Mar. 9

Industrial Revolution I

I. The dual revolutions of the modern era: the French and Industrial revolutions.

II. Pre-industrial economy:

A. Agricultural.
B. Manufacturing via the guild system.
C. The problems:

1. Low technical knowledge.
2. Few incentives for expansion and innovation.
3. Controls and regulation often based on social and political, not economic, concerns.

III. The forces of expansion.

A. Population growth.
B. Colonial empires.
C. A combined process of heightened demand that is entwined with demography and colonialism.

IV. The proto-industrial family economy.

V. Toward the industrial economy.

A. Limits of existing system provide an impetus for technological developments.
B. The great inventions:

1. Spinning jenny.
2. Steam engine perfected 1775.
3. Power loom 1787 by Awkwright, whose factory first opened 1769 and already in 1792 employed 300 people.

VI. Textiles production as the pacesetter of industrial revolution.

VII. Once the breakthrough accomplished in the 1780s, then very rapid expansion of the industrial economy.

A. A broad stimulative effect through many sectors.
B. In the competitive European state system, meant that other nations had to follow Britain´s lead, make their own breakthroughs, or sink into stagnation and dependency. Stasis, immobility, was no longer an option.

VIII. The social impact of industrialization was devastating.