What Caused The Industrial Revolution?

HIST 108
Lecture 11
the Industrial Revolution
ESSAY PLAN: due Thursday (!!)
Technology plays a very important role in the IR look at the impact of tech on
pre-modern (agricultural)/conventional society.
The Industrial Revolution is a phenomenon/concept acting as the final stage of
the transition from pre-modern memorialist to modern capitalism the turning
point of the dissolution of the medieval socio-economic structure. This process
started in Britain and later in W. Europe in the late middle-ages, and continued
until approximately 1870. It focuses on the change from small scale production
systems to large-scale manufacturing systems (eg: factories) which occurred due
to the introduction of machines mechanization.
What caused the Industrial Revolution?

1. Webers Spirit of Capitalism:
The rise of modern capitalism meant that the wealthy middle-class (independent
farmers and manufacturers) became even more wealthy, growing the domestic
market. This was also due to the fact that the rising English middle-class were
religious non-conformists (Christians who didnt conform to the establishment of
any established churches): Quakers, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians ect. A
characteristic of the non-conformists was their hatred of luxury and their
preference for practicality which was very suitable for mass-production
highly ornate products were virtually impossible to produce by machine, where
as plain and practical products were.
2. The dissolution of medieval economic structure:
Lancashire (NW corner of England) was the birthplace of the IR why
Lancashire? Emerged as one of the centres of textile industry. There were very
few medieval privileged towns in Lancashire meaning people could move
there to start businesses without guild-based obligations. This gave rise to new
cities, such as Manchester, Bolton, Blackburn and so forth) the bases of nonconformists, where modern economical activities could flourish.
3. The British Agricultural Revolution
Medieval and early-modern economies were predominantly agricultural. There
was a massive increase in agricultural output from the 16 th century to the midnineteenth century. This was both due to the rise of scientific farming (the use
of fertilisers) and the use of machines. This significantly improved the harvest
per acre and agricultural output increased significantly due to the use of
machinery (chicken and the egg) which created a mutually reinforcing
relationship between the use of machines and agricultural output.
Enclosure separated farmland with the use of

walls- literally enclosed farmland. This increased
arable land and thus production, but because
controversial political decision as it privatised
the
commons,
which had
been public
land and
had been
important to
villagers
and poorer
farmers, who depended on it for firewood
and occasionally hunting. These farmers
were dependant on access to the commons
for their survival as they didnt have their
own land. As a result of enclosure, poorer
farmers had to migrate to urban
communities, providing cheap labour and increased workforce in cities, allowing
the IR to take place.
4. The Consumer Revolution
Consumer revolution (Neil McKendrick) focuses on consumerism as opposed to
manufacturing, turning capitalism into an iron cage as opposed to a religious
process. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, while the consumer revolution took
place, colonialism was also spreading globally. This meant that as opposed to a
domestic market, international trade could result in the generation of capital,
which could be reinvested in industry and trade.
5. New Technologies:
New machines invented in the 18th century such as the spinning Jenny, which
enhanced the productivity of manufacturing due to the speed they provided.
Because the thread was too thin for the spinning Jenny, the water frame was
invented to reinforce the thread, and the two were combined to create the
spinning mule giving hints to the importance of the evolution of machines
within the IR.
T.S Ashtons classic thesis VS. Nick Crafts revisionism.
Steam engines and the use of coal was incredibly important for the economic
development of England and W. Europe, leading to Steam-powered pumps:
used in mining, steam-powered mills, automobiles and boats etc and railroad
locomotives (1804)
What was the social impact of the Industrial Revolution?

The population dramatically increased- from 1000-1500 the growth rate was 1%
per decade, whereas from 1800-1900 is was 10% per decade. This is attributable
to the improvements made in diet in the 18th and 19th centuries. These were due
to the British agricultural revolution and the introduction new transport systems,
which gave people access to foods produced outside the local community. This
allowed communication to develop and allow people to develop a political
conscience, increased employment opportunities, and leisure (emergence of
seaside resorts eg.
Brighton), GMT, increased
life chances ect.
Another major
consequence is the
urbanisation of industrial
society. As the populations
boomed, factorial systems
replaced manorial systems
and transportation
improved, mass migration
the cities began to take
place. In 1750 the rural
British population was 65%,
by 1850 it was only 10%.
to
The change in social structure led to the rise of a middle class who based their
wealth off capital instead of land. This offered new power to manufacturers,
industrialists and financiers, who emerged as the new elite class of society the
first millionaires (eg. Richard Arkwright, who left an estate that was worth a
contemporary 500,000 pounds in 1792, Josiah Wedgewood- china and Joseph
Cadbury-choc.) The majority of these massively wealthy men were nonconformists, who became very wealthy and influential in England.
The major legacy of the industrial revolution was poverty, and the polarisation of
wealth. The poor lived in filthy and unhealthy conditions, in small houses (terrace
homes) which encouraged diseases such as tuberculosis. Because of the
conditions in which they lived their lives, some workers became luddites as a
result of their resent for machines, who opposed industrialism and attacked
factories to destroy machines that they believed caused misery. Another factor
was migration, leading to the population of the colonies.

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HIST 108

What caused the Industrial Revolution?

Enclosure separated farmland with the use of

What was the social impact of the Industrial Revolution?

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