Industrialization

Industrialization is the process of converting from an agrarian and artisanal social and economic system to an industrial system. This process entails developing and adopting technological elements such as mechanization of labor and use of mechanical sources of energy. In addition to advances in transportation and technology, early industrialization brought widespread social changes. Serfs and other laborers were freed from traditional feudal obligations that tied them to the land, creating a labor market. Urban centers attracted masses of landless people and artisans, creating large workforces for industry. Industrialization has raised the standard of living in developed nations, giving average people access to products and technology unimaginable two hundred years before.

Background

By the early nineteenth century, innovations in agricultural and manufacturing technology based on mechanical power sources such as steam, coal, and, later, petroleum allowed the concentration and integration of production processes near the sources of fuel power. These locations became urban industrial centers. By concentrating production in urban areas, industrialists could minimize the cost of transportation and maximize economies of scale, among other advantages. A unique combination of social, commercial, and technological changes in Britain led to widespread advances in production processes and strategies in fields such as iron processing and textile manufacturing.

By the mid-nineteenth century, similar industrial developments began to take place in continental Europe and the northeastern United States. Besides rapid population growth, the rise of industry in both Europe and the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century gave way to unrestricted business enterprise and vast profits from speculation. During that period, large, sprawling cities grew, as did the gap between the very wealthy and the very poor. In the United States, the Progressive movement arose in response to the unfettered political corruption and labor exploitation of the era.

Among the unintended consequences of industrialization were slums, exploitation, and widespread disease, which led to sanitation and the improvement of public health becoming two of the most imperative public demands. The improvement of water-supply and sewage engineering, for example, resulted from an attempt to improve and safeguard public health. Housing reform measures were eventually implemented in urban centers, and labor unions organized to fight for and improve the conditions of workers.

Regulatory laws concerning urban industrial areas were passed as early as the mid-nineteenth century in Britain and the United States. Implementation, however, took a long time. Nevertheless, new legislation continued to raise standards, often in response to journalist exposes and government investigations.

Overview

The industrialization of Europe began in Britain in the late eighteenth century. Technological innovations in textile and iron manufacturing, as well as abundant labor and inexpensive sources of coal, gave Britain an industrial advantage for more than a century. The other Western European nations, as well as the United States, followed Britain’s lead. Industrial achievement in the British model became a national economic and political objective for many countries. Many of the early industrialized nations shared similarities in their social and economic systems, and most had already developed significant infrastructure. In nations where centralized government and infrastructure were less developed, industrialization in the British model took longer to develop.

Many experts argue that rather than a national phenomenon, industrialization is actually a regional phenomenon. In other words, nations that undergo industrialization are not homogenous, and industrial regions do not develop equally within their borders. For example, industrial centers developed in regions of Britain such as Yorkshire but did not develop in all regions of the country. Likewise, industrialization took root and became widespread in the northeastern United States, while the South remained more dependent on agricultural employment for a time. The American South and European countries that had not yet become industrialized traded with those regions that had, and this trade in raw materials, along with the exchange of capital and the immigration of European laborers, furthered the spread of European industrialization. British and American imperialism and slavery also supplied raw materials and labor necessary to the success of industrial centers.

Industrial progress was somewhat interrupted in the first half of the twentieth century, when World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II disrupted manufacturing and diverted many nations’ funds to war-related efforts and public services. The world wars themselves reflected the impact of industrialization, as the nations involved developed and used new weapons technology. During the interwar period, industrial growth was increasingly based on new technologies, such as electrical appliances, automobiles, and telecommunications equipment.

After World War II, the industrialized world underwent significant changes. Although the United States and many European nations were once industrial hubs, many companies based in those countries moved their manufacturing facilities elsewhere to reduce costs. Asia became a major center of manufacturing in the latter half of the twentieth century, with significant industrialization occurring in Japan in the decades after World War II. China became home to numerous factories in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries as a result of both Western outsourcing and local industry.

Bibliography

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