IMPACT OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

ECONOMIC EFFECTS

• In highly industrialized countries, the share of industrial production in the total national income is far larger than that of agriculture. Urban and rural economies have become mutually dependent and complementary.
• With the growth of industrialization the picture was completely transformed. The centre of economic life shifted to the cities.
• The new cities and towns that grew were important more as centres of industry than as political and administrative centres.
• A small number of capitalists came to control the lives of not only a large number of workers whom they employed but also, directly or indirectly, the economic life of the entire society.
• The concentration of economic power in a few hands resulted in shocking social inequalities and created a wide gulf between capitalists and the rest of the population.
• These inequalities were so obvious and so great that Disraeli, a British Prime Minister of the 19th century, spoke of the existence of two nations in England- the rich and the poor.
• The average income and the growth of the population, in general, saw unprecedented changes. Modern economists are of the opinion that the standard of living of the general population began to change considerably.
• The Industrial Revolution provided a boost to trade and commerce. Due to the introduction of machines and division of labor, the production of goods increased so much that apart from consumption of home market also supplied to neighboring countries.
• The Industrial Revolution led to an improvement in road network, which was substandard before the advent of industrialisation.
• The arrival of new innovations such as steam-powered locomotives heralded a new era in transportation that saw an efficient movement of freights and people across the world.
• There was the sharp increase in the production and the distribution as the result of the application of new technology to production and transportation.
• It also resulted in the growing exploitation of consumers. Later a number of consumer forums developed in order to give protection to consumers.
• In 1833 and 1844, the first general laws against child labour, the Factory Acts, were passed in England.
• Children younger than nine were not allowed to work, children were not allowed to work at night, and the work day of youth under the age of 18 was limited to twelve hours.
• The Industrial Revolution saw the emergence of modern capitalist economies around the world at this time as the GDP per capita saw an exponential rate of growth around this time.
• Economic historians regard the Industrial Revolutions as the most important moment in human history since the domestication of animals and plants.

POLITICAL EFFECTS

• In the political sphere also the industrial revolution had manifold impact. In the first place it led to colonization of Asia and Africa.
• In fact these countries added so much territory to their empire that one historian has described it as “the greatest land grab movement in the history of the world.”
• The Industrial revolution sharply divided the countries. The industrially advanced countries which possessed necessary finances and technical know-how, invested their surplus capital in the backward countries and fully exploited their resources and crippled their industries.
• Thus the world came to be divided into two groups-the developed and the underdeveloped world.
• As a result of the Industrial Revolution a large number of Europeans went across the oceans and settled down in America and Australia and contributed to the Europeanization of these countries.
• It has been estimated that as against 145,000 people who left Europe in 1820’s, over 9 million people left Europe between 1900 and 1910.
• A number of Factory Laws were enacted to improve the lot of the workers between 1833-45 which tried to limit the working hours for children.
• These Acts also prohibited employment of children in mines and laid down general rules for the health and safety of workers.
• A movement known as Chartist Movement was launched to demand reforms for improving the lot of workers and for introduction of universal suffrage, secret voting, equal electoral districts, no property qualifications for membership, payment of members, and annual elections.
• The industrial revolution led to a strong trade union movement. The working men in various trades and industries formed trade unions to protect themselves against their employers.
• Though initially the English law forbade these unions but ultimately they were accorded recognition by law in 1824. However, the trade unions could not prove effective as they were divided and lacked national unity.
• After the industrial revolution the power and the responsibility of the government sharply increased because now the state had to deal with a number of questions or problems arising out of industrialisation.
• For example, the state had to legislate a number of factory laws” in order to regulate the relationship between the labour and the capital, it is in this context that the concept of welfare state developed. 

SOCIAL EFFECTS

• In the Social sphere the Industrial Revolution produced far reaching consequences. Growth of the factory system resulted in the growth of new cities. 
• Workers shifted to places near the factories where they were employed.
• Industrial revolution led to sharp divisions in society. The society got divided into two classes-the bourgeois and the proletariat.
• The former consisted of factory owners, great bankers, small industrialists, merchants and professional men. They amassed great wealth and paid very low wages to the workers.
• Before the Industrial Revolution, most of the population of the world lived in villages and was dependent on agriculture.
• Almost all economic needs of man were met within the village itself. After the Industrial Revolution almost the entire population was, in one way or the other, connected with land.
• The crowding of people into cities has always produced problems of housing, health, and sanitation.
• The quickening pace of industrialization in England created deplorable living conditions, concentration in smoky industrial towns, and city slums grew worse.
• The Industrial Revolution created an international consciousness among peoples because the developments in one place began to influence the developments in other places.
• The extremely low wages paid by the factory owners made it difficult for them to make both ends meet. As a consequence they were often obliged to send their women and children to factories, where they worked on extremely low wages.
• The industrialists preferred women and children also because they were easy to manage.
• This exploitation of women and children resulted in “stunned bodies, deformed backs, horribly twisted legs, sunken chests and savage natures.”
• If an employer was displeased with a worker for any reason, he could dismiss the worker at will. A worker had little choice but to accept an employer’s terms, or be jobless. If he was ill and unable to work, he got no pay, and he might be discharged
• With the passage of time a lot of the capitalist classes went on improving and that of the working classes went on deteriorating. This caused great social disharmony, and gave rise to sharp conflict between the capitalists and the workers.
• The rise of cities was accompanied by the growth of slums. Before the advent of the industrial revolution, the industry was scattered throughout the country.
• Artisans generally worked in their cottages or shops and were not entirely dependent on trade for their livelihood.
• The standard of living improved dramatically for the middle and upper classes, the poor and the working classes had no change in their lot in life.
• Although mechanization of factories had improved output and production overall, the working conditions had become tedious and at times fraught with danger.
• The wages paid to these workers were also low, fuelling violent opposition to changes in Britain’s industrial landscape.
• Revolutions in agriculture, production, transportation, and communication changed the lives of people in Western Europe and the United States. Industrialization gave Europe tremendous economic power.