Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

Why England? • Agricultural Revolution - increased food production = lower prices = greater purchase power • Geo Factors - island nation combined w/ canal building of 1770s - move goods • Geo Factors - large deposits of coal and iron - important raw materials for IR

Why England? • Economic - supply of capital - effective central bank and well developed credit markets • Economic - Entrepreneurs - a new middle class willing to risk capital

Why England? • Political - stable government w/ limited economic controls • Political - enclosure movement had created a labor force willing to move to urban areas

Why England? • Had the markets - expanding Atlantic economy - trade w/ Americas

Cotton Textiles • Cottage Industry/Domestic System/Putting Out System - becoming inefficient • Kay - flying shuttle • Hargreaves - spinning jenny • Arkwright - water frame • Crompton - spinning mule • Cartwright - power loom

Steam…the game changer • 1760s James Watt and steam engine • Location not dependant on rivers • 1787 Britain imported 22 million pounds of cotton - 1840 366 million • Steam engine combined w perfection of iron = railroads that transformed transportation

Watt’s steam engine Steam tractor

Initial Effects of IR • No more commando for lower class • Wages of weavers went up • Threat to handcraft workers • Early factories resembled poor houses - thus child labor

Initial Effects cont. • Railroad - iron and coal complimented to expand both industries • New labor class willing to move • Cheaper faster goods - more markets - reinvest capital - self perpetuating • Change to daily life - cottage to factory whistle

Impact of Railroads

Continent after 1815 • Great Britain would lead the way up til WWI when finally U.S. and Germany passed • Continent had been consumed by French Rev and Napoleon • No free trade - tariffs & toll stations on rivers drove prices up • Not as willing as Brits to risk capital (conservatism)

The continent takes a different path: • 1) “borrowed” techniques & practices from British • John Cockerill - Belgium • Fritz Harkort - Germany • 2) Gov influence - tariffs • France - high tariffs • Germany - Zollverein - tariff union • 3) Join-Stock Banks - Credit Mobilier in France

Social Implications • 1) Urbanization • 2) Struggle between labor & capital • 3) Working conditions • 4) Economics: the “dismal science” • 5) Liberal reforms for workers • 6) rise in standard of living

Urbanization • 50% of Brits livied in cities by 1850 • Miserable conditions - sanitation chief concern • Edwin Chadwick - reformer outlining probs • 1848 Public Health Act

Labor v. Capital • New group of factory owners and ind capitalists increase wealth of middle class • New social relations - economic classes • Haves and have-nots (proletariat) • Marx - “class consciousness”

Working Conditions • Unsafe, long hours (12 hr shifts) • Sexual division of labor (less jobs women/paid less) • Woman’s biological clock • Balance work with running a home • “patriarchal tradition”

“Dismal Science” • Modern Capitalism - Adam Smith & Invisible Hand • Thomas Malthus - pop will outpace food supply to be checked by natural forces - poor should have less kids • David Ricardo - “Iron Law of Wages” • When wages are high, workers have more kids • More children create a labor surplus that depress wages

Liberal Reforms • Robert Owen attempted unsuccessfully to organize a nationalized trade union • Luddites - skilled craftspeople that attacked and damaged machines • Chartism - organized workers in Britain demanding universal male suffrage 1840s

Liberal Reforms • Factory Act of 1833 - 8 hr day kids 9-13, 12 hrs kids 13-18 • Ten Hours Act - 13-18 = 10 hrs and women included

Rise in Standard of Living? • No doubt early years tough for workers • How do we quantify? Wages, employment, purchasing power • Real wages increase after 1820 • No good stats on unemployment • Av person earned/consumed 50% more in 1850 than 1770 • Real winners = middle class

Industrial Revolution