Industrial Revolution: Technological Shift from Agrarian to Industrial Society, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Industrial Revolution: Technological Shift from Agrarian to Industrial Society e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Industrial revolution Where: Europe and USA (especially Great Britain) When: 1760-1820/40 What was it? It was a technological revolution which involved the transition to new manufacturing processes: from hand production methods to machines, new chemical processes for iron, the increasing use of steam and waterpower. FROM AN AGRICULTURAL-BASED TO AN INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETY Dominant industry: textiles => in terms of: -employment, -value of output -capital invested -first to use new methods Other effects: -Social revolution -Unprecedented rise in the rate of population and urban growth Why in Europe? European cultural superiority: They were socially and culturally more ready to have an industrial revolution Only Europe has the culture of science and invention: Only Europe had a technological knowledge that was sufficiently advanced to ignite an industrial revolution Freer political institutions Europe’s smaller populations compared to other world areas (Less men = less workforce => higher necessity of developing machines to replace human jobs) Push for private property, an absolute right and richness => developing private factories and technologies was considered a good way to invest money and energy. Why in England? -Coal available near the surface => no difficult to extract => cheap Circle of coal: You create machines that run on coal to mine coal that is used as fuel to run machines -Highest wages in the world => need of reduce production costs by replacing human’s work with machines. The single most important invention: the steam machine (many inventors, but the James Watt's one was the most efficient in powerness and coal’s exploitation) First use: to pump coal from the soil Then it was used to produce all kinds of objects for daily purposes: saws, scissors, telescopes, carriages, weight machines and even vinaigrettes. Effects: -Railroads: to efficiently carry coal, steel and iron around the country. They were made of steel and they were used to carry steel. This is another circle. -Expansion of cities: thousands of people moved to urban areas to find a new profitable employment, abandoning the rural places of the Country.