The Industrial Revolution & Economic Systems (Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism)

First Industrial Revolution

18th and 19th century development, beginning in Britain, in which manufacturing was increasingly done in factories by machines, rather than in small workshops by hand labor. The Industrial Revolution, in combination with the earlier the Enclosure Movement, radically reshaped the world economy and social and political development.

Mass Society

: This is a society in which prosperity and bureaucracy have weakened traditional social ties.

Steam Engines

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. Since the late 1700s steam engines have become a major source of mechanical power.

"White Collar" Job

The Second Industrial Revolution produced a new group of workers between the lower middle class and the lower classes. This group included traveling salespeople, bookkeepers, telephone operators, department store salespeople, and secretaries. Although not highly paid, these white-collar workers were often committed to middle class ideals.

Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat

The bourgeoisie were those who owned the means of production and the proletariat consisted of their workers. Proletariats were employed by, and involved in class struggle with, the bourgeoisie.

Communist Manifesto

Book that Marx wrote explaining marxism.

Britain and the Industrial Revolution

By the 1780s, the British Industrial Revolution, which had been developing for several decades, began to further accelerate. Manufacturing, business, and the number of wage laborers skyrocketed, starting a trend that would continue into the first half of the 19th century. Meanwhile, technology changed: hand tools were replaced by steam- or electricity-driven machines.

Utopian Socialism

Economic ideology, opposed to Capitalism and Laissez Faire, that holds that key industry and the means of production should be centrally controlled by the government, so that workers will not be abused by bourgeoisie factory owners.

Capitalism

Generally middle-class economic ideology emphasizing free markets, the ownership of private property, and the accumulation of wealth by enterprising businesspeople.

Karl Marx & Friedrich Engles

German economists and philosophers who wrote The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital while in living in England. The ideology of Communism draws its inspiration from Marx and Engels' work, which was influenced by the social environment in Western Europe during the first half of the 19th century.

Laissez-Faire

In French, it means "allow to do". This economic philosophy suggests that if government interferes in the economy as little as possible (takes a "hands off" approach) markets will equilibrate and the economy will run as smoothly as possible.

Robert Owen

Manchester manufacturer who grew upset by the conditions endured by workers in Industrial Revolution Britain, and became a reformer.

Marxism

Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry based upon a materialist interpretation of historical development, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis of class-relations within society and their application in the analysis and critique of the development of capitalism.

Adam Smith & His 3 Natural Laws

Smith is cited as the "father of modern economics" and is still among the most influential thinkers in the field of economics today. Law No. 1. "The productivity of the economic instruments, natural resources and human energy is increased by inventions and discoveries." Law No. 2. Division of Labor: "The cleaving of trades and the dissection of activities raises the productivity of labor" . Law No. 3. "Distance and transport are the chief causes which hinder or facilitate the co-operation of the productive forces"

Sadler Report

The Sadler Report was a report written in 1832 by Michael Sadler. The document purported to expose the substandard working conditions of children working in textile factories as well as women.

Second Industrial Revolution

The first revolution was focused on manufacturing textiles. The second was steel, chemicals, electricity, and petroleum, which brought the rise of other industries as well. The first major change was between 1870 and 1914 in the iron industry. New shipping methods widened the market. By 1910, hydroelectric power was powering homes and factories, leading to the invention of the light bulb.

Urbanization

The lack of land and jobs in the country pushed people to move to cities to find work. They found jobs in factories and, later, in service trades and professions. In the first half of the 19th century, the vast amount of people made living conditions horrible, but, in the latter half of the century, workers were paid higher wages, so conditions improved.

Invisible Hand

This is a metaphor conceived by Adam Smith to describe the self-regulating behavior of the marketplace.

Industrial Middle Class

This is the group of people who built the factories, bought the machines, and figured out where the markets were. They were often ambitious and innovative, as well as greedy. The "New Bourgeoisie".

Industrial Working Class

This is the group of people who spent long hours working in factories, enduring harsh conditions. There were no regulations, so days were long and wages were almost nothing. Women and children were commons employers, being as young as 6. Conditions were harmful - dust and heat from the cotton mills and the risk of cave-ins in coalmines.

Textile Industry

Threads, cloth and clothing. Early in the Industrial Revolution, textiles were the mainstay of British factory production.

Victorian Values

Victoian Britain was a model of middle-class society, where members of the middle class liked to preach their worldview both to their children and to the upper and lower classes of their society.