In 1769, James Watt unveiled his steam engine, and the revolution began. It did not truly pick up steam until 1801, when Jacquard’s loom, which used punched cards to automate the weaving process, was introduced. What followed was unprecedented in the history of mankind – the next two hundred years saw seemingly unimaginable levels of wealth in industrialized nations. Who could have imagined in 1801 that two hundred years later the chief medical issue in the newly born United states of America would be people who are obese because there’s too much food and it’s too cheap?
There were a number of enormous consequences of the Industrial Revolution:
- Mass-production allowed products to come off the assembly line quickly and cheaply, giving everyone the same thing, with few variations, very cheaply.
- Centralized manufacturing and business emerged in order to establish efficient factories at lower cost.
- Big companies emerged as a natural response to these potential economies of scale.
- These new, large companies multiplied the distance between decisions and execution and thus required several management levels between executives and workers.
- Employment and jobs became the predominant way to make a living.
- Cities (and later suburbs) attracted most of the population, centralizing it within a very small percentage of each country’s landmass, and creating the idea of urban, suburban and rural as distinct economic zones..
- Work and leisure separated, with each occupying fixed times and places.
- Mass media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, motion pictures, and so on) emerged and began broadcasting a small set of messages to a large number of people.
- Mass-marketing produced a consumer environment crowded with similar products, with no real way to differentiate themselves other than “image-building”.
The end result, of course is mass marketing being used by mass media to sell mass-produced products to the working masses. There are other, more subtle consequences however. Chief amongst them is that the increased centralization of work necessary for the Industrial Revolution to succeed caused individual lives to become less centralized, both in sense of self and sense of community.
We began to live and work in ways contrary to our dominant historical experience as a species. No longer did we live in a place where we knew everyone. No longer did we work for either ourselves or directly for the leader of a focused team (i.e. farming, craftsmen’s shops, hunting parties, etc.) No longer were our work and personal lives so tightly integrated that our homes doubled as our workplaces.
Until recently, it was not seen as possible to recapture any of these lost human experiences without abandoning the progress and economic wealth that the Industrial Revolution created. I believe that now, it is possible, and that it is now possible to reestablish a more balanced, decentralized lifestyle. So many things (The Long Tail, The Internet, search marketing, Cheap cellular communication, etc.) are rapidly dissolving the benefits of being big and centralized, and in some cases is making them into disadvantages.
Now, this is not going to happen overnight, of course. It has been slowly coming together in disparate ways for the last decade or so, and I believe that in thirty or forty years, within my lifetime, the big, centralized business that has come to typify the Industrial Revolution will be a thing of the past, and in its place will be small producers, and networks of these producers, that will provide service, selection and pricing that is far better than that of what the Industrial Revolution could offer.
i thought your article ‘The End Of The Industrial Revolution’ was very good although it could have had more information about the development of the mass media.
AWESOME
It could have had a lot more information on a lot of subjects I briefly touched on, but I agree, the rise of the mass media, particularly after the Second World War, is responsible for an enormous amount of the commercialization of daily life and the rise of the shopping “hobby”.
What about the YEAR that the Industrial Revolution ended? I’m doing a project and need to know. I’m sure other peo0ple would like to know as well….
Why the hell are you asking me to do your homework for you? Did you even bother to read what I wrote?
i think that this artical has alot f information
i think that this artical has alot of information
I think Cassidy is right that’s the whole point of te title and subject – The end of the industrial revolution
I think Cassidy is right that’s the whole point of te title and subject – The end of the industrial revolution
If any of you meatheads had actually read the article instead of scanning for crib notes, you would have seen that I am talking about the end of the industrial revolution as something that has not yet happened, but that is now possible, if we want it.
I thought the article was very good. I thought it was very interesting how you pointed out that we are still in an industrial revolution in a way. Its true that mankind has not yet stopped developing new technology so I agree with you. I don’t really think it will really ever have an end though, because scientists are constantly researching new ideas.
No, Jessica, you’re wrong. It will have an end.
Where do you expect this endless source of energy to come from? Surely not oil, I hope.
That’s what everyone expects. They think oil is in endless supply and humans will just keep advancing and moving forward. When you run out, just go to the gas station and buy more!
One day it will run out, though. Well, maybe it won’t ever fully run out, but it will eventually become so difficult to get that it’s way too expensive, and useless. Then, what will people do? Most other sources of “alternative energy sources” use oil in some way to be produced.
Well, no oil. That means nothing modern. No electricity. No computers, no internet, no telephone, no television, nothing could be mass produced, no more air travel, or travel in any type of vehicle, and even many of the fertilizers we use contain it.
So running out of oil isn’t just a matter of “Well damn, how will I get to the mall and back?” The whole world as we know it would be different, and maybe a bit like it was in the past.
I agree with Cassidy and Vikki. When one reads this article they are often looking for a date eg: late 1800′s or whatever. Jon, its a great article with alot of valid information but you should include some date.
By the way Jon, you’re getting fired up every time someone expresses their opinion. Calm down lol.
You’re meant to take it all on board and let it help you improve, not call everyone a “meathead” and abuse them.
JON! You’re meant to take all these opinions on board, not call everyone who suggests a change a “meathead”. Calm down.
Its a magnificent article but you should learn how to take their opinions on board because you ruined it by swearing and getting all fired up in the comments section.
JON! you loser!
I fully agree with Cecilia, Vikki and Cassidy.
Chill out. Its really helpful but a date would be good eg: late 1800′s or whatever.
I bet you will call me a meathead and say oohh why the hell are you tellig me this?! But i dont care.
I am not “meant”to do anything of the sort. This is my website, full of my fulminating, and no one has any right to expect or demand anything of me in it, not least a pack of undereducated slackwits trying to do their homework via reading blogs.
With the exceptions of Brandon, Jessica and Travis, no one who has commented on this post has even the slightest idea what I am talking about, and is likely incapable of doing so. You do not understand the point of the article, the reasoning being used, or how incredibly inane and ignorant your comments on it are.
I find it particularly amusing that some of you think that I, the author, should take into account (for a revised edition perhaps?) the plaintive cries of the scions of the idiocracy and massage a screed about the ills of modern capitalism and their beginnings into some prêt-à-porter homework scribble on the historical period of English industrialization.
Learn to read, or go away. Any further whining about how this article doesn’t do your homework for you or how mean I am will be summarily deleted without comment and their author banned from commenting.
Great article! I truly agree with you Jon!
why cant they give me a straigt up answer?!
>:l
ill tell you when the industrial revolution began to fall. it was in 1989 when the invention of www. was introduced to the mass which was the first step toward the information era, and technology took over like fire consumes paper.
now a days is perfect example that the industrial era is, in most part, over..
So those of you going to college to depend on it to live, because you great grandma told your grandma and she told your mom and now shes telling you, you might just be preparing for something that no longer exist. but if you are interested in being an evolutionist of slavery [traditional job], telecommunication is a good road in my opinion.