AP European History, Chapter 17.3

Gleaning

The act of peasants holding onto small bits of left over raw material.

Spinsters

Were widows or single women who spun yarn.

The Cottage Industry

A stage of industrial development in which rural workers used hand tools in their homes to manufacturing goods on a large scale for sale in a market. The cottage industry grew a lot in the eighteenth century and became a crucial feature of the European economy.

What were things that merchants often thought?

Merchants thought low wages weren't a problem, but it was more important rather maintain the workforce. Merchants figured that if a worker did not produce enough thread it must be because the worker's wages were too high. Merchants thought that employees who didn't produce enough yard or thread should be imprisoned or publicly whipped.

Which country was most successful in rural manufacturing?

Rural manufacturing developed the most successfully in England. By 1500 half of England's textiles were being produced in the countryside. By 1700 English industry was generally more rural and heavily relied on the putting-out system.

The Putting-Out System

The eighteenth-century system of rural industry in which a merchant loaned or "put out" raw materials to cottage workers, who processed them and returned the finished products to the merchant. The cottage industry was often organized through this process. Rural industries became heavily reliant on this system, for example England.

Why did the industrious revolution take place?

The industrious revolution was motivated by poor families' desire to participate in the emerging consumer economy.

What happened as industries grew in scale and complexity?

The putting-out system was often broken into multiple stages. Where the merchant would go through several different groups of rural workers to get the final product. The merchant would pay the workers by the piece and sold the finished product to markets.

What was the ratio of men's pay to women's pay?

The ratio was 4 to 1.

Industrious Revolution

The shift occurred as families in northwestern Europe focused on earning wages instead of producing goods for household consumption; this reduced their economic self-sufficiency but increased their ability to purchase consumer goods.

What were the putting-out system's competitive advantages?

Underemployed labor was abundant, and poor peasants and landless laborers would work for low wages. Since production in the countryside was unregulated, workers and merchants could change procedures and experiment with goods. Workers did not need to meet certain guild standards, so workers could produce many kinds of goods. The limited skills of rural industry were sufficient for everyday articles.