How the Industrial Revolution Changed Society

How the Industrial Revolution Changed Society

Alesha L Barnett

HIS/104

July 23, 2012

Instructor: S. Wysinski

How the Industrial Revolution Changed Society

The Industrial Revolution was made possible due to the enlightment realized during the Renaissance. The new awareness and appreciation of everything scientific meant that inventors took major steps toward development of new and efficient means of production, which was intended to make products cheaper and available to more citizens. [IndustrialRevolution.sea] England led the rest of the world in industrializing their economy. They managed to cap the outflow of industrialization for more than a hundred years, which kept the rest of the world far behind in means of production.

The initial idea behind industrialization, besides decreasing labor costs, was that the public would have goods available at lesser prices which would increase spending. The influx of ideas and inventions led to larger production facilities, which required a larger work-force, which in turn, required workers to work more and have less time or energy to shop.

The Industrial Revolution changed the way people lived, worked and survived. Man became a ‘product’ of industrialization, rather than the beneficiary of it.

The Beginnings of Industrialization

During the early 1700’s, a major shift occurred in England. Their agricultural economy underwent a revolution; new farming practices meant that more food was able to be grown on smaller farms which resulted in an increased availability of food. [Gernhard, R. (2003)] The surplus reduced food prices, which allowed families to acquire more manufactured goods. The increase in demand for manufactured goods required larger factories and more efficient methods of production to be developed. Less time spent farming also meant that more workers were available for employment in the manufacturing fields.

England’s...