The Industrialization of Europe - Essay Example

? The Industrialization of Europe 1780-1914 Introduction According to the standard interpretation the process of industrialization in the continent of Europe took pace with an industrial revolution in Great Britain. It is believed that the other nations followed the footsteps of Europe. The interpretation takes on to a vulnerable history. According to Karl Marx, a developed country portrays an image to the future to the less developed countries. The Stages of Growth by Rostow is reinforcement of the traditional interpretation. The economic as well as social and political changes that occurred in Europe ceased from being dependant on agriculture alone and devoted a major proportion of the available resources towards production of non agricultural commodities. Industrialization shares close relation with both economic development and economic growth but the concepts are not the same. Kuznets termed it as the modern economic epoch. The process of economic growth involved the association or interaction of four factors namely population, resources, institutions as well as technology. The process of interaction between the factors determines the outcome of the process but the variation of possible outcomes is infinite. During the process of industrialization in the nineteenth century several factors played many different roles at different times (Henderson, 1969). The era of industrialization brought improvements in the standards of living of the society, new wealth on the hands of the population and a transformation from agricultural productivity to urbanization and upgraded standards of health. Technology consisted of the inventions that contributed in the process of production. Such innovation transformed the way production took place. The inventions of new machines like cotton gin, power loom contributed in production of large quantities. In the era of industrialization there was rapid demand for cotton and the demand surpassed the supply in the market creating the condition for excess demand. The demand could not be served if spinning machines were not invented. Industrialization increased urbanization in the continent. The cities in the nineteenth century became the places of manufacturing. Immigration into the industrial cities took place at a rapid rate as jobs were available in this part of the continent. The urbanization achieved raped rate before the planning process got implemented and therefore few challenges regarding social security aroused. The environmental problems coupled with overcrowding caused the challenges to become more hazardous. Industrialization transformed the social structure. As commerce and industry developed there was development of middle class locally referred as bourgeoisie. During the process of industrialization the middle class gained political power and social respect. Ultimately new elite of social class evolved and they were refereed as wealthy bourgeois. The human labor began to be replaced by machines. The use of steam engine was the benchmark for producing textiles. Commercial revolution, price revolution, and the cottage industry are regarded as the roots of industrialization. The commercial revolution brought about exploration age. The price revolution contributed in stimulating the production process as the producers can now get more money for their goods. There was rise in the capitalism structure as the surplus money began to circulate in the investment ventures. The middle class acted as the leaders in economic revolution. Trading as well as manufacturing brought wealth to the bourgeois (Cameron, 1985). Research objective The objective of the research is to analyze the effects of industrialization in the continent of Europe. It is believed that industrialization brought in improvements in the stands of living of the society and therefore the blessings on industrial revolution helped the continent to advance into one of the developed parts of the world. The time period under consideration for the research is 1780 to 1914. Research questions The research questions are as follows: What are the roots of industrial revolution? How industrial revolution contributed in transforming the agrarian economy to an industrial economy? What are the effects of industrial revolution? Literature Review According to Landes (1969), the political power rested upon the wealthy class who owned the lands. During the period of industrialization the power shifted to the merging class of manufacturers. The structure of distribution widened. The government launched upon on some new roles and the education system expanded. The industrial revolution took place by gradual transformation in economic development. The available resources shifted from agriculture towards industry. Prior to the period of industrialization, a major portion of the work force worked on the agricultural lands. They earned their livelihood by working on the lands. Because of industrialization they lost their jobs. Landes claims that because of industrial revolution the inequality between the rich and the poor widened. This does not mean that demand suffered as people became unemployed. The agricultural workers groomed themselves as industrial workers and began to work in the factories. Thus they had enough money on their hands to generate the demand for the industrial goods. The demand generate laid the path for industrial growth. The demand conditions further stimulated as exports grew. Labor became specialized in a certain part of work and therefore a certain work could be performed more effectively. The factory system rationalized labor and such rationalization would lead to assembly line. In the later part of the eighteenth century and most prominently in the initial part of the twentieth century the manufacturing techniques practiced in Britain diffused into Europe. But in 1850 Europe failed to achieve the success as achieved in Britain. The western part of the continent developed both culturally as well as economically but could not match that of Britain. This part of the continent was blessed with all the ingredients needed for industrial transformation. The part opened itself towards the profit making industries which spread across the countries of the continent (Simons, 2003). The continent in the 125 year span ranging from 1789 to 1914 was united as well as divided. The entire continent witnessed spread of science and technology and some basic cultural trends. After 1871 the states of the continent was increasingly locked under the diplomatic interactions which culminated into alliance systems across the continent. The blessings of industrial revolution were first felt in the Western part while the southern and the Eastern part reaped the benefits but the process was relatively slow. Some historians divided the history of 19th century into small periods. The period of 1789 to 1815 was regarded as the period of French revolution and Napoleon, the period of1815 to 1848 was regarded as the period reaction with adjustments. The new rounds of revolution and the unifications of some of the nations was dominated in the period of 1848 to 1871 while the period of 1871 to 1914 was marked by the age of imperialism with some pressures that concluded the war. During the later part of the eighteenth century the population growth of Western Europe spurred the economic changes. In the fifty year period of 1750 to 1800 the growth in population was between 50 and 100 percent. The use of new crops foods as well as the decline of the frequency of hazardous diseases contributed in the growth. To deal with the unexpected large surviving broods the business families had to innovate. The pressures within the society and the available capital and entry into the overseas markets marked dominance into world trade. The technological up gradations soon spilled into manufacturing sectors. In the phase of 1830s, the local rail networks linked most of the countries in Western Europe and the national systems were under the planning procedure and to be completed within 1870. The communication fields tasted rapid growth after the invention of Telegraph which allowed faster exchange of information than before (Trebilcock, 1981). Active commercialization paved the path for urbanization. The villages were transformed into manufacturing cities and rapid expansion was on the cards. The rapid growth called for new hardships as the housing and the sanitary processes could not keep pace with the expansion procedures as it responded at slow pace. The Southern and the Eastern part of the continent operated in different economic orbits. They took the policy of setting up some model factories and new railway tracks. The growth rate was modest until later part of the nineteenth century and industrialization had the greatest impact in encouraging the transformation to market agriculture. The economic change shaded massive economic consequence during the initial part of nineteenth century. The nature of work became increasingly redefined and aspects of daily life were under scanner. The intensity of the transformation was most active on the workers of the factories while the workers on land witnessed less intensity. The self-sufficiency of work fell for the daily laborers. A group emerged between the workers and the owners who acted to be the coordinator. The amount of work achieved pace and machines were used to set the pace. The population consisting of women and children were supposed to carry out the jobs requiring less skill. A new work ethic was diffused into properties classes as well. The middle class community of the continent strove to redefine the tastes of leisure towards personal improvements and family cohesion. The family or the social life was also affected by the growth of cities and industry. Initially it was thought that the family members of the workers and the businessmen would assist in the work but after the first generation the impression faded as the houses were located at much distance from the work place and asked for separate attention. According to Komlos the technological marvels initially found limited success and economic growth became the permanent feature for the economies of Europe. These technologies contributed in aggregate the productivity of labor. Productivity of labor took the steep rising curve not only because new techniques were implemented but because of some other factors as well. The acceleration of technical progress in eighteenth century facilitated a creative response of ever rising pressure of population after 1750. The nature of industrial revolution has been discontinuous and also has been the topic of discussion. In order to conclude to an unbiased judgment it is necessary to evaluate the benefits of industrial revolution with the perspective of previous developments in the long run. If such an approach is undertaken it will be found out that industrial revolution can be thought of as possessing many aspects of discontinuities. Even before the eighteenth century the institutional and the incentives of the market economy were in place. Therefore capitalism is not an offspring of industrial revolution. The requisites of modern business were already an integral part of the businesses in Europe in 1760. The capital markets were highly integrated as well and there were barriers to entry into some of the occupations. In the initial phase of revolution capital formation did not have much role to play and therefore there was no need for the savings rate to increase drastically to make industrial revolution a reality. Impact of industrial revolution The resultant of industrial revolution was shift in the power balance of the entire globe. Industrial revolution acted as the catalyst in order to promote competition between the industrialized firms and at the same time increased the level of poverty in the less developed countries. It acted to widen the gap further between the industrialized with the non industrialized countries even when it strengthened the economic ties. In order to keep the wheels of the factory running and provide compensation to the workers the industrialized countries required a sound contribution of raw materials from the less developed lands. The industrialized countries viewed the markets of the less developed countries as the place which they can exploit. Such actions from the industries in the industrialized countries contributed only to increase the level of inequality between the countries. The country of Britain led the exploiting policies by exploiting the overseas markets for supply of raw materials as well as sale of their goods. Soon the other countries of Europe namely United States and Japan followed the footsteps of Britain and began to acquire the smaller colonies for their resources. These countries began to follow the policy of imperialism i.e. extending the rule of the powerful countries over the less powerful ones. Imperialism provided more power to the already powerful countries and wealth to the already wealthy ones. The cycle of revolution gave rise to imperialism as the industrial countries needed to find new markets for the sale of their markets and in this process acquired greater power. The transformation of the society in 1700s and 1900s changed the life of the people in Western part of the continent and that of United States. Almost entire portion of the continent was gaining the skills to produce more goods cheaply and effectively within a specific time limit. Therefore they were able to match the demand of those commodities through their supplies. In this way they began to capture the markets of the world and emerge as industrial giants. On the contrary the economies of the other parts of the world were still dependant on agriculture as well as in small workshops. The health conditions of the urban workers started to improve. The development witnessed by the middle class population opened up the opportunity for participation in education and in democracy. The participation in democracy fueled the movement towards social reforms. In the period of 1800s the business leaders of the industrialized countries believed that the progress is in turn contributing in extending the gap between the rich and the poor. They advised the government to move away from business as well as from economic affairs. However they opined the role of the government should be captured in bettering the conditions of the poor. Industrial revolution contributed to the wealth of the nations and created jobs for the workers. Technological progress along with inventions and innovations went on hand in hand. The workers got the benefits in the form of higher wages, and more skills and technological knowhow (Hazen, 1924). The industrial revolution produced some long term effects as well. The people in industrialized nations can manage to pay for the goods that were considered luxury about 5 decades ago. The living conditions are much enhanced compared with the workers in the 19th century. In the late Middle Ages a new economic system regarded as socialism emerged gradually. As industrialization transformed the society it was thought that capitalism would enhance the problems and they responded by developing a new system of socialism. Limitations The project talks about the industrial revolution and its impact within a certain period of time. Moreover the entire continent of Europe has been taken under consideration for the analysis. If the impacts of the industrial revolution would have been centered on a certain part of Europe for example Great Britain then a more concise analysis could have been performed. The project considers history as well as economical effects on the society because of industrial revolution. In this manner it is possible to judge the contributions of industrial revolution on the society as a whole. The project talks about the history and the causes of the industrial revolution but do not consider the views of the some economists. As there is a certain time period under consideration it was not possible to judge the after effects. The analysis is also cornered on a certain part of the globe. Conclusion It can be concluded that industrial revolution is a misnomer and can be hardly guaranteed. One cannot discard the concept of industrial revolution mainly because the transformation pace required longer than the use of the political concept. Despite the economic growth being slower an agreement exist that states the level of productivity increased sufficiently to surpass the growth in population and trounce the diminishing returns to labor. The structural shift witnessed in the era of industrial revolution from agriculture to industry was unparalleled both in terms of intensity as well as in terms of pace. To synthesize the various viewpoints put forward by the historians one should not judge the significance of one single factor but analyze the contributions of the factors as a whole. All the factors were necessary to bring in the industrial revolution and none of the factors were sufficient (Komlos, 2003-13). The most significant consequence of industrial revolution was the emergence of factories. In the initial part of the industrial revolution there was increased demand for goods and services. Therefore time called for rapid production and supply of goods in order to match the demand. But physical economies of scale cannot be taken to be the only reason for the emergence of factories. With the expansion of technology it became apparent that the workers must be trained to handle the new advanced technologies. Training and other in hand experience proved beneficial for the workers who earlier used to work on land and earn their livelihood from agriculture. Industrial revolution brought in technological advancement, social advancement and increased the wealth of the industrialized countries. This is one side of the coin. The other side is gloomy. It is believed industrial revolution contribute to increase the inequality. The blessings of industrial revolution were captured by only the wealthy and the powerful nations. The less developed nations lacked the capability to reap the benefits of industrial revolution. The workers who could acquire the skills required to operate the machineries witnessed an increase in standard of living while the other who preferred to work on the fields remained poor and outside the purview of industrial revolution. The industrial revolution changed the farming practices and steadied abundant supply of food art relatively cheaper rates. But with the rise of imperialism the benefits was not wide spread and was centered among few industrially advanced countries. With the benefit of ample supply of food the population increased and assured supply of labor to the newly developed factories. Therefore the roots of industrial revolution are the increase in demand conditions for some of the necessities, the inventions and innovations in the field of technology, the rise of the cottage industry and the capability of the workers to acquire the necessary skills of the new technology. All these factors combined to bring in the industrial revolution. The gradual transformation of the agrarian economy to an industrial economy was also under the hands of industrial revolution. With Britain showing the way, the other nations followed the footsteps and became industrial giants. This led to concentration of power within few powerful and wealthy nations. The agricultural workers transformed themselves into industrial workers and earned higher wages. In this fashion the standard of living of those workers increased and the society reaped the benefits. As wages increased, the demand for the goods increased as well which acted as the catalyst in industrial revolution. There have positive and negative effects of industrial revolution. On one hand it was possible to increase the productivity of the workers and keep the increasing demand conditions in check, on the other hand the inequality between the rich and the poor widened further. Moreover the effects was concentrated only a few powerful nations while the markets of the less developed countries were exploited by the technologically advanced nations. Works Cited Cameron, R. A New View of European Industrialization. Vol. 38, No. 1 (Feb., 1985). Web. 29th October, 2012. . Simons, K. Industrial Growth and Competition. 12th Jan. 2003. Web. 29th October, 2012. < http://homepages.rpi.edu/~simonk/pdf/igc.pdf>. Komlos, J. The Industrial Revolution as the Escape from the Malthusian Trap. Munich Discussion Paper No. 2003-13. Web. 29th October, 2012. < http://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/57/1/indrev-jeeh.pdf>. Henderson, W. The Industrialization of Europe: 1780-1914. 1969. Thames & Hudson. Web. 29th October, 2012. Trebilcock, C. The industrialization of the continental powers, 1780-1914. 1985. Longman. Web. 29th October, 2012. Hazen, C. Modern Europe. 1924. Holt. Web. 29th October, 2012. Read More