Impacts of Industrial Revolution - Research Paper Example

Impacts of Industrial revolution The 1785 spinning mule (Retrieved from Web: ) The photo shows two people, a woman and a man working on a spinning mule during the industrial revolution after the discovery of the mule (Atteberry and English, para 1-4). Characteristic to this photo is the machine itself, which depicted a great stride towards industrialization within the period of industrial revolution. There is mass production of the textile or cotton material with the aid of just two people. This shows the great stride made through the invention and adoption of the machine as far as the textile industry was concerned where efficiency would be realized using low human labor yet the realization of high productivity. However, the use of the initial spinning machines was dependent on water power hence the production cite had to be at the proximity of rivers. Nevertheless, this led to more innovations through which steam engines were discovered and thus substituted the reliance on waterpower. However, it is worth noting that despite the discovery of the spinning mule in 1785, the production efficiency in textile industry was not any better than through hand until higher modifications were done. This would explain the reluctance observed in adoption of the machine at the time. Gradual acceptance of the machine took place and this led to the full adoption of the discovery in the mid nineteenth century. Preface The late 18th century to the early 19th century saw a shift in mechanisms and practices that were traditionally used in manufacturing to modernized systems of manufacturing. There was a shift from production methods, which involved hand production methods to the introduction, and adoption of mechanization processes. Production mechanisms in use prior to the revolution encouraged the furtherance of such vices as slave trade, which supplied the required labor cheaply for higher gains in production especially within the western economies. Previously, the efficiency in production was greatly compromised because of the use of such crude mechanisms of production as the hand/manual labor. This period marked the introduction of simple machines, iron production as well as chemical manufacturing. The processes adopted encouraged the extensive use of steam power for running engines besides improvisation of machine tools. Discovery of coal and its use for fuel equally dates back to the period where coal proved to be more effective as a source of power over wood as well as other bio fuels that were in use previously. However, it is worth noting that the revolution points its origin from Britain though it easily dispersed to other parts of the world from Europe to the US. The revolution is shown to have had some sort of impact to merely every aspect of human life. For instance, such aspects of social economic lives of human beings as average income as well as population growth changed; there was a notable growth in both of these aspects. The living standards of all populations had thus a celebrated notable improvement, which illustrated growth patterns. Generally accepted is the fact that the revolution had great influence on social and economic change across the globe. However, it is worth noting that the industrial revolution has been a topic of great debates with both advantages as well as disadvantages of the same being postulated. Discussion As indicated from the photo, the textile industry received and exhibited great evolution with the commencement of industrial revolution. Industrial production of textile products was wholly dependent on human labor prior to the commencement of industrial revolution. In fact, it is estimated that the output levels were very low as this depended on all factors that would influence the productivity of a human being. Such factors as the level of motivation as well as environmental factors would inhibit massive production in the textile industry. However, the invention of the steam engines or mechanized spinning tools powered by water had a great influence in production levels within the industry. Moreover, the ginnery which was a resultant of the industrial discoveries, which characterized the revolution, had a notable influence in increasing the speed for separating seed from the cotton. This therefore meant that the gains from cotton industry characteristically rose which explains the social and economic influence to the populations living and practicing the economic activity. The generalization of industrial revolution shows a process that was gradual and which span over a long period of time and which would be seen even through the technology era of the 20th century. Among the great debates of all times has been on the impacts of the industrial revolution especially in the shift of mechanisms of economic production. It is associated with stabilization of GDP per capita of the world economies besides the emergence of capitalists in the modern economies. The depiction of mere two people working on a whole mule shows how efficient the discovery was in textile industry. The discovery and development of steam engines as a source of power increased production efficiencies as the developed engines had a low consumption capacity of fuel as compared to those previously used. Moreover, stationary steam engines were adapted for motion and thus becoming very effective for use in industrial purposes. The pressure engine was equally adopted for transportation, which equally resulted to great efficiency in matters of industrial development. Therefore, increased production and improvement of living standards were the major influences that industrial revolution brought about. History reveals that prior to the inventions that characterized the industrial revolution, much of the activity in manufacturing and production industry depended on manual labor. It was therefore low and the quality was greatly compromised as human beings are subject to influence from internal factors as well as external (environmental) factors. The basic industry composed of domestic production though some levels of commercial production was practiced. In addition to home based production, which formed the bulk of production some production, was done under master supervisions in workshops. Besides the production for domestic consumption, contractual production occurred where the manufactures produced to meet demands for selling merchants who would be trusted in collecting and distributing the textile products from one place to another across the globe. Of special attention to this paper was the discovery and production of bleaching chemicals, which were very useful in the textile industry. The manual means of bleaching garments as was in use before the discovery of bleaching agents was very slow and time consuming as it would take months in bleaching the textile. However, the introduction of bleaching chemicals significantly reduced this time used in bleaching from months to days. Sour milk and other alkalis were in use prior to this discovery, which made the production cumbersome before the introduction of the bleaching chemicals. Besides, this development marked a milestone even in manufacture of other chemicals used in different industries such as construction and dying. It is in this regard that the development of economic classes of people as influenced by industrial revolution occurred. There was class distinction of those who owned means of production, which formed the class of capitalists while the class that had no such means of production, were seen as the have-nots. The capitalist theorists believe that the process through which people amass wealth and own means of production describes the capitalist ideology. Industrial revolution therefore has some links with the creation of social and economic classes where those who owned means of production had a characteristically different social status from the people who owned not such production means. Moreover, the need to amass wealth led to development of such a class of people of slaves who were seen as poor and which the capitalists would exploit in order to realize higher production at low costs. Slave master relations were therefore common features, which characterized the industrial revolution. The capitalists owned the means of production and thus required the slaves for them to realize their gains; through manual production and through operation of production machines. The high productivity as shown by the photo supported the ideology of capitalism. Higher productivity by capitalists led to development of manufacturing plants, which led to urbanization. Urbanization on the other hand had a direct influence in having populations surge within urban centers after relation from rural areas. However, the influence and effect varied from a region to another depending on the level of civilization. Development of social classes also explains the evolution notable on political sphere where political classes also developed. In conclusion, as the photo above illustrates, manufacturing industry received the greatest impact as regards the impacts of industrial revolution. There was a shift from use of hands to more efficient mechanisms of machines. This therefore had an influence in changing the efficiencies of production and led to improvement in social economic life of the people. However, it led to development of social economic classes as explained by the capitalistic ideologies where certain persons owned means of production but had ‘other’ people aid in production. This paper has therefore taken special attention in analyzing the impacts of industrial revolution from the textile industry point of view. This is because the industry is one of the oldest industry and which was greatly shaped by the innovations and discoveries within the revolution as noted. Among other influences experienced is the substitution of hand/manual production to mechanization of production processes. Moreover, discovery of chemicals had a significant impact towards the overall production processes. Basic to the industrial revolution within the textile industry was the efficiency realized through production through machines which despite saving on manual labor in use; it greatly reduced the time used in manufacturing process (Viswaprakash and Sentamilselvan, 201-207). Works cited Atteberry J. and English M., “Top 10 industrial revolution inventions.” 1998-2013: Web. 27 August 2013. Viswaprakash V. and Sentamilselvan K. “Globalization & trade in textile industry.” International Journal of Marketing and Technology 2(5), p.201-209 Read More