How did the Industrial Revolution change and redefine the world - Research Paper Example

The changes caused to the world as a result of industrial revolution are presented in this paper using appropriate literature. It is proved that the effects of industrial revolution have been significantly more than the planners of this movement had imagined. Such implication can be characterized as expected since the culture, the social ethics and the political frameworks of states internationally are often highly differentiated. The power of industrial revolution to change and redefine the world cannot be doubted.

At a first level, industrial revolution has been related just to the economy and technology; this trend is reflected in the following definition: ‘industrial revolution is the process by which the society acquired control over vast resources of inanimate energy’.1 The above definition is based on the view that industrial revolution is mostly related to the economy, a view that is critically opposed by most theorists and academic researchers. Of course, in its early phases industrial revolution has been related to the use of sources of energy not used in production previously, at least not massively: ‘coal, oil and electricity’.

2 In regard to the society, the industrial revolution led to the development of new social classes: ‘industrial workers, i.e. the non-specialized staff of industrial units, and scientific professionals, such as engineers and technicians’.3 In other words, the industrial revolution can be considered as responsible for the introduction of inequality in the workplace. Since workers of different educational background have become necessary, different terms of employment have not been avoided. Indeed, the inequalities related to a series of employment issues, such as the level of compensation, the access to high levels of the organizational hierarchy and the level of performance – based awards, have become quite common in firms of all industries.

4 The expansion of this phenomenon has resulted to important social inequalities: since not all individuals have been fairly compensated for their work their potentials to secure their financial status are different.5 Professionals and highly specialized workers can reach a quite high level of income, a fact that gives them the opportunity to establish a style of life quite different from that of non-specialized workers. In other words, the inequalities in the workplace, as a result of industrial revolution, have resulted to inequalities in society.

The oppositions of people to the above inequalities have been quite strong. The appearance of social movements for the protection of the rights of the weaker members of the society has been related to the industrial revolution. The movements focusing on ‘the rights of women’s and of minorities’6 have resulted in order to lessen inequalities both in work and in social life, as these two aspects of human life have been affected by industrial revolution. The high involvement of industrial revolution in social life is made clear through the study of Mokyr (1985).

The above researcher focuses on the effects of industrial revolution on social life and economy of Britain. It is noted that in the particular country industrial revolution has led to the transformation of the economy and the society: a) initially, industrial revolu