Reconceptualizing The Industrial Revolution

Closely linked essays examine distinctive national patterns of industrialization. This collection of essays offers new perspectives on the Industrial Revolution as a global phenomenon. The fifteen contributors go beyond the longstanding view of industrialization as a linear process marked by discrete stages. Instead, they examine a lengthy and creative period in the history of industrialization, 1750 to 1914, reassessing the nature of and explanations for England's industrial primacy, and comparing significant industrial developments in countries ranging from China to Brazil. Each chapter explores a distinctive national production ecology, a complex blend of natural resources, demographic pressures, cultural impulses, technological assets, and commercial practices. At the same time, the chapters also reveal the portability of skilled workers and the permeability of political borders. The Industrial Revolution comes to life in discussions of British eagerness for stylish, middle-class products; the Enlightenment's contribution to European industrial growth; early America's incremental (rather than revolutionary) industrialization; the complex connections between Czarist and Stalinist periods of industrial change in Russia; Japan's late and rapid turn to mechanized production; and Brazil's industrial-financial boom. By exploring unique national patterns of industrialization as well as reciprocal exchanges and furtive borrowing among these states, the book refreshes the discussion of early industrial transformations and raises issues still relevant in today's era of globalization.

The confluence of developments in technology, labor and management practice, and market expansion in the period from 1760 to 1850 so drastically altered the context of economic relations that, taken together, these changes have earned the name, Industrial Revolution. This book, the first in a series of titles to explore turning points and important events in business history, explains the nature of these changes, how they came about, how people reacted to the new economic environment, and the direct impact that they have had on the way business is conducted today. This volume will address how the Industrial Revolution played out in Europe, the United States, and the rest of the world, emphasizing the role of the government in both promoting and regulating commerce. It will clarify the important distinctions between the original Industrial Revolution and the second Industrial Revolution (approximately 1850 to the early 20th century), which was characterized by accelerating growth, brought about the introduction of the internal combustion engine, electric power, and other technological and managerial developments. Featuring biographical sketches, photos, a timeline, a glossary of key terms, and excerpts of primary documents, The Industrial Revolution reveals the daily life of the entrepreneurs, bureaucrats, and workers who experienced the dramatic changes in technology, business, and trade, and the resulting changes in society and culture.

One cannot conceive of capitalism without labor. Yet many of the current debates about economic development leading to industrialization fail to directly engage with labor at all. This collection of essays strives to correct this oversight and to reintroduce labor into the great debates about capitalist development and economic growth before the Industrial Revolution. By attending to the effects of specific regulatory, technological, social and physical environments on producers and production in a set of specific industries, these essays use an “ecological” approach that demonstrates how productivity, knowledge and regime changed between 1400 and 1800. This book will be of interest to researchers in history, especially labor history, and European economic development.

Now in its fifth edition, this book explores the ways in which the industrial revolution reshaped world history, covering the international factors that helped launch the industrial revolution, its global spread and its impact from the end of the eighteenth century to the present day. The single most important development in human history over the past three centuries, the industrial revolution continues to shape the contemporary world. Revised and brought into the present, this fifth edition of Peter N. Stearns’ The Industrial Revolution in World History extends his global analysis of the industrial revolution. Looking beyond the West, the book considers India, the Middle East and China and now includes more on key Latin American economies and Africa as well as the heightened tensions, since 2008, about the economic aspects of globalization and the decline of manufacturing in the West. This edition also features a new chapter on key historiographical debates, updated suggestions for further reading and boxed debate features that encourage the reader to consider diversity and different viewpoints in their own analysis, and pays increased attention to the environmental impacts. Illustrating the contemporary relevance of the industrial revolution's history, this is essential reading for students of world history and economics, as well as for those seeking to know more about the global implications of what is arguably the defining socioeconomic event of modern times.

This book explores how the institution of privilege and liberty shaped early modern economic development in France between 1650 and 1820.

Through this book's roughly 50 reference entries, readers will gain a better appreciation of what life during the Industrial Revolution was like and see how the United States and Europe rapidly changed as societies transitioned from an agrarian economy to one based on machines and mass production. The Industrial Revolution remains one of the most transformative events in world history. It forever changed the economic landscape and gave birth to the modern world as we know it. The content and primary documents within The Industrial Revolution: History, Documents, and Key Questions provide key historical background of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the United States, enable students to gain unique insights into life during the period, and allow readers to perceive the similarities to developments in society today with ongoing advances in current science and technology. Roughly 50 reference entries provide essential information about the most important people and developments related to the Industrial Revolution, including Richard Arkwright, coal, colonialism, cotton, the factory system, pollution, railroads, and the steam engine. Each entry provides information that gives readers a sense of the importance of the topic within a historical and societal perspective. For example, the coverage of movements during the Industrial Revolution explains the origin of each, including when it was established, and by whom; its significance; and the social context in which the movement was formed. Each entry cites works for further reading to help users learn more about specific topics.

The industrial revolution was and is a huge development and one of the fundamental changes in human experience in the modern world. In Debating the Industrial Revolution, Peter N. Stearns, a leading expert in world history, presents the major contours of the ongoing debates over industrialization in history. He explores the central historical discussion over what caused such a momentous change, demonstrating how interpretations have developed over time and encouraging students to critically engage with historical practice. Trying to understand why industrialization happened, and why it continues to happen, continues to organize considerable analytical energy. This book will be the ideal primer for students wanting to understand the key debates, and get a sense of how they might develop in the future.

Small businesses were at the heart of the economic growth and social transformation that characterized the industrial revolution in eighteenth and nineteenth century Britain; this monograph examines the economic, social, and cultural history of some of these forgotten businesses and the men and women who worked in them and ran them.