Industrial age
The Industrial Age is a significant period in human history that began around 1760 in Great Britain and marked a transition from agrarian economies to machine-based industrial economies. This era is characterized by extensive economic and social transformations driven by technological advancements, particularly in industries such as textiles and iron. Innovations like the spinning jenny and steam engine dramatically increased production capabilities, leading to the rise of factories and urbanization as people migrated to cities in search of better wages and work opportunities.
During the Industrial Age, society experienced profound shifts in family dynamics, education, and health due to the changing nature of work and living conditions. While some benefited from improved wages and the emergence of a middle class, many workers faced harsh realities, including dangerous working environments and child labor exploitation. This period also saw the establishment of labor movements advocating for workers' rights.
The Industrial Age continued until the late twentieth century, transitioning into the Information Age as reliance on computerized technologies grew. In recent years, discussions have emerged regarding the potential for a new phase of historical development, tentatively referred to as the "imagination age," fueled by advancements in virtual reality and interactive technologies.
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Industrial age
The industrial age describes a period in human history that was marked by enormous economic and social changes resulting from the development of machinery and large-scale industry. It is one of several "ages" that historians use to characterize the development of labor and its effects on civil societies around the world. These periods also include the agricultural age and the information age.
Beginning in approximately 1760 in Great Britain, the industrial age brought enormous social change. Industry moved from family-centric enterprises almost entirely dependent on manual labor and simple tools to a largely machine-based economy. The resulting effects on British society were momentous; virtually every aspect of society—from the movement of the population into urban centers to family dynamics, education, medicine, immigration, and technology—saw seismic shifts in this era.
The industrial age refers to a different concept than the Industrial Revolution, although the two ideas are interrelated. The Industrial Revolution marks a shorter period of time from 1760 to the early eighteenth century, whereas the industrial age refers to a longer era. The industrial age describes a period in which the Industrial Revolution was the impetus that caused human society to transition from a rural, agrarian society to an economy driven by technology and industry. The industrial age is generally characterized as running from 1760 (concurrent with the Industrial Revolution) to the late twentieth century, when the information age began. However, the timeframe marking the transition from the industrial age to the information age is a point of continuing debate, with some academics arguing that global society remains in an industrial age.
Brief History
Prior to the beginning of the industrial age, a greater percentage of Britain's people lived outside of urban centers. This was because the country's farms required a large number of people to work and harvest the fields. Without mechanized tools to simplify the work, about one-third of the country's population was employed as farm laborers—an energy-intensive but hardscrabble life that left much of its workforce in poverty. Production levels for each worker were comparatively low in relation to rates in the twenty-first century.
Beginning in the mid-eighteenth century, the British economy underwent a rapid-pace development starting with the iron and textile industries. In the textile industry, innovations such as the spinning jenny, a device that enabled workers to produce several spools of threads at the same time, and the power loom, which simplified the weaving process, led to enormous growth in production capabilities. Factories that were mass-producing materials necessitated the comparable development of aligned industries and technologies to maintain efficiency. Special machinery that required less intense physical effort and produced more items per worker per day created more profitable companies. This in turn led to the creation of new factories, roads, and systems of communication and finance. Workers migrated to areas where factories existed due to the promise of better wages. The development of the steam engine further galvanized the start of this new industrial period.
However, with this progress, society began to experience abrupt shifts in its dynamics. While increased living wages helped some segments of society enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle, many people were also forced to endure hellish working conditions in dangerous and unpleasant work environments in these factories. Children under the age of fifteen, particularly in the textile industry, were increasingly employed in hazardous work. The new machines could be operated by children, and child laborers demanded less money, making them valuable workers. The poor job security, workplace dangers, and inequalities of these new industries pushed workers to campaign for greater rights and trade unions in the late nineteenth century.
The Industrial Revolution soon spread to other countries in Europe and North America. In the United States, an embargo act in 1807 that banned foreign-made products led to the War of 1812. These events triggered a demand for greater American economic independence. To help spur progress, the US government invested in better transportation and enacted protective tariffs on American goods. These factors, combined with the further development of manufacturing processes, led to massive growth in American industrial sectors. As in Britain, this led to the growth of urban areas and the development of better forms of communication and transportation.
In the United States, a second Industrial Revolution between approximately 1880 and 1920 saw a new wave of technical innovations, including such transportation technologies as steam-powered ships and an increasingly widespread railway network. Such developments as the spread of electricity and the creation of factory assembly lines (like those established by carmaker Henry Ford) are often linked to the rapid growth of the American economy in the twentieth century. This period saw an enormous rise in the number of immigrants coming to America to take advantage of its better opportunities. It also saw the development of a strong American middle class. The number of workers employed in the manufacturing sector rose from 2.5 million to 10 million between 1880 and 1920.
By the late twentieth century, human society began to see another cultural shift. For instance, in the United States, the number of people employed in manufacturing jobs decreased from 17.6 million in 1998 to 12.29 million in 2016. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that another 800,000 manufacturing jobs would be permanently eliminated by 2024. This is regarded as a symptom of another slow shift of the global economy from the industrial age to the information age.
Overview
Historians often divide history into three broad periods: the agricultural age, the industrial age, and the information age. The agricultural age began in human prehistory approximately ten thousand years ago. It started with the development of settled communities whose members were able to domesticate plants and animals. Most people in this period were employed as farmers, merchants, craftspeople, or other skilled laborers. The start of the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century resulted in the movement of human society into the industrial age of history. This period was marked by its increasing reliance on machines to mass-produce materials. This development led to a shift in the population from a more rural and agrarian society to crowded urban centers where people lived and worked. As technology became more advanced, humankind became more dependent on computerized technologies at the end of the twentieth century. This change ushered in the information age (or digital age). As industries continue to change, some historians have theorized about a possible era in which virtual reality, cyberspace, and other interactive technologies will create a new period of human history tentatively called the imagination age.
Bibliography
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