s in New England with cotton textile industry

·  1870s, heavy iron and steel industries emerged in Pennsylvania, Alabama

·  By 1900, United States an economic powerhouse, industrialization spilling over into Canada

·  Industry stimulated by railroad construction

Mass Production

·  Eli Whitney (United States, 1765–1825)

o   Invention of cotton gin (1793)

o   Also technique of using machine tools to make interchangeable parts for firearms

·  Mass production rapidly became hallmark of industrial societies

· Henry Ford, 1913, developed assembly-line approach

o   Completed automobile chassis every 93 minutes

o   Previously: 728 minutes

Big Business

· Large factories required to start-up capital

·  Corporations formed to share risk, maximize profits

·  Britain and France laid foundations for modern corporation, 1850–1860s

Monopolies, Trusts, and Cartels

·  large corporations formed blocs to drive out competition, keep prices high

o   John D. Rockefeller controlled almost all oil drilling, processing, refining, marketing in U.S.

o   German firm IG Farben controlled as much as 90% of chemical production

·  Governments often slow to control monopolies

Industrial Demographics

·  Technological innovation

o   Improved agricultural tools

o   Especially textiles

·  Travel and transportation

The Demographic Transition

·  Industrializing lands experienced marked decline in both fertility and mortality

o   Better diets

o   Improved disease control

o   Smallpox vaccine

·  At first, mortality fell faster than fertility

·  Over time, declining birthrates led to lower population growth, relative demographic stability

Birth Control

·  Male condom was first efficient means of contraception without negative side effects

o   Made from animal intestines in seventeenth century, latex in nineteenth century

·  Raising offspring cost more in industrial societies

·  Children also more likely to survive into adulthood

The Urban Environment

·  Urbanization proceeded dramatically

o o   1900: 75% lived in urban environments

o   Pattern repeated in rest of industrialized world

·  Intensified industrial pollution

·  City centers became overcrowded, unsanitary

o   Income determined degree of comfort, security

Transcontinental Migration

o   50 million crossed Atlantic

o   British migrants to avoid urban slums, Irish to avoid potato famines of 1840s, Jews to abandon tsarist persecution

·  Many entered workforce of United States

o   Aided rapid U.S. industrialization

New Social Classes

· Capitalist wealth brought new status to non-aristocratic families

·  Blue-collar factory workers

·  Urban environment also created new types of diversions

o   Sporting events

Women at Home and Work

·  Agriculture and domestic manufacturing had easily accommodated women

·  Industrialization changed terms of work

o   Domestic service

o   Labor-saving devices replaced women’s industrial jobs

o   Expected to conform to new models of behavior

Child Labor

·  Easily exploited, abused

·  1840s, British Parliament began to pass child labor laws

·  Also, need for educated workforce

The Socialist Challenge

·  

·  Opposed competition of market system

·  Attempted to create small model communities

·  Inspirational for larger social units

Karl Marx (1818–1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820–1895)

·  Exploitative nature of capitalist system

·  Religion: “opiate of the masses”

·  The Communist Manifesto

o   Argued for an overthrow of capitalists in favor of a “dictatorship of the proletariat”

Social Reform and Trade Unions

o   Addressed issues of medical insurance, unemployment compensation, retirement benefits

·  Trade unions formed for collective bargaining

o   Strikes to address workers’ concerns

Global Effects of Industrialization

·  Geographic division of labor

o   Some peoples produced raw materials

o   Others processed and consumed them

·  Uneven economic development

o   Low wages, small domestic markets