English Industrial Revolution: Causes and Impact on Society | History Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Background

• In ancient and medieval times, people had to spend long hours doing hard manual labor even for simple tasks.
• The energy used for work came mainly from human and animal muscles.

Industrial Revolution: A Turning Point:

• The Industrial Revolution, which began in 18th century England, brought about a significant change in how people lived and worked. It marked a shift from manual labor to machine-based production.
• During this period, there was a transition from hand production methods to machines, along with new processes in chemical manufacturing and iron production. The efficiency of water power improved, and the use of steam power increased. There was also a shift from using wood and bio-fuels to coal, and the development of machine tools.

Textile Industry: Pioneering Change:

• The textile industry was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution in terms of employment, output value, and capital investment. It was the first to adopt modern production methods.
• In England, people started using machines to produce cloth and steam engines to power these machines. This led to a remarkable increase in productivity.
• By 1850, most people in England were working in industrial towns, and Great Britain had become known as the workshop of the world.

Spread of Industrialization:

• The Industrial Revolution spread from Britain to Europe and the United States over time.
• The period between 1840 and 1870 marked the transition from the First Industrial Revolution to the Second Industrial Revolution. This phase saw advancements in transportation(steam-powered railways, boats, and ships), large-scale production of machine tools, and increased use of machinery in steam-powered factories.

Industrial Revolution: Revolution or Evolution?

• Some historians believe that the term "revolution" is misleading because it implies a sudden change. They argue that the economic and social transformations during this period were gradual and took a long time.
• The period covered by the Industrial Revolution is considered by some to be too long to be called a revolution, spanning from 1740 to 1850 in Britain and from 1815 to the end of the 19th century in Europe.
• Despite significant changes, the idea that these developments were rapid and revolutionary has been questioned. Some industrial advancements in the 18th century were seen as the result of gradual changes rather than sudden leaps.
• Instead of calling it a revolution, it is suggested to view it as an evolution or "The Transition of Industrialism," emphasizing the slow and gradual nature of the changes that led to a new economic organization.

Argument For Calling it a Revolution:

• Between 1740 and 1850, England underwent a dramatic transformation. New roads, railways, rivers, and canals were built, turning rural areas into bustling towns. Factories replaced farms, and technological innovations spurred rapid economic growth.
• The structure of British society was forever altered, with a massive migration from rural areas to urban centers. Although the changes were gradual, they occurred within a relatively short timeframe compared to the centuries when people relied solely on manual labor.
• Before the inventions of the flying shuttle by John Kay in 1733 and the spinning jenny by James Hargreaves in 1764, the processes of making yarn and weaving cloth had remained largely unchanged for thousands of years. By 1800, however, many new and faster methods were being used in both manufacturing and transportation.
• This relatively swift transformation in people's lives justifies calling it a revolution. Unlike a political revolution, the Industrial Revolution had a more profound and lasting impact on people's lives and continued to grow stronger each year with new inventions and improved manufacturing processes.

In conclusion, the Industrial Revolution was initially revolutionary as it drastically changed the lives of those affected, particularly in England. Over time, it became evolutionary as new production methods and worker treatment practices emerged, along with the continuous opening of larger markets over an extended period.

Pre-requisites and Precursors of the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution took place in England during the 18th and 19th centuries. However, before these significant changes in production techniques could occur, certain important factors had to be in place. These pre-requisites were essential for the promotion of the later Industrial Revolution.

Desire for Material Advancement:

• The desire for material advancement is crucial for progress. In Europe, this desire grew under the influence of the Renaissance and the Age of Reason.
• Philosophers like Voltaire, Rousseau, and Locke emphasized the importance of wealth accumulation for a good life. The common people believed that acquiring wealth was the only way to rise in a society dominated by nobility.
• The Protestant ethics also supported the idea of lending money for productive purposes. This change in attitude towards improving one’s life was a major prerequisite for the Industrial Revolution.

Supply of Raw Materials:

• Europe had an advantage in raw materials due to geographical explorations and discoveries during the Commercial Revolution.
• Europe could access raw materials such as cotton, sugarcane, and indigo from the Orient and the New World.

Markets:

• The availability of markets for distributing finished goods was crucial for the Industrial Revolution.
• Geographical discoveries and the Commercial Revolution expanded both internal and external European markets.
• The growth of markets increased the potential for profits and production, making it a vital condition for industrial progress.

Labor Force:

• The Industrial Revolution required a mobile and skilled labor force willing to work for wages.
• The growing population in Europe and advancements in agricultural production released labor from rural areas, increasing the labor supply for industrial work.

Transportation Facilities:

• Having labor, raw materials, and growing markets was useless without proper transportation facilities.The Dutch developed a new kind of ocean-going vessel, the FLUTE, which reduced shipbuilding costs significantly.In England, there was a surge in canal and road construction, improving internal commerce.

Development in Agriculture Sector:

• Significant progress in the agriculture sector was necessary before the Industrial Revolution.
• Agricultural achievements, some of which occurred alongside industrial changes, generated enough surplus to support the Industrial Revolution and the growing urban population.

Expanding Commerce Affects Industry:

• Commerce and industry have always been closely related. Beginning around 1400, world commerce underwent significant changes, leading to what is known as the "commercial revolution."
• Various factors contributed to this revolution in trade, such as the opening up of Eastern riches to Western Europe through the Crusades, the discovery of America, the establishment of rich colonies, the opening of new trade routes, and the protection and support of merchants by strong central governments.
• With the expansion of trade, the need for more money increased. Gold and silver from the New World helped meet this need, leading to the development of banks and credit systems. By the end of the 17th century, Europe had a large accumulation of capital, which was necessary before machinery and steam engines could be widely used.
• By 1750, large quantities of goods were being exchanged among European nations, and there was a demand for more goods than were being produced. England, as the leading commercial nation, had the manufacture of cloth as its leading industry.

Organizing Production: From Cottage Industry to Factory System

• In medieval times, families produced most of the food, clothing, and other articles they used. Merchandise in cities was made in shops regulated by guilds and the government, with limited and costly production.
• Merchants needed cheaper and larger quantities of items, leading them to establish a system of producing goods outside cities, beyond regulations.
• Cloth merchants would buy raw wool, have it spun into yarn by farmers’ wives, and taken to country weavers for cheaper production. This system, known as cottage industry, allowed merchants to control cloth making from start to finish.
• Cottage industry provided a large supply of manufactured articles at low prices, enabled custom orders, and employed every family member in a craft worker’s family.
• Some merchants, with enough capital, brought workers together under one roof with spinning wheels and looms, leading to the establishment of factories, which were precursors to the Industrial Revolution.

Impact of the Industrial Revolution on Society

Widening Social Gap Between Rich and Poor:

• One of the most significant social changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution was the widening gap between the rich and the poor.
• Through the new market enterprise, those in charge continuously took advantage of the less fortunate, gaining wealth without fail. In contrast, the poor only continued to become poorer.

Working Conditions:

• The working class, which comprised the majority of society, had little or no bargaining power with their new employers.
• As the population increased in Great Britain, landowners enclosed common village lands, forcing people from the countryside to migrate to towns and new factories in search of work. This led to a high unemployment rate in the early phases of the Industrial Revolution.
• Factory owners set the terms of work because there were more unskilled laborers than available jobs.
• In the absence of regulations in the new textile industries at the end of the 18th century, desperate migrants had no power to demand better wages, fairer hours, or improved conditions.
• Workers could not use the democratic political system to fight for their rights because only the wealthy could vote. The Combination Acts of 1799 and 1800 made it illegal for workers to unionize and ask for better conditions.
• Many unemployed or underemployed individuals were skilled workers, such as hand weavers, whose skills were rendered useless by the efficiency of new textile machines.
• For the first generation of workers, from the 1790s to the 1840s, working conditions were harsh. Most laborers worked 10 to 14 hours a day, six days a week, with no paid vacations or holidays.
• Each industry had safety hazards; for example, workers purifying iron toiled in temperatures as high as 130 degrees. Accidents on the job were common.
• Workers could not socialize or return to their villages during harvest time as they had done before. They were no longer their own bosses; foremen and overseers enforced a new working culture focused on efficiency.
• Some workers improved their situation by starting their own businesses or becoming supervisors, but most experienced little social mobility.

Worker's Income:

• Life did not improve for the working class in the first phase of the Industrial Revolution, from 1790 to 1840. Real wages did not increase during this period.
• However, after 1840 or 1850, with the onset of the second phase of the Industrial Revolution, real wages began to rise, and working conditions slightly improved.

Living Conditions:

• Working in new industrial cities affected people's lives outside of factories. As workers moved from rural areas to cities, their lives and their families' lives were transformed.
• For workers, the quality of life significantly declined during the Industrial Revolution. Working-class individuals had little time or opportunity for recreation. They spent all day at work and returned home with little energy or space for leisure activities.
• The new industrial pace and factory system conflicted with traditional village festivals, and local governments sought to ban these festivals in cities.
• Living conditions were worst for the poorest. Many turned to "poorhouses" established by the government. The Poor Law of 1834 created workhouses for the destitute, which were designed to be harsh to discourage reliance on government aid. Families were separated upon entry, and inmates were confined like prisoners.

Urban Overcrowding and Diseases:

• Despite the growth in wealth and industry, urbanization had negative effects. Working-class neighborhoods were bleak, crowded, dirty, and polluted.
• In the first half of the 19th century, urban overcrowding, poor diets, inadequate sanitation, and medieval medical practices contributed to poor public health for most English people.
• Densely packed and poorly constructed neighborhoods facilitated the rapid spread of disease. Homes lacked toilets and sewage systems, contaminating drinking water sources. Cholera, tuberculosis, typhus, typhoid, and influenza ravaged industrial towns. Poor nutrition, disease, lack of sanitation, and harmful medical care severely impacted life expectancy in the first half of the 19th century.

Women:

• Before the Industrial Revolution, farm women and girls supported their families by spinning yarn and weaving cloth. However, new manufacturing technologies displaced these women as factories produced goods more quickly and in larger quantities.
• Factory girls often worked long, grueling days of thirteen hours, six days a week, earning a meager salary far below that of male workers for dangerous jobs where machinery posed serious risks. They were required to live in small boarding houses owned by their employers, who strictly regulated their lives and left them with little free time.
• Long hours in factories year after year led to the physical and emotional breakdown of these women. When it came time to raise their children, many mothers were either still working or ill from the stress of childbirth.

Child Labor:

• Industrial working-class families, although not working together, served an economic purpose by supporting each other. Children and women often worked to contribute income to the family.
• Child labor was integral to the first factories, mines, and mills in England. In textile mills, as new power looms and spinning mules replaced skilled workers, factory owners used cheap, unskilled labor to lower production costs. Child labor was the cheapest labor available. Some machines were so simple that small children could perform the repetitive tasks.
• The tedious and dangerous factory work had harmful effects on children’s health.

The Emerging Middle Class:

• A middle class gradually emerged in industrial cities, primarily toward the end of the 19th century.
• Previously, society consisted of two major classes: aristocrats born into wealth and privilege, and low-income commoners born into the working classes.
• New urban industries required more "white-collar" jobs, such as business people, shopkeepers, bank clerks, insurance agents, merchants, accountants, managers, doctors, lawyers, and teachers.
• Most middle-class women were discouraged from working outside the home. They could afford to send their children to school. As children became more of a financial burden and better healthcare reduced infant mortality, middle-class women had fewer children.

Other Effects of Industrialization

• Capitalism and a two-class society (Proletariat: Wage Earners. Bourgeois: Capitalists) were products of the Industrial Revolution.
• The Industrial Revolution led to new colonialism in search of more markets and sources of raw materials.
• Socialism emerged as a critique of capitalism. Marxism began as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution.
• Trade unionism developed in response to the conditions created by the Industrial Revolution.
• Reform movements and Chartism in Britain were also outcomes of the Industrial Revolution.

Romanticism:

• During the Industrial Revolution, there was an intellectual and artistic hostility towards industrialization, associated with the Romantic movement.
• This movement emphasized the importance of "nature" in art and language, contrasting with the "monstrous" machines and factories.
• New philosophical doctrines, including Socialism and Romanticism, developed as responses to the negative effects of the Industrial Revolution.

Ecological Effect:

• The Industrial Revolution marked a significant turning point in Earth's ecology and humanity's relationship with the environment. Fueled by fossil fuels like coal, it changed how people lived and used energy.
• While it propelled human progress to unprecedented levels, it came at a great cost to the environment and the health of all living beings.

Reforms for Change in Britain:

• During the Industrial Revolution, factories faced criticism for long working hours, deplorable conditions, and low wages. Children as young as 5 and 6 could be forced to work 12-16 hour days and earn as little as 4 shillings per week.
• Recognizing the problem, the British parliament passed several acts. The first Factory Act, the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act 1802, aimed to improve conditions for workers by holding factory owners responsible for workers' housing and clothing, but with little success.
• In 1832, the British Parliament set up a commission to investigate child labor in factories. Based on the findings, Parliament felt compelled to respond, leading to the Factory Act of 1833 to regulate excessive child labor.

The Factory Act of 1833

• The act imposed restrictions on the number of hours children could work each day.
• Children aged 8 and below were prohibited from working in factories.
• Working hours for children above 8 years were regulated.
• Children were not allowed to work at night.
• This marked the first instance of government regulation in the industrial workplace.
• Inspectors were appointed to oversee factories and ensure compliance with child labor regulations.
• Children were required to spend time in school.
• Although a step forward, the reforms were limited; for instance, nine-year-old children could still work nine hours a day, six days a week.

Mines and Collieries Act 1842:

• Established a minimum age of 10 for children working in mines.
• Prohibited women and girls from working in mines.

Factories Act 1844:

• Restricted working hours to 12 per day for women and children.
• Increased accountability for mill owners regarding worker protection.

Ten Hours Bill 1847:

• Limited working hours to 10 per day for women and children.
• Set a maximum of 63 hours per week for women and children.

Reform in Education Sector:

• As the British government increasingly regulated child labor in factories, they also gradually instituted a public school system.
• The 1870 Education Act set up school districts.
• The local board had the right to compel children to attend schools and to charge a nominal fee.
• The 1880 Education Act made school compulsory for children up to age 10.
• In 1944, some 150 years after the start of the Industrial Revolution, the government funded and mandated secondary education for all citizens through age 18.

Reform in Health Sector:

• The British government addressed public health by passing regulatory laws to curb the ills of working-class urban living.
• The Public Health Act of 1848 set up local health boards, investigated sanitary conditions nationwide.
• The local boards had the responsibility of ensuring that water supplies were safe.
• In the 1875 Public Health Act, the government took on more responsibility for public health, adding housing, sewage, drainage, and contagious diseases.

Other Reforms:

• The Artisans’ Dwelling Act (1875) facilitated the clearance of slums in England.
• In 1888, local government was introduced in England.
• In 1906, a Liberal government was elected with a massive majority and introduced numerous social reforms, including medical tests for pupils at schools and free treatment provided (1907).
• Workers were compensated for injuries at work (1906).
• In 1908, old age pension was introduced for those over 70, relieving pensioners from the fear of the workhouse.
• In 1911, the National Insurance Act provided insurance for workers during sickness.
• Unemployment benefits were introduced in certain industries (e.g., Shipbuilding).
• A basic social welfare service was established, significantly improving conditions for poorer individuals in British society. To fund these reforms, the Liberal government increased taxes on the wealthy.