The Lecture Contains: Industrial Revolution Changes at the core of Industrial Revolution Changes within Technology Labour Urbanization Environment Reference file:///d /NPTL%20WORK/Dr.%20Anindita%20Chakrabarti/UrbanSociology/lecture8/8_1.htm [5/31/2013 9:56:48 AM]
The intellectual and socio-economic context of the development of the discipline of sociology as well as of the modern city has been framed by the dual revolutions, namely: The Industrial Revolution The French Revolution In this lecture we shall discuss what the Industrial Revolution entailed and the irreversible changes brought about by it. We shall also look at the French Revolution and the new ideology of governance that it ushered in. The rise of the new social world is encapsulated in the concepts of gemeinschaft and gesellschaft. While the first captures the lost world of small communities, the second concept refers to the one that was ushered as a result of the twin revolutions. Before the term Industrial Revolution was popularized by the economic historian Arnold Toynbee (1852-83), the phenomenon was known as the English System. The changes brought about by the Industrail Revolution (IR) overturned not only traditional economies, but also whole societies. Economic changes caused far-fetched social changes, including the movement of people to cities, the availability of a greater variety of material goods, and new ways of doing business. But what was the Industrial Revolution? file:///d /NPTL%20WORK/Dr.%20Anindita%20Chakrabarti/UrbanSociology/lecture8/8_2.htm [5/31/2013 9:56:48 AM]
Industrial Revolution primarily refers to a process of change from an agrarian, handicraft based economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture. At the heart of the Industrial Revolution was the rise of the machine, which replaced manual labour. It began in the 18th century Britain and it is still continuing in the developing worlds. The Industrial Revolution was the result of many fundamental and interrelated changes that transformed agricultural economies into industrial ones. The unprecedented economic change was spurred by Western Europe s tremendous population growth during the late 18th century. Along with it there was increase in food production and domestic manufacturing soared. Heightened commercialization gave a boost not only to manufacturing technological innovations but also to heightened demands for better transportation system. It could be said that there were fourfold changes that were at the core of the Industrial Revolution. file:///d /NPTL%20WORK/Dr.%20Anindita%20Chakrabarti/UrbanSociology/lecture8/8_3.htm [5/31/2013 9:56:49 AM]
Four-fold changes at the core of Industrial Revolution file:///d /NPTL%20WORK/Dr.%20Anindita%20Chakrabarti/UrbanSociology/lecture8/8_4.htm [5/31/2013 9:56:49 AM]
The changes within technology was three-fold file:///d /NPTL%20WORK/Dr.%20Anindita%20Chakrabarti/UrbanSociology/lecture8/8_5.htm [5/31/2013 9:56:49 AM]
It has been pointed out by historians that the Industrial Revolution was not a very demanding enterprise in terms of intellectual refinements. The technical inventions were so modest that any intelligent artisan could handle them (Hobsbawm 2002: 46). However, a new system of conducting business and labour was intimately linked to these new technologies. In the wake of the Industrial Revolution sociologists had to explain: 1. The changing condition of labour. The new labour that arose was industrial labour. 2. Transformation of property and legal system, including patents on mechanical improvements. 3. The new organization of work known as the factory system entailed increased division of labour and specialization of function. It began in England with the mechanization of the textile sector and was geared towards mass production. file:///d /NPTL%20WORK/Dr.%20Anindita%20Chakrabarti/UrbanSociology/lecture8/8_6.htm [5/31/2013 9:56:49 AM]
Labour Let us look at the textile industry a little more closely. In earlier times, the spinning of yarn and the weaving of cloth occurred primarily in the home, with most of the work done by people working alone or with family members. This pattern of production lasted for many centuries. In 18th century Great Britain a series of extraordinary innovations reduced and then replaced the human labour required to make cloth. Each advance created problems elsewhere in the production process, which in turn, led to further improvements. The most important thing about these changes was enormous increases in the output per worker. The movement of people away from agriculture and into industrial cities changed traditional way of life and livelihood. Traditional handloom weavers could no longer compete with the mechanized production of cloth. Skilled laborers sometimes lost their jobs as new machines replaced them. All those who had earned income from spinning found the new factories taking away their source of income. In the factories, people had to work long hours under harsh conditions, often with few rewards. Factory owners and managers paid the minimum amount necessary for a work force, often recruiting women and children to tend the machines because they could be hired for very low wages. The factory system was based on heavy machinery which the capitalists owned and the specialized work done by the wage labourers. The hours of the repetitive and monotonous work had an alienating effect on the worker. Soon critics attacked this exploitation. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (see Lecture on Friedrich Engels: Lecture10 and Lecture 11) through their writing and engagement with the working class movements gave voice to the exploitation of the working classes. Moreover, the history of the Industrial Revolution is closely related with the history of colonialism and slave trade in different parts of the British Empire. The exploitation of the masses manifested themselves in social upheavals and protest movements. file:///d /NPTL%20WORK/Dr.%20Anindita%20Chakrabarti/UrbanSociology/lecture8/8_7.htm [5/31/2013 9:56:50 AM]
Urbanization One of the most obvious changes to people s lives was that more people moved into the urban areas where factories were located. Many of the agricultural labourers were forced to move. Beginning in the early 18th century, more people in rural areas were competing for fewer jobs. Moreover, there were demographic factors as well since the rural population had risen sharply. During this period new manufacturing towns and cities grew dramatically. Many of these cities were close to the coalfields that supplied fuel to the factories. The names of British factory cities soon became coterminous with the process of industrialization. Within a span of few decades factory centres such as Manchester grew into cities of hundred thousand. Environment This was also combined with environmental degradation. Industrialization has brought factory pollutants and greater land use, which have harmed the natural environment. In particular, the application of machinery and science to agriculture has led to greater land use and, therefore, extensive loss of habitat for animals and plants. In addition, drastic population growth following industrialization has contributed to the decline of natural habitats and resources. These factors, in turn, have caused many species to become extinct or endangered. file:///d /NPTL%20WORK/Dr.%20Anindita%20Chakrabarti/UrbanSociology/lecture8/8_8.htm [5/31/2013 9:56:50 AM]
Reference: Hobsbwam, Eric. 2002 (1962). The Age of Revolution 1789-1848. London: Abacus. Nisbet, Robert A.1966: "The Sociological Tradition". New York: Basic Books 1966. Tonnies, Ferdinand,2005: Community and Society in Lin and Mele ed. The Urban Sociology Reader. London: Routledge. The Industrial Revolution. (2011). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/ebchecked/topic/766900/the-industrial-revolution file:///d /NPTL%20WORK/Dr.%20Anindita%20Chakrabarti/UrbanSociology/lecture8/8_9.htm [5/31/2013 9:56:50 AM]