The Industrial Revolution in Britain
Introduction
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Scales of time
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One scale of time is events (president winning/losing election)
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Hours/days/months and maybe years
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Another is social conjuncture
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Emergence of new institution
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These type of changes can happen over centuries and
maybe even millennia
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Alvin Toffler,
Third Wave
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David Christian (quoted by Strayer, p. 826)
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Find new ways to harness en ergy (fossil fuels)
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Threshold – new ways of harnessing energy
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Collective learning, global web of connections
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Strayer, page 826/827
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Why has industrialization not become universal, practiced in
every country, unlike agriculture
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Capitalist globalization, property rights, and control of
technology
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Why Europe
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The problem of Eurocentrism
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Form of the broad term, ethnocentrism
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Europeans are distinct and superior to other societies
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Strayer 827-832 and 771-775
Factors that Led to the IR in England
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Innovations in agriculture, good harvests
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Developing better use of fertilizers etc
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Small innovations that are key components of this story
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More food/better variety/better diet
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Growing populations (lots of laborers)
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Fewer children die
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Adults live longer
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More laborers
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Demand for consumer goods by nobility & middle class
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Build bigger homes
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Furnish big homes
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Spending more on home decor etc, which means there’s more
of a need for laborers
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Stable political-legal system (ex, property rights)
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Government couldn’t take property/raise taxes
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People can invest in new technologies
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Capital for investment (partly from New World)
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European exploitation for resources in the new world
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In the growing economy, it also explains why there’s money
available in new technology
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Natural resources and markets in Britain’s colonies
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Need people to sell them to
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If you have colonies, it adds to the potential customer base
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Colonies can also provide natural resource stuff
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New banking and investment institutions
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Lead Europe and the world in new kinds of banking and
investment institutions
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Stock brokers/stock markets
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Science, technology & technique
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Coal (fossil fuels)
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Key new fossil fuel that helps jump-start industrial revolution
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Transportation (canals, RR)
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Carrying on backs of horses, wagons and stuff won’t be
enough
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When in winter, not all canals will freeze over
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In the 1820s, 30s, 40s and 50s, they start developing
railroads
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Cheaper than canals – not dependent on water
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Can operate through winter
Textile Manufacturing
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Growing demand first met by “putting out” system and “cottage”
manufacturing
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Cottage – modest home that a rural person would live
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Most textile manufacturing until the late 1700s would be done
in the home
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Would have a hand-powered spinning wheel or loom in
the house
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Putting out system—give someone wool to spin, then have it
given back (pay them for it)
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Afford to have large quantities of thread/wool and have
someone turn it into something
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