The Main Outcomes of the Industrial Revolution - Essay Example

Impacts of Industrial Revolution Name: Tutor: Date: Introduction The Industrial Revolution took place over 200 years ago. This phenomenon had a great impact in changing the processes and ways with which many products such as cloth and textile industries operate up to date1. The term "revolution" appears in the phrase because of the changes caused by the industrial revolution. These changes were so sudden, great and far reaching that its impacts were as significant as they greatly influenced the way with which people lived and worked across the globe. By large extend, the revolution helped a great deal in bringing influencing the way modern world experiences changes on how humans conduct their daily activities and so on. Indeed, it is certain that the Industrial Revolution came with major changes, shaking and restructuring the nature of industrial production by bringing in sophisticated machines by replacing animal and human power with inferior tools and steam among other sources of energy for commercial and domestic use. The revolution began in England during the early stages of the middle 1700s2. During the Industrial Revolution, employees in general developed their skills and became more productive in organizations, manufacturing of items became a common thing, and there was a significant fall in product prices. In summing up, the revolution improved the general status of life. However, the Industrial Revolution came with impacts that were also harmful. It resulted in increased environmental pollution, employees found themselves exposed to poor working environments, and capitalists recruited young women and children to hard and unfair employment activities as they were cheap labor working for long hours with little pay3. The primary purpose of this essay to examine an overview of the impacts of industrial revolution in light to technology, economy, and social impacts that resulted from the Industrial Revolution, which played a significant role in ensuring a remarkable shift from an agricultural-based economy to an economy based on industry4. The essay argues that new technological advancements that arose during the time of revolution, particularly the steam energy engine, led to greater economic changes that changed completely industrial processes. Although the Industrial Revolution occurred at a time when living conditions were so terrible, it is important to note that it was also a time of great economic advancements, exciting technologies, and noticeably powerful change. Causes of Industrial Revolution By large extend, the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s was a cultural phenomenon that, as discussed above, influenced people's lives right from its occurrence5. The increased population in Europe and North America, the aspect of improve technology on machinery and mass production, increase in the rise of factories, and the influence of new technologies on communications like telegraph, the telephone, and the Bessemer process used in the improvement of iron ore to steel played a crucial role in causing Industrial Revolution. The effects were both positive and negative in the form of improved infrastructure in cities, improved way of life, and philanthropy, and in the form of child labor, and poor and pathetic working conditions6. Specifically, without the growth in population, it would be almost impossible that there would be urbanization that resulted to Industrial Revolution more than any other cause. Increased population in rural areas forced people to seek employment opportunities in urban areas thus resulting in very rural-urban migration. This in turn resulted in subsequent exchange of ideas that resulted in great inventions and innovations. Population increase therefore, is a major cause of the industrial revolution7. The increased population that resulted in rural-urban migration increased the competitive pressures of seeking employment in urban areas. This also gave rise to the improvements in scientific innovations, engineering techniques, and other developments. Consequently, the development of industrial mechanization was an inevitable event8. These developments ensured the upgrading of the transport infrastructure in cities, which played a crucial role in improving trade opportunities, and facilitated the movement of people, thus increased urbanization. Finally, the availability of coal and timber was pivotal in the development of steam driven technology and Bessemer process. Impacts of the Industrial Revolution An overview of the impacts of Industrial Revolution indicates that the phenomenon had numerous positive and negative effects on peoples’ social and economic lives. Not only factory and industrial employees felt these impacts, but also, the factory and industrial. Furthermore, those who had the opportunity to witness the far-reaching changes that came with industrial revolution and the conditions of industrial cities at the time, do appreciate the impacts that resulted from industrial revolution. It is therefore worthy to note that during the Industrial Revolution, many positive and negative occurrences resulted. Among the positive impacts, include improved ways of lives through cheaper basic needs, improved employment rates, and improvement in transportation and infrastructure at large9. Among the negative impacts that came with Industrial Revolution had a greater effect on the health and lives of the working class. During the revolution, many people in the public suffered long-term problems such as poor working conditions that affected their health. For instance, the factories were so dusty and had an insufficient diet that caused problems in workers. In factories, during the Industrial Revolution, the working class made sure that the poor people worked for so many hours with little break and insignificant wages10. Among other positive economic impacts of the Industrial Revolution included cheaper prices on clothing, improved infrastructure, and improved transport for both people and goods. Positive socially life improved drastically in terms of better housing and interaction among individuals that resulted in sharing of ideas and thus scientific invention and innovation improved11. With the development of the steam engine, travelling became very cheap and thus people had the ability to reach various destinations and do their daily activities with a lot of ease. The conditions varied greatly in the places lived by the middle class people and the areas in which the rich in the society occupied. This is also another negative impact of the Industrial Revolution. Living conditions in areas where the poor lived included a large amount of filth, rampant environmental pollution, and was characterized by poor infrastructure. Furthermore, the areas where the poor in the society resided had quite unpaved roads and poor infrastructure. Because of such pathetic living status, spread of diseases became more rapid and became even worse with poor medical services. On the contrary, the living conditions on the areas where the factory owners and rich in general lived had clean, well-paved streets, and water. It is in these areas where people would not mind innovations and other new inventions such as the spinning jenny that came with industrial revolution. This spinning jenny brought in some positive and negative effects on the society. This is probably because after its development, many skilled artisans began to lose their employments. As innovations and inventions came into existence, the need for artisans in the industry decreased very rapidly. On the other hand, positive effect of the spinning jenny would be the rate the machine worked, and that it was a stepping-stone to mass production in factories12. Besides the positive effects, the Industrial Revolution also had many social negative effects. Due to rapidly growing urbanization, many cities that had poor infrastructure that was unable to withhold growing population experienced congestion from people seeking for job opportunities. For instance, cities in England's lacked decent housing system and had poor sanitary codes, poor education, and lacked proper police protection13. Many workers that had the opportunity to work lived in small and dirty shelters where sickness spread a lot. With the introduction of steam energy, conditions in factories became even worse that saw machines injuring workers and many factory owners seeking to get the cheapest labor possible out of members of the society. To attain their wish, factory owners hired resort to children and women since they are the cheapest labor with the willingness to work long hours for low wages. As the working class experienced little improvements in living and working conditions, it was contrary with the middle class that comprised of skilled workers, professionals, employers, and factory owners saw significant improvements in their lives. The middle class was now able to afford things that only the wealthy had the access. Further, on social and economic impacts, the industrial revolution increased the gap between the rich and the poor in the 19th century. Many economic and social reformers felt that the government had the responsibility of participating actively to ensure a balance in wealth between the rich and the poor and ensure improved standard of living for the poor14. This saw the creation of many ideas and philosophies as reaction economic and social implications of the massive Industrial Revolution. This consequently resulted in an economic system, called socialism. Socialism grew up during the 1800s as a reaction to the devastating economic impacts of Industrial Revolution. This system called for more influence from the state, equal rights to all humans regardless of social and economic class, and an end to inhumanity that stood strongly opposite to individualism and hands-off accordance to political matters in factories. Laissez-faire philosophy, otherwise known as capitalism, initiated by Adam Smith, came up with suggestions and recommendations that owners of company and business should come up with strategies to facilitate good working conditions by their own without any government intervention15. Besides these two, other social movements such as communism and Karl Marx proposed a form of complete socialism. This new form of socialism suggested that all means of production should remain completely in the management of the public with a small number of manufactures controlling wealth. Additionally, utilitarianism is another form of social group that judged ideas and actions based on their utility and had a strong belief that government actions should intend to promote the greatest good for the greatest number of people in the society came into existence through Jeremy Bentham but later led by John Stuart Mill16. As a typical example of the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution left a permanent mark on society. Life in the 18th century changed significantly to a point of introducing a total shift in class, with wealth increasing and nations begun to assume their national identities. The Industrial Revolution is one of the most important events that changed the course of economic, social, and political history as it caused the world to face many social consequences and economic changes that are still in practice up to date17. Although Britain had advanced with constitutional monarchy in place, the vast majority of its population remained excluded from the entire electoral system, meaning they had no right to political voting. As industrial strength grew with industrial revolution along with a more forcible middle class, electoral reform became a strong necessity to balance the new society's political structure18. Before 1832, only 6% of the male population had the eligibility to exercise their voting rights - represented by wealthy aristocrats who owned large portions of land in the countryside and other vast property19. By 1832, the middle class factory owners had strong demands for political power to match their newfound economic punch. Subsequently, this resulted in the Reform Bill of 1832 that empowered 20% of the male population to exercise their voting rights and had the freedom to choose their leaders20. The Reform Bill also did a great deal in redistributing electoral districts to have a clear reflection of the large populations experienced in most of city centers. The rebelliousness of employees and working class in England reached its maximum in the mid- nineteenth century when Chartism found its way to the society, an ideology that strongly suggested for political reforms in England. The name Chartism bases its name from a Charter that strongly suggested and recommended changes to the Parliamentary system. Such changes are as follows21: Complete Male Suffrage Parliaments on annual basis Voting by way of secret ballot Property declaration by MPs Payment of MPs Equal electoral constituencies Conclusion In conclusion, there were various positive and negative impacts associated with Industrial Revolution. During and after the Industrial Revolution, many positive and negative occurrences highly affected political, social, and economic aspects of the society. These changes had serious impacts on peoples’ lives and remain present in the current society. There are various causes associated with the causes of the industrial revolution. Such causes include increased population that resulted in migration of people to seek job opportunities in urban areas and thus urbanization. Reference Bielenberg, Andy. Ireland and the Industrial Revolution: The Impact of the Industrial Revolution On Irish Industry, 1801-1922. New York: Routledge, 2009. Burnette, Joyce. Gender, Work and Wages in Industrial Revolution Britain. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Foster, Charles. Capital and Innovation: How Britain Became the First Industrial Nation. Northwich: Arley Hall Press, 2004. Gatrell, Peter. Farm to factory: a reinterpretation of the Soviet industrial revolution. The Economic History Review 57, no 4 (2004): 794-800. Herbert, Sussman. Victorian Technology: Invention, Innovation, and the Rise of the Machine. Sydney: Macmillan Press, 2009. Humphries, Jane. Childhood and Child Labour in the British Industrial Revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Wrigley, E.A. Energy and the English Industrial Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Van Zanden, J L. The Long Road to the Industrial Revolution : The European Economy in a Global Perspective, 1000-1800. Leiden: BRILL, 2009. Read More