Category: British Industrial Revolution

Whilst the definitions of labour and resources are quite straightforward, there can be some room for interpretation when defining capital and institutions. North D.C (1993, p.2.) has an interpretation that institutions are characterised by formal constraints (‘laws and constitutions’) and informal constraints (‘norms of behaviour, self-imposed codes of conduct) followed by their enforcement mechanisms. Capital in this context refers to productive resources (machinery etc.) and most notably is that money itself is not included in capital from the economist’s point of view.

When mentioning the use of resources during the Industrial Revolution, Britain had an abundance of coal. Coal itself has been under much speculation on the role it played during this time period. What is interesting is that early economic historians put much more weight on the impact of coal, whereas the more recent cliometric reports (e.g. Mokyr 1990) suggest the role of coal was only a ‘bit actor’. China during the 1750s was in a strong stance to start the revolution, leading the exports in many products (e.g. silk, china), as well as having a strong culture of invention and arguably having free enterprise in their economy. This raises of question of why Britain experienced the Industrial Revolution over China, and it can arguably be due to the cheap energy source, coal, that Britain. Thus, this cheap energy source incentivized substituting capital for labour by lowering the ratio of capital prices to labour costs. One way to tackle the importance of coal would be to examine how (and if) the industrial revolution would have changed if coal resources depleted before the 1750s. Britain would’ve had to rely on coal imports which we would assume to lead to more expensive energy due to transportation costs. However, Clark, G. and D. Jacks (2007) claim much of the coal in England was already shipped long distances before 1870. Between 20-30% of coal mined in England took a rail or sea journey to reach the customer. If we were then to assume 100% of coal was to be transported to us by a sea journey with a distance from Newcastle-London, then it would only be an additional 3.9% of GDP from 1740-1869, which would not be significant enough to impact the industrial revolution.

However, Hansen and Prescot attribute the success of Britain due to the loosening restrictions of creating limited liability cooperation. The British industrial revolution was one of innovation, leading to the mechanisation of many industries. Institutional incentives were provided to kickstart the innovations (such as the Newcomen steam engine) which came through Britain’s strong property rights and a relatively modern patent system. Without these two, many inventors’ scientific knowledge wouldn’t have been fully utilised. Another point is stated by North (1990 p.359.) which explains that institutions determine transaction costs, this includes the cost of protecting rights and, enforcing agreements. Britain’s efficient economic institution kept transaction costs minimal for inventors and uncertainty concerns low. However, the effects of Britain’s patent system may be exaggerated. MacLeod (1988) found that a large proportion of invention research was carried out outside of the patent system. This idea suggests that the patent system wasn’t as influential in the industrial revolution as presumed.

What was notable was Britain’s wage structure at the time, relative to other countries, Britain had high wages. This gave businesses an incentive to invent technology to substitute labour for capital and energy. Allen (2011) states how the supply of the technology, which in turn leads to capital, was augmented by the high wage rate. The labour force was therefore in a better position to undertake education and training. In turn, this led to higher literacy rates which contributed to the inventions and innovations.

Labour is another factor which has no doubt contributed towards the British industrial revolution. Stevens (1995) expressed that England had a relative abundance of ‘technical literacy’ which means that there was a relative high proportion of people in the labour force with strong mechanical knowledge and material properties.

In conclusion, I believe it’s clear that a combination of good institutional framework, cheap resources, a skilled and educated labour force and capital ownership have all led to Britain’s success during the industrial revolution. The interconnection of these factors suggests that Britain wouldn’t have revolutionised without one of them. Upon reviewing the literature, we can suggest that Britain’s coal abundance was not as beneficial as assumed as imports of coal to Britain wouldn’t have changed the course of the revolution much. With the lowering transport costs, coal would’ve still been cheap enough to be regarded as a good energy source in Britain. Mokyr puts his emphasis on institutions providing good incentives, along with the scientific knowledge and skilled craftsmen Britain had. The Royal Society 1660 is an example of a scientific institution that was underpinned during the industrial revolution.

There are a lot of differences between the British industrial revolution and China’s opening up. However, there are also some similarities between the two reformations. This essay will compare the similarities between the industrial revolution and China’s recently opening up. Revolutions play a large part in history as change happens inevitably, the longer a system stays in action, the more disorganized it becomes; without changes to improve, the system will eventually collapse. That’s why reformations of our governing systems are needed to improve policies and resources and technology so we are ready when change happens. The industrial revolution is defined as “the period of time during which work began to be done more by machines in factories than by hand at home” in the Cambridge dictionary, this means that during that period, Britain rapidly industrialized, and factories began to be built and people transitioned from working at home at producing handmade little things to working in gigantic factories mass producing products. For example, before the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing was often done in people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines. Industrialization marked a shift towards powered, specialized machinery (which decreased the need for specialists because everybody could operate machines), factories, and mass production. ‘As China opens up wider to the outside world, this transition to a new model of development will create huge opportunities for many new industries, ‘It means opportunities for businesses not just in China but across the world.’’ (Liu He, 2018) What this means is that as China opens up to the rest of the world, people all around the world can have more chances for business in China. For example, if China didn’t open up, China would not have become the factory of the world and there wouldn’t be inexpensive products flooding the world now, with everything “made in China”, just like there wouldn’t be British products flooding the world 2 hundred years ago. So, If you still want to read my incredibly tedious essay which will probably bore you to death, the key points that we are going to discuss are government policies, urbanization, and factories.

First, let’s compare how the 2 events started. It was very not different between China and the Industrial Revolution in Britain if you look at the right place. The reform of China only happened because Deng Xiaoping passed a law in 1978. This is different from the Industrial Revolution because it happened slowly and was not led by one person like in China. It had many factors like the availability of resources (coal), new inventions like the steam engine, better transport systems, and new roads and canals were built, etc. Britain had a parliamentary monarchy which led to more freedom for the people. Britain was also a capitalist society, which led to the motivation for people to invent and work harder because they could keep the money they earned unlike China, which was a communist society. The people in China had no motivation, or incentive, to work harder because the money is split and shared equally between the people. The government gets to keep the extra money of someone decided to work harder. However, in Britain, who was “a country that a century before still had an economy dominated by farming and agriculture, much as it had been for 2000 years, had become the world’s first industrial giant in just a few generations.” What took place in Britain was far more than a growth spurt. It was the dawning of a whole new way of organizing labour and production, a whole new way of thinking about how a society ought to be organized and how wealth could be obtained. This was all made possible because of how their government operated. Absolute monarchy was all about maintaining power and the rulers didn’t want their citizens to get strong and rich as the citizens might get more powerful than themselves and start an uprising. This was kind of like how China operated during Mao’s era before Deng Xiaoping came into power. Mao’s communism places strict rules as to how businesses operate in such a way that a classless society is born. No matter what field a business specializes in, the same amount of funds will be allocated to each, and each worker will receive the same amount of money, thus creating no reason to work harder and try to help the country move forward with inventions or technological advancements as the workers get paid the same amount of money no matter what. Britain was the same, its switch to a parliamentary monarchy (which was kind of like passing a law similar to China) helped the people and allowed them to get rich and bring money back to Britain. This led to people with purpose, with a reason to work hard and strive for better. Their way of thinking was brilliant, they would let some people get rich first, bringing the money back to Britain so the government could then collect taxes and help the whole society move out of poverty too. It is not until the introduction of controlled capitalism into a small region before the industrialization of China begin to take hold as people found reasons to work harder.

Next, China and Britain both experienced urbanization. Urbanization is defined as “the increase in the population of the total population living in an urban area.” (Retrieved from Mr. Cabrelli, who probably read it off an unreliable website, 2019) This means that the percentage of people living in cities increased. This is closely tied to and most likely triggered by the rise of the factory system. People living in rural areas felt “pulled” to the city. New industrial labour opportunities caused a population shift Often they assume that the standard of living in urban areas will be much higher than in rural areas. They also hope to find more stable jobs that earn more money. They were usually wrong in both countries. Industrialization changed material production, wealth, labour patterns, and population distribution. People living in small farming communities migrated to cities because of increased job opportunities in many industrial areas. As a result of workers looking for wage labour moving to cities, the population growth led to horrible living conditions. The wealthy fared far better than the industrial workers because they could afford to live in the suburbs in the outskirts of the city. The city was packed, and epidemics often erupted. Overcrowded row homes created to accommodate the workers and their families contributed to the below-standard living conditions, Government studies have shown that more than six people could share a bed at that time. The sanitary conditions in the early industrial cities were also very dirty, the government did not care about hygiene at the time. The city did not have a proper garbage disposal system, and the coal burned in the factory coated everything with a layer of dirt in the city, polluting the air, and the water supply was contaminated by waste. Cities population’s growth during the industrial revolution was unreal, for example, Manchester went from 90 thousand people to 351 thousand people (that’s 290%); Birmingham grew from just 74 thousand people to 344 thousand people (that’s about 365%), and London grew from 1117 thousand people to 3890 thousand people (that’s about 248%). Glasgow grew the most, from 77 thousand people to 522 thousand people (that’s almost 578%)! China’s urbanization wasn’t much better. Often referred to as the factory of the world, China’s industry-oriented economy depends on these migrant employees who make up the bulk of their workforce, they are very poor and were most likely migrants from the rural area who didn’t have any power to negotiate with factory owners. There are approximately a hundred and fifty million internal migrant employees in China who, because of their status, do not receive any state benefits or protection. They have to endure poor working conditions such as excessive and forced overtime, denial of social security rights, and failure to provide employment contracts, as well as severe health risks. However, because of these factories, China experienced urbanization rather quickly, in 1950, 13% of China’s population lived in cities. By 2010, the urban population had grown to 45%; by 2030, it is predicted that it will reach 60 percent. Twenty-five of the one hundred largest cities in the world are in China. The urbanization that happened during the Industrial Revolution and China was largely similar because they were both caused by the factory system. However, both countries experienced urbanization in different ways. The location where the urbanization happened were determined by different factors. In China, it was decided by the government SEZs (Special Economic Zones). SEZs are coastal areas selected to attract foreign investment, they are special areas for foreign companies to operate (controlled capitalism). They operate with special economic laws separate to the rest of China, foreign companies opened factories, which created jobs for Chinese people, this then attracted more people to the SEZs. This was urbanization, Shenzhen grew from 30,000 to 10,000,000. There were five major SEZs in China, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, Xiamen, and Hainan. In Britain during the Industrial Revolution, the location of the urbanization was determined by the factory owners themselves, they could choose wherever they wanted to build factories.

Finally, let us discuss factories which goes hand in hand with urbanization. People hope for well-paid jobs and greater opportunities to work. They think that they will get better jobs that are more stable because if you’re working in a factory, you get your monthly salary but if you live and work on a farm, there are no written contracts and little or no protection, they tend to work for long hours on a farm, earning low and unstable incomes and often have to combine more than one job to make a living. The amount of income you get depends on many different factors like bad weather. Despite some obvious benefits to working in factories, the working conditions in factories during the industrial revolution were terrible and workers were often exploited because workers were easily replaceable as there were always people who wanted to work even if they got very little money for long hours. The working conditions were terrible during both the industrial revolution and China’s opening up. During the industrial revolution, working conditions were terrible and factory owners wanted to keep their machines running as many hours as possible because it meant more production and hence, more money. Because of this, the average worker worked 6 days a week with 14 hours a day. Work did not change with the seasons, as it did on farms. Instead, work remained the same, week after week, year after year… Industrialization also presented new threats to workers, factories were seldom well lit or clean. Machines injured workers. A boiler might explode or a drive belt might catch an arm. There were no government programs to give support to workers who might injure themselves with reasons relating to work. In an investigation, it was discovered that laborers died about 8 years earlier than an average tradesman and 29 years earlier than the average gentlemen and professionals during the industrial revolution. As factories were being built, businessmen could set wages as low as they desired because workers believed in “the American dream” for they thought anything was possible if they worked hard enough. Many of them were disappointed. However, there were very few success stories and they were what kept the workers going. One example was in China where there was a woman who first worked on a factory assembly line, which paid only $50 a month. Over the next two years, she attends night school and gets several secretarial jobs, and lands a coveted position in the factory’s purchasing department that pays more than $1000 a month. However, there are many more “failure” examples, one of them was the one where a woman threw herself from the fourth floor of her Foxconn dormitory because she worked 12 hours a day, six days a week, and was forced to attend early work meetings for no pay, and had to skip meals to do overtime. Toilet breaks were restricted; you were shouted at for little mistakes and yet there was no training. And what was Foxconn’s solution to this problem? Put netting around the factories so even if workers jumped to attempt suicide, they couldn’t die. Wow. Instead of trying to fix the root of the problem (which would have been to treat workers better) they just eliminated the symptoms (well news flash Foxconn, there are many ways to die. They could strangle themselves in the netting, they could suffocate themselves with a bag, they could electrocute themselves with the many machines in the factory, they could hang themselves with a rope, they could poison themselves from a drug overdose, they could starve themselves by not eating, they could kill themselves because of dehydration and more. So, only treating the symptoms of sickness can never cure the whole problem). I watched a video where a young female former Foxconn worker was interviewed. She tells having entered Foxconn when she was 18 years old, at first earning just 1 Chinese yuan a day as a trainee but actually working the same amount as other workers. The dusty environment and corrosive chemicals used in the mold production shop floor put the workers’ health at risk. But when workers got injuries relating to work, they had to apologize publicly and are only allowed to take sick leave instead of getting proper treatment and compensation. Workers who stood up for better protection would be pressured to keep silent, they were not allowed to apply for industrial injury and were threatened if they asked. Her story adds to the growing number of accounts we hear, of young migrant workers being exploited. We are left to think: do we really understand the thousands of human faces behind the successful images and huge profits of those IT brands, including Apple?

So, in conclusion, however, different things may seem, we can always find something the two share amongst themselves. They both were started by government policies. They both experienced urbanization. They both witnessed the rise of the factory system. Guided by Deng Xiaoping’s bold policy of reform and openness, China has experienced groundbreaking changes in the last quarter century. Industrialization in Britain took off during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. ‘The word “revolution” means great change or upheaval. The upheaval that happened over many years in Britain during those two centuries was so remarkable that by 1851 Britain was known as “the workshop of the world.”’ The industrial revolution that began in the 18th century in Britain spread to Europe and USA and changed the world forever. They both changed from rural countries, depending on the land and agriculture for their wealth, to industrial nations, where goods were manufactured in factories.

Executive Summary:

China’s economic growth since 1979 economic reforms is highly appreciable as it was a poverty-stricken and under-developed nation pre-1979. Researchers have been arguing about the factors that contributed to the economic growth of China in the past forty years and the following paper aims to highlight crucial contributing factors. Secondary data from journals, magazines, newspapers, and online resources have been used.

The analysis indicated that China adopted western style economic policies of liberalization and free market reforms but focused on structural change alongside and shifted from an agrarian society to an industrial society. It reduced food shortages via strengthening the agriculture sector and enhanced employment opportunities to bring people out of the poverty trap from 1979 to 1988. The growth from 1988 to 1998 is categorized as labor intensive and 1998 onwards as capital intensive. It adopted privatization and liberalization strategies to improve technology, innovation, and competition which led to dramatic economic growth.

However, continuous growth has adversely affected the environment, pollution, and natural resources. Moreover, western-style policies enhanced corruption, fraud, and crime rate so there is a need to regulate the environment and curb pollution along with devising strategies to control corruption and crime to ensure long-term sustainable economic growth.

Contents

1. Executive Summary: 2
2. Introduction: 4
3. Analysis: 4
4. Conclusion: 9
5. References: 11

Introduction:

China’s industrial revolution startled economists as within 40 years, an agrarian nation with a nearly 1.4 billion population transformed into an industrial powerhouse when many nations with favorable economic conditions failed to do so. Before economic reforms and trade liberalization in 1980, China’s economic policies kept the nation poor, inefficient and centrally controlled which adversely affected its economic growth. Free market reforms were initiated in 1979 to open trade and investment which led to China’s remarkable growth and real annual GDP growth average of 9.5% in 2017. World Bank described its growth rate pace as the fastest and most sustained expansion of an economy. China has developed the ability to double its growth rate every eight years and improve the lives of nearly 800 million people living below the poverty line. It has become the world’s largest economy, trading center, and manufacturer and remained unaffected by the Global Financial Crises 2008-09 (Morrison, 2018).

Hirst (2015) discussed that China’s dramatic growth in the past 40 years is the result of opening an economy and embracing globalization. It has undergone a major structural shift from an agrarian society to an industrial society and experienced productivity and wage increases which allowed it to become the second largest economy of the world. The following paper will determine factors that led to China’s growth post-1980 and propose structural and policy changes to sustain and improve economic growth.

Analysis:

Wen (2018) described the conflicting views about China’s growth in the past forty years. The first view sees its enormous growth as a government-engineered bubble that is not sustainable and eventually growth will decline. China lacks democracy, rule of law, freedom of expression, private banking sector, protection of property rights, innovation, and a well-defined legal system based on the western style, in short, it lacks all the western style properties which a nation requires for prosperity so the bubble will burst and China’s growth will reduce. The second view argues that China’s growth is out of luck and destiny. From 200 B.C to 1800, it was one of the richest and most well-established civilizations but at the start of the industrial revolution, its growth and strength in the international arena declined. So, it was in the fate of China to grow and dominate internationally to regain its lost position and heritage. Napoleon’s quote is quite famous in this regard “Let China sleep because when it is awake it will shake the whole world once again”.

Huang (2012) also provided two explanations for China’s growth since 1980. The first view glorifies globalization because its economy flourished when Deng Xiaoping adopted liberalization policies and opened the economy for free trade and foreign investments. Its export-oriented growth policies triggered manufacturing and foreign-funded organizations to provide employment opportunities to poor people and reduced poverty and raised the overall standard of living. The second explanation resides on internal reforms in agriculture, land, and rural businesses which led to dramatic growth within the country. Prasad (2009) also discussed that macroeconomic and structural policies contributed to the economic growth of China. Before the growth reforms of 1979, China’s per capita income was one-third of sub-Sahara Africa and the annual average GDP growth rate was 5.3% from 1960 to 1978. However, in 2007, the annual growth rate was 14.2% which declined to 6.9% in 2017 and is expected to fall to 5.8% by 2022. The economy flourished dramatically due to the growth policies but to stabilize economic growth, China has adopted a “new normal” growth policy (The Guardian, 2012 & Morrison, 2018).

China is the largest manufacturer across the globe and produces nearly 50% of industrial goods such as coal, steel, cement, and vehicles. It has developed expertise in manufacturing technological products such as trains, cars, highways mobiles, and computers and provides better and technologically advanced products at cheaper rates. China is the number one manufacturer in terms of output across the globe and followed by the US, Japan, Germany, and South Korea as shown in the table below (West and Lansang, 2018).

Table 1: Countries on manufacturing output, 2015

In 1980, the US was the number one manufacturer across the globe and China was ranked 5th position whereas, by 2015, it replaced the US due to economic growth and structural change policies. China’s growth can be attributed to its industrial growth policies. British Industrial Revolution was among the most renowned socioeconomic events which changed the course of economic development in the United Kingdom and European countries. China’s growth is the result of the fourth attempt of industrialization in the past 120 years and the first three attempts did not fail due to a lack of free market, democracy, and private property rights. China was in the Malthusian poverty trap in 1978 with low per capita income and Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms initiated remarkable growth. It refused to adopt western policies and adopted a gradualist and experimental approach to ensure economic growth. It maintained its political stability, adopted bottom-up reforms in agriculture, and promoted rural industries to provide employment to a massive population. It built infrastructure and ensured private-public ownership rather than complete privatization. Furthermore, to move up the ladder, it promoted heavy industries, capital-intensive production, and consumerism (Bosworth and Collins, 2007).

China’s fourth attempt of industrialization adopted the same policies as the British Industrial Revolution apart form political aspects. China’s industrialization has undergone three phases: from 1978 to 1988, the number of village enterprises increased across the country, especially in rural areas which acted as an engine of growth in the first ten years of reforms. Rural industrial output increased from 14% to 46% of GDP and agriculture employees increased by 100 million till 1988 with an increase in income by 12-fold. Due to the increase in the supply of consumer goods, it solved its food shortage issue and provided people with security about food items. The farmers benefitted from the reform during the first ten years (Huang, 2012). The period 1988 to 1998 can be categorized as the first industrial revolution as labor-intensive products were produced across urban and rural areas of the country but relied on imported machines. The textile industry flourished during this era and it became the largest exporter of textiles. Furthermore, it also became the largest exporter of toys and furniture and an importer of cotton. Rural enterprises flourished during this era and employees contributed to 30% of total rural labor force. Due to the improvement in labor force, village industrial output increased 66-fold since the inception of reforms till 2000. The second industrial revolution is categorized as the period between 1998 till today whereby mass production in the domestic market flourished. The machinery and transportation sector flourished along with increase in consumption of steel, cement, bridges, ships, tunnels, and chemicals. Infrastructure improved remarkably and now 28 out of 30 provinces have high-speed trains (Wen, 2016).

Researchers have argued that China’s growth is the result of consumerism. Marketism enhances competition within an economy and allows businesses to attain a competitive advantage by adopting technology. It is difficult to create a market at the domestic and international levels and prevent fraudulent activities. However, China successfully ensured growth due to its mercantile government despite low democracy and private property rights. It created markets at domestic and international levels to enhance consumerism by nurturing the merchant class and the government played a huge role as mutual trade benefits nations. The market can be created when the state has power and adopt effective developmental and industrial economic policies. It is difficult to create free market as it is costly but the industrial market is key to success as created by China. It shifted from agrarian to industrial market and repeated earlier stages of development to succeed. Rather than adopting western system of growth by building capital-intensive industries, setting up contemporary financial systems, and privatization, China adopted its own bottom-up strategy and structural transformation to grow. Markets were liberalized after 1998 and farmers were given incentives to adopt technology and privatization also flourished which improved the overall productivity and growth of China (Zhu, 2012).

China’s industrialized growth is the result of some strategies of western development but the associated drawbacks such as corruption, crime, pollution, fraud, scams, and environmental degradation cannot be ignored. Low-quality goods are being produced in the country which are difficult to sustain in the economy. Class distinction, income equality, and favoritism are being promoted in the country which will eventually reduce the overall growth of the country. Furthermore, health and education stats must be improved to sustain growth. Industrial development has enhanced carbon emissions and is destroying the ecosystem.

Fang and Xiaojing (2017) discussed that key reforms must be initiated in China to sustain economic growth. It must devise strategies to improve education and provide technical and vocational training to boost employee productivity and enhance innovation. To improve labor productivity, it should explore new areas to allow labor to migrate to urban areas. The structural transformation from an agrarian to an industrial society was the result of mass migration but it needs to find new areas to attract labor. Population growth policies must be relaxed but must be aligned with public services to reduce the burden of upbringing.

Moreover, to reduce pollution and environmental degradation reforms must be established and implemented. Tianjie and Hao (2018) discussed that China is improved its environmental management but hidden pollution still needs o be regulated. 45000 chemicals are being circulated in the Chinese market and only 3000 are regulated. There is a need to devise environmental strategies to control pollution and reduce threats to sustainable growth.

Conclusion:

In compendium, China’s growth trajectory after the 1978 reforms has been remarkable and is not influenced by western style development. It adopted a structural transformation policy to improve its economic growth. It improved its agriculture sector and eventually transformed into an industrial country and now is the largest manufacturer of the world. 1979 economic reforms helped the country to come out of poverty and village enterprises were promoted to enhance the income levels. The growth pattern in the last forty years is similar to the British Industrial Revolution. During the first ten years, the number of agriculture employees increased and village enterprises were introduced. From 1988 to 1998, labor-intensive growth flourished and from 1998 onwards, capital-intensive growth took over the economy. It is the relevant privatization and liberalization policies that aided the growth and brought the economy out of poverty and development crises. The government contributed to the growth via ensuring the appropriate implementation of reforms, however, corruption, nepotism, and scams increased over time. Income inequality and discrimination enhanced over time. Moreover, China’s growth came at the expense of high pollution and environmental degradation and the resources are being depleted at a faster rate. To ensure sustainable growth, it must identify the loopholes in policies that are promoting adversities in the economy and must devise strategies to ensure long-term growth via environmentally sustainable policies.

References:

1. Bosworth, B. and Collins, S.M., 2008. Accounting for growth: comparing China and India. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 22(1), pp.45-66.
2. Zhu, X., 2012. Understanding China’s growth: Past, present, and future. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(4), pp.103-24.
3. Huang, Y., 2012. How did China take off? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(4), pp.147-70.
4. Prasad, E.S., 2009. Is the Chinese growth miracle built to last? China Economic Review, 20(1), pp.103-123.
5. The Guardian, 2012. China GDP: how it has changed since 1980. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/mar/23/china-gdp-since-1980 (Accessed on 4 January 2019)
6. Hirst, 2015. A brief history of China’s economic growth. World Economic Forum, 30 July. [Online] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/07/brief-history-of-china-economic-growth/ (Accessed on 4 January 2019)
7. Morrison, W.M., 2018, February. China’s economic rise: history, trends, challenges, and implications for the United States. Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service.
8. Wen, Y. 2016. China’s Rapid Rise. The Regional Economist, April. [Online] https://www.stlouisfed.org/~/media/publications/regional-economist/2016/april/lead.pdf (Accessed on 4 January 2019)
9. West D. M. and Lansang, C. 2018. Global manufacturing scorecard: How the US compares to 18 other nations. Brookings, 10 July. [Online] https://www.brookings.edu/research/global-manufacturing-scorecard-how-the-us-compares-to-18-other-nations/ (Accessed on 4 January 2019)
10. Tianjie, M. and Hao, F. 2018. China’s next environmental challenge is hard to see. China Dialogue, 13 November. [Online] https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/10905-China-s-next-environmental-challenge-is-hard-to-see (Accessed on 4 January 2019)
11. Fang, C. and Xiaojing, Z. 2017. How can China sustain growth? East Asia Forum, 23 October. [Online] http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2017/10/23/how-can-china-sustain-growth/ (Accessed on 4 January 2019) Global Business Environment: Culture, Management, and the Economy Page No: 1

The Industrial Revolution was a significant period in history, it brought new technological, socioeconomic, and cultural ideas to the world. Between the years 1760 to 1830, the Industrial Revolution was primarily limited to Britain, this period is commonly referred to as the first Industrial Revolution. Before the Industrial Revolution Britain was considered an agricultural society and was already a leading economy prospering from trade. Britain was a true “cottage industry” with most work being manufactured in small shops or homes. Due to the ideal damp climate for raising sheep, Britain already had an established history of producing textiles. During the time, Britain was experiencing an agricultural revolution which induced a food surplus and a rapid population growth, and as the population grew, so did the demand for manufactured goods. To meet the new demands, a slew of innovations in the manufacturing industries were created which led to goods that were once crafted by hand to instead be produced by machines in factories. The new efficient manufacturing methods established in Britain’s textile factories allowed them to produce a higher quantity of products to keep up with the growing demand. Britain also had large amounts of natural resources including iron and coal and with the help of innovations, the British started producing cheaper and more durable iron and steel causing their production to expand. The labor force in Britain was also an important aspect of the industrialization. People from rural areas started moving into cities for work and the middle class started to grow more than ever before. Throughout history, there have been various reasons suggested to explain Britain’s dominance in the first Industrial Revolution, and steam power has arguably been the greatest reason provided for that dominance. The new machines and power sources contributed to a much more productive and efficient approach to manufacturing. The technology achieved in Britain gave them an advantage over any other country during the period.

Many necessary and meaningful inventions supported the Industrial Revolution to accomplish what it did. To begin, in the textile industry, the flying shuttle was invented and allowed one adult worker to accomplish the work of two. James Hargreaves then invented the spinning jenny which increased the production of a single worker eight times what one would’ve been able to do. Next, by incorporating a water wheel as the energy source, the water frame was invented. The water frame spun higher quality and cheaper threads than anything before. In 1712, Thomas Newcomen designed the atmospheric engine. The engine was conducted by compressing steam drawn into the cylinder, thereby producing a partial vacuum which allowed the atmospheric pressure to push the piston into the cylinder. Later in the 1760s, a Scottish engineer named James Watt started to fiddle with it in an attempt to see if there was a way to improve upon it. He eventually decided to add a separate water condenser which made it far more efficient. Watt then collaborated with Matthew Boulton to invent the steam engine. The invention of the steam engine granted steam power the ability to spread across a multitude of different British Industries. There were also advances in communication. The new velocity of trains led to an urgency for a resourceful method of communication, so William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone invented the first patented telegraphy system which was used for railroad signaling.

Many technological, socioeconomic, and cultural changes occurred during the Industrial Revolution. Britain experienced rapid urbanization in their cities because of severe unemployment and rising poverty in their rural areas. This change resulted in some difficult challenges. Many roads were poorly maintained and undeveloped. Cities started to become overcrowded with some homes being shared by as many as twenty people. In the 1840s, Britain became the first country to have more than half of its population living in urban areas. Steam engines also improved rapidly and were employed in coal mines, textile mills, and numerous other industries. Mine owners began financing a new network of canals to channel their mines more efficiently. By 1815, over two thousand miles of canals were constructed and being used for transporting goods. The canals were highly beneficial and by 1860, twenty percent of all industrial goods in the world were manufactured in Britain. Half of the world’s iron and cotton textiles came from Britain.

The Industrial Revolution may have brought a lot of valuable changes, however, it came at a cost. The mechanization of labor made working in factories a dull and often dangerous task. Factory owners would serve harsh punishments to workers as a sign of discipline. Some factories have been compared to prisons or barracks. Many workers would be forced to work long hours for subsistence wages. Working 12 hours a day was not an uncommon occurrence and accidents with the machinery would also frequently transpire. Because of their size, factories would employ children sent from workhouses or orphanages. The children were used to maneuver between narrow spaces in the fast-moving machinery. Due to the miserable conditions brought on by working in factories, a group known as the “Luddites” was formed. The Luddites were British weavers and textile workers known for their violent resistance to changes in the textile industry of Britain. The Luddites would destroy machinery they believed would threaten their jobs. In an attempt to keep this from continuing to happen, the British government then chose to declare machine-breaking punishable by death.

Work in the 22nd century holds more significance to the society more than any other activity, the ultimate goal of almost everyone is to find work, in the contemporary society work is regarded as commodity that pays out money and money is off value to a society so in order for people to get money most of them have to work and there’s often high competition in searching for work which results in high unemployment rates because as things stand in South African youth unemployment has escalated to 74% where 7 out of 10 people are out work. This assignment then is set out to describe the origins of work drawing back to what was work before the domination of the Industrial Revolution and what was the state of work on the don of the Industrial Revolution but before touching upon all that it will firstly explain the concept of work.

The Concept of Work

In the contemporary society there is nothing important as work almost everyone longs for stable work and the question one may ask themselves is what is work exactly and in general terms work can be defined as the exertion of effort that is putted in to achieve a certain goal and in the economical or industrial perspective work can be defined as a set of activities that are done by people with the objective of generating end results which are goods and services work can be done for substance use where individuals produce goods and services for their own families or the community and the part of work is one that is done with the motive of getting paid this the one that includes the terms employer and employee (Eichler & Matthews, 2004).

Work Before the Industrial Revolution

Work is an old concept in history, one may find that people had always been working even before the Industrial Revolution work existed in the agrarian society that existed before the Industrial Revolution people had been working for survival at these times subsistence agriculture was mostly practiced where males were responsible for the welfare of livestock’s and women were responsible for the grazing of crops, the plants that were harvested from the farms were eaten by the farmer and their family and surplus food was shared amongst the community this type of work didn’t involve any form of payment as the farmer planted for their families, it mostly dominated the world before the Industrial Revolution and it ceased to exist upon the rise of the Industrial Revolution (Coward, 1969).

The State of Work on the First Industrial Revolution

The First Industrial Revolution began in England in about 1750 to 1760 where it changed most of the human activities and it is regarded as the turning point of human history where it transformed human and animal labor into machinery such as steam engines and rolling processes for making iron. One of the many highlights of the Industrial Revolution is how it changed the meaning of work as it shifted subsistence production to high scale production that was to be used for commercial purposes, it brought a whole different meaning to why people have to work as it brought the concept of wages in process of work and created a high gap between the poor and rich people and created the need to work for a wage (Mohajan, 2019).

The First Industrial Revolution shifted the economy from agrarian to industrial where people now had to work in the factories but they firstly created the need for people to work in these factories where the wealth people brought land from the farm owners which was land that they used farm for their families others were forceful evicted from their land and when people didn’t have land they had nothing that was going to give them income therefore they had to work in these farms in order to earn wages and others had to relocate to the cities to find work in the industries, working in the industries was now a basic need for people in order for them to survive (Mohajan, 2019).

Working Conditions in the Era of the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution brought progress in human as it made certain activities to done easier but the working conditions under these industries weren’t easy for workers as they were poor and posed danger to the lives of workers. During this era employee had to work long hours which varied from 12 hours and more while working six days a week there weren’t any days that they had to take off, while working these long hours they weren’t expected to show any signs or signs of fatigue or sickness as they would get fired for that, the employers often did as they pleased because there weren’t any regulations prohibited from what is referred to today as unfair dismissal (Brasch, 2014).

Work that was done in these industries was very some had to work with machines that had no safety features and those that worked in the mines were working under tiny tunnels that would collapse at any time but the employers had no interest in improving these conditions and injury and death of workers at the working place was a common thing. Children were also subjected to work as there were laws that prohibited child labor the employers would hire children because they would pay them low wages without any complain and they would fit in places where adults couldn’t. The factories posed many unsafe fire hazards that could be set of by any smallest spark (Brasch, 2014).

Low Wages

Other than working on poor conditions workers were given low wages which weren’t equivalent to the type of work they performed and the long hours they worked per day. The capitalist employers could set out wages as they please because many people were in need of work to a point where they could work for any wage as long as they received some payment. The males were the ones that received more wages and they were followed by the females who received less than the males but it was more compared to the one that was received by the children, at this time there weren’t any legislations that regulated a minimum wage to be paid to the employees as a result employees were subjected to exploitation (Griffin, 2018).

Characteristics of the First Industrial Revolution

Division of Labor

The Industrial Revolution is characterized by the division of labor where an individual specializes in performing one tasks which is part of a series of tasks that are there to produce an end product the employers divided labor with the objective of minimizing the production costs where by goods are produced at lower production costs because division of labor reduced the need for training because instead of learning every aspect of production workers needed to one portion of it and specialize on that and when workers focused on only one task of work they were likely to perform well at that task which meant that the company would produce goods that are of quality (Ashton, 1948).

Mass Production

Converse to agrarian society which focused on subsistence production the Industrial Revolution shifted the production of goods and services from being family oriented to a commercial state that was achieved through mass production where goods were produced in mass batches where they would be sold in different markets. Mass production meant that the factories had to employ a high number of workers to perform the required tasks for this production and almost all of the time they had the required workers which were often low skilled workers that would be paid low wages as they used motive of people seeing the need for working in order to survive (Ford, 1986).

Conclusion

The rise of the Industrial Revolution brought a whole different meaning to the meaning of work the reason for why people had to changed completely and work was commodified. The Industrial Revolution is mostly associated with colonization where wealthy people stripped people of their land so they wouldn’t have any means for survival and they settle for employment in factories where they had to endure long hours of work, working under poor conditions, under an exploitive labor system. The Industrial Revolution was a good innovation for human kind but it was the way it came about that made it seem like an evil deed when it’s associated with colonizers.

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 18th century. But how did it start and why did it happen in Britain and not in France, Germany, or the United States? In this essay, I will try to answer these questions.

In the 18th century, wood was the main source of energy for Britain and it supplied fuel for homes and small industries, but as the population increased, the demand for wood increased. At the same time, wood is bulky, difficult to transport and expensive, so Britain needed a new source of energy. They found a new source of energy that is cheaper, more reliable, and makes three times more energy than wood, i.e. coal. For Britain, coal was easily mined since the mines were near the sea, so they were easily transported by ships and abundant at the same time, but it was more expensive for other European countries since they struggled with transportation due to their geographical location. Also, Britain had access to cotton from its colonies and could acquire it using slaves. Cotton picking grew simpler as technology advanced, and it was a thriving industry. Because of their formidable navy and other ships, they had access to local and worldwide economies. Three railroads were also constructed to facilitate more efficient trading and transportation of commodities. The first public railway, which extended from Stockton to Darlington, opened in 1825.

All of the developments that were taking place in Britain were held together by the country’s stable government. Regular parliamentary sessions, as well as extended legislative sessions, provided an opportunity to address local concerns. Fewer bills failed, and promoters gained confidence, resulting in an increase in the number of petitions and legislation. When compared Britain to other European mainland countries, the economies were markedly different. During the pre-Industrial and Industrial Revolution periods, the pound sterling was the national currency, and it is still the currency used today. While the economy of pre-Industrial Britain grew, a bigger percentage of the people gained access to education. Citizens had access to an education that was unavailable in many other nations. Reading abilities improved as a result of greater literacy and more individuals were able to read machine instruction manuals. This meant that more people could begin reading books about the Revolution as it happened, igniting or maintaining interest in technology and innovation.

Many people obtained the skills needed to become proficient industrial workers at universities such as the University of Oxford. To prepare a skilled workforce for these new sectors influencing society, a new educational system was established. Regular parliament sessions were linked to a free-thinking culture, implying that the country would be a stable environment for new ideas to flourish. Many employees who were formerly working in significant numbers in the agricultural field were forced to relocate to the city in order to find jobs in the technology industry due to the abundance of ideas and new machinery.

In conclusion, because the technical achievements were customized to conditions and could not be successfully deployed abroad, the Industrial Revolution was restricted to Britain for many years. Engineers worked to increase efficiency by reducing the utilization of both inexpensive and expensive inputs. Technical talent squandered the country’s technological lead by developing ‘suitable technology’ for the rest of the world. Advanced technology could be economically employed in nations like France, which had pricey energy, and India, which had inexpensive labor, by the middle of the nineteenth century. After that, the Industrial Revolution spread throughout the world.

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 18th century. But how did it start and why did it happen in Britain and not in France, Germany, or the United States? In this essay, I will try to answer these questions.

In the 18th century, wood was the main source of energy for Britain and it supplied fuel for homes and small industries, but as the population increased, the demand for wood increased. At the same time, wood is bulky, difficult to transport and expensive, so Britain needed a new source of energy. They found a new source of energy that is cheaper, more reliable, and makes three times more energy than wood, i.e. coal. For Britain, coal was easily mined since the mines were near the sea, so they were easily transported by ships and abundant at the same time, but it was more expensive for other European countries since they struggled with transportation due to their geographical location. Also, Britain had access to cotton from its colonies and could acquire it using slaves. Cotton picking grew simpler as technology advanced, and it was a thriving industry. Because of their formidable navy and other ships, they had access to local and worldwide economies. Three railroads were also constructed to facilitate more efficient trading and transportation of commodities. The first public railway, which extended from Stockton to Darlington, opened in 1825.

All of the developments that were taking place in Britain were held together by the country’s stable government. Regular parliamentary sessions, as well as extended legislative sessions, provided an opportunity to address local concerns. Fewer bills failed, and promoters gained confidence, resulting in an increase in the number of petitions and legislation. When compared Britain to other European mainland countries, the economies were markedly different. During the pre-Industrial and Industrial Revolution periods, the pound sterling was the national currency, and it is still the currency used today. While the economy of pre-Industrial Britain grew, a bigger percentage of the people gained access to education. Citizens had access to an education that was unavailable in many other nations. Reading abilities improved as a result of greater literacy and more individuals were able to read machine instruction manuals. This meant that more people could begin reading books about the Revolution as it happened, igniting or maintaining interest in technology and innovation.

Many people obtained the skills needed to become proficient industrial workers at universities such as the University of Oxford. To prepare a skilled workforce for these new sectors influencing society, a new educational system was established. Regular parliament sessions were linked to a free-thinking culture, implying that the country would be a stable environment for new ideas to flourish. Many employees who were formerly working in significant numbers in the agricultural field were forced to relocate to the city in order to find jobs in the technology industry due to the abundance of ideas and new machinery.

In conclusion, because the technical achievements were customized to conditions and could not be successfully deployed abroad, the Industrial Revolution was restricted to Britain for many years. Engineers worked to increase efficiency by reducing the utilization of both inexpensive and expensive inputs. Technical talent squandered the country’s technological lead by developing ‘suitable technology’ for the rest of the world. Advanced technology could be economically employed in nations like France, which had pricey energy, and India, which had inexpensive labor, by the middle of the nineteenth century. After that, the Industrial Revolution spread throughout the world.