1 / 13

Technology, Modernisation & Industrialisation

Technology, Modernisation & Industrialisation. Industrialisation: the Rise of Modern Industry The Industrial Revolution: its several facets Central Role of Technological Advance Energy and Raw Materials for Industrialisation Industrial change: Steam power Iron and steel Textiles

coy
Download Presentation

Technology, Modernisation & Industrialisation

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Technology, Modernisation & Industrialisation • Industrialisation: the Rise of Modern Industry • The Industrial Revolution: its several facets • Central Role of Technological Advance • Energy and Raw Materials for Industrialisation • Industrial change: • Steam power • Iron and steel • Textiles • Contributions from other industries • Why was the Industrial Revolution British?

  2. Industrial Revolution: the rise of modern industry • “The Industrial Revolution” – a sequence of events starting in 18C marked by the expansion of industries organised along capitalist lines • Precisely where did it occur and when? • What distinguishes the industries that expanded? • What caused the IR? • What was so profound about the IR? • Is the I.R. a useful concept?

  3. Four views of the Industrial Revolution Mokyr identified 4 `schools’ of, or approaches to the I.R.: • The Social Change School • The Industrial Organisation School • The Macroeconomic School • The Technological School

  4. Technical change in the Industrial Revolution • Distinguish between invention and innovation • Allen’s argument (2009, ch 6): • Relative input prices determined the new technologies • Landes `three principles’ (Unbound Prometheus, p. 41): • `substitution of machines ... for human skill and effort’ • `substitution of inanimate for animate sources of power’ • `use of new and far more abundant raw materials’

  5. Sequence of events in Britain: a sketch Sequence of events in Britain (Allen’s synthesis): • Demographic catastrophe (Black Death) from 1348/50 • Commercial expansion to Asia and the Americas, from early 17th century • Cultural developments favour invention and innovation • Institutional change supports enterprise & wealth accumulation

  6. Mineral Sources of Energy & Raw Materials • Wrigley’s thesis: Advanced Organic replaced by Mineral Based Economy • Advanced organic economy: plant sources of energy & raw materials • Mineral based energy economy: coal for energy, iron & coal as raw materials • But Wrigley’s account is not the whole story

  7. The Role of Science • Allen emphasises two applications • Steam power → Steam engine • Clockwork →Gears (and engineering) • Basic scientific advance was mostly continental • But British technology benefited, albeit indirectly

  8. Steam power • Steam engines: external combustion engines • Major invention: Newcomen’s `beam engine’, c1712 • Minor (and not so minor) inventions, include:improved fuel efficiency; high pressure engine • Railways: expansion after c1830 (Liverpool-Manchester line) • Later developments: compound engine, steam turbine

  9. Iron and steel • Smelting: blast furnace production of pig iron from iron ore • Refining: reduce carbon content of pig iron– `Forge’ pig iron into wrought (malleable) iron • Steel: “a superior variety of iron”, has more carbon than wrought iron

  10. Textiles (1) • Four processes: preparation, spinning, weaving, finishing • Traditional sectors (in late 18C): wool, linen, silk • New sector: cotton, small scale; rapid growth from 1760s • Kay’s flying shuttle (1733): raised weavers’ productivity • Spinning inventions were major labour-saving innovations • Weaving: hand-loom dominated until 1830s/40s

  11. Textiles (2) • Cotton industry: • “the wonder industry of the Industrial Revolution” (Allen) • Traditional textiles: innovations adopted but more slowly • Cloth processing: expansion of the garment trades

  12. Contributions from other industries (briefly) • Machine tools: advances in accuracy of manufacture • Mining, especially coal became a major employer • Chemicals (mainly used in textiles industries) • Gas lighting: initially in Germany & France, then further developed in Britain • Ceramics & glass: Britain followed continental innovations

  13. Why was the Industrial Revolution British? • Mokyr (2009): economic impact of Enlightenment ideas • Allen (2009): “growth of the urban, commercial economy drove the economy forward in the centuries before the I.R.” (p.106) • Clark (2007): “reproductive advantage of the rich”, “… economic success has a very important genetic component”, a Darwinian survival mechanism

More Related