The Age of Industrialisation

Throughout the world, humans used to produce food, clothes, and finished goods either through hand labour or animals were used in the making of goods. This was the case for centuries, irrespective of how backward or advanced the civilisations used to be. The industrial revolution, which started in the mid-18th century, allowed the emergence of the factory and goods to be produced in it. This led to higher economic productivity and transformed our society from a hand labour civilisation to an industrial society. Industrialisation ushered technological inventions like the steam engine, spinning jenny, coke smelting, etc. and transformed the pace of industrial change.

Proto-Industrialisation: Before Industrial Revolution

Introduction

Industrial production existed well before factory-based production came into the picture. The phenomenon of industrial production not based in factories is known as proto industrialisation. In the seventeen and eighteenth centuries, world trade expanded and the demand for goods increased. Various unions were permitted by the rulers to trade in particular goods and maintain a monopoly on trade. This forced new merchants to move to the countryside in search of artisans and peasants who could produce these goods without interference from the trade unions.

Effects

Since agricultural opportunities were disappearing, the artisans and peasants were in search of alternative sources of income. The production shift from towns to countryside helped them in earning income (earlier earned through cultivation) through proto-industrial production. It also allowed better use of the labour provided by the whole family. Due to this system, a close alliance formed between the town and the countryside as the merchants mostly lived in towns but the production of goods was largely done in the countryside.

Concept of Family Farms

A merchant would buy the raw product from a wool stapler and take the raw wool to the spinners. The thread was spun in different stages of production by weavers, fullers and dyers. The product was finished in London before the merchant exported the cloth to an international market. London came to be seen as the final centre of production. Hence, proto industrialisation produced goods that were made by a large number of producers active within family farms and not in factories. At every level of production, 20-25 workers were hired by one merchant which means each piece of clothing was hand laboured by hundreds of workers.

Coming Up of the Factory

By the 1730s, the factories had started coming up in England but the numbers increased only in the late 18th century. Cotton ushered in a new era of the industrial revolution and witnessed production growth in the late 19th century. Initially, Britain only imported 2.5 million pounds in the 1760s. However, due to several production changes, the import of raw cotton increased to 22 million pounds by 1787.

1. In the 18th century, several technological advancements (spinning and twisting, carding, and rolling) led to an increase in production. New inventions improved workers’ output and produced stronger yarns and threads.
2. With the formation of the cotton mill by Richard Arkwright, the earlier production of cotton in the countryside moved to the expensive new machines within the mills. These mills maintained all aspects of production under one structure and ensured efficient management of goods.
3. The careful inspection of production ensured quality checks and regulated labour which was hard to manage when the goods were produced all over the countryside.

The Pace of Industrial Change

1. Metal and Cotton were the most popular industries in Britain. From the first phase of the industrial revolution till the 1840s, the Cotton industry was growing at a fast speed. The steel and iron industry was in huge demand after cotton due to the spread of railways in Britain (from the 1840s) and in the colonies (from the 1860s). Soon Britain began exporting steel and iron valuing about £ 77 million by 1873, twice the amount of cotton export of that time.
2. Despite a major increase in new industries, the traditional industries still employed more than 80 percent of the total workforce. By the end of the 19th century, industries with new technologies were employing less than 20 percent of the workforce. Textile was a popular sector but a huge part of its output was created by domestic groups from outside and not by factories.
3. Changes within traditional industries were caused by neither the technologically advanced metal industry nor the cotton industry. Ordinary innovations within non-mechanised areas like pottery, food processing, glasswork, building, furniture making etc., provided exponential growth to these industries.
4. The technologically advanced changes were slow. Since the new technology was costly, industrialists and merchants were wary of using it. The machines were not as successful as claimed by their manufacturers. They would frequently break down and it was expensive to repair them.

Hand Labour

Poor peasants began moving from the countryside to towns in search of employment during this time. Since there was plenty of human labour, the wages were extremely low. Industrialists and merchants refused to set up new machines since it involved a hefty investment and it was much easier to get human labour. Labour-demand was seasonal in a lot of industries. For instance—Breweries, printers, bookbinders, and gas workers were in huge demand during the winter months. In industries where demand changes with seasons, industrialists favoured hand labour.

Aristocracy and handmade production

Machine-made products were standard, uniformed goods meant huge markets. The market had a high demand for delicate designs and custom shapes which could be only produced through hand labour. The bourgeoisie and the aristocrats (the upper classes) favoured handmade goods as they indicated class and refined taste. Machine-made products were exported to British colonies. However, machines were in huge demand in a country like America where labour was in shortage.

Spinning Jenny

In 1764, the Spinning Jenny was invented by James Hargreaves to fasten the process of spinning and reduce labour demand. The abundance of labour and seasonal demand of workers lead to high rates of unemployment in cities. Around 10 percent of the population living in cities were poor till the mid-19th century. With economic crashes, unemployment climbed between 35 to 75 percent. Widespread unemployment made workers oppose the new technology that came in with the introduction of the Spinning Jenny. It began in the woollen industry where a majority of the women were employed. However, with the new construction work, employment opportunities came through. 

Conclusion

Before the advent of factories and technological innovations, different forms of industrial production were in existence all around Europe. The industrial revolution depicts a critical event in terms of technological and economical advancements. It also brought in social changes concerning class (rise of the middle class) and gender (women getting employment opportunities). Industrialisation was empowered by engineering and scientific breakthroughs and immensely affected humankind.