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VPinatti - The Chief Features of the Industrial Revolution. Structural Analysis
by - (2011-09-20)
Up to 5A - The Industrial Revolution
"The chief features of the Industrial Revolution" is an essay written by Arnold Toynbee in 1884.
The text is organized into 10 paragraphs. Each one provides all aspects characterizing the historical event.
The first three lines are Arnold's declaration of intention and so he gives a little introduction: he wants to give a clear and detail account of the Revolution process.
The second and third paragraphs are organized into different arguments. First of all author defines his idea of Industrial Revolution: in his opinion it is the substitution of competition for mediaeval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth. After having passed a judgment on this important fact, the writer explains the growth of two systems of thought, born by the same Revolution: Economic Science and Socialism. To analyse the first one, he uses four chief landmarks, linked to four great English economists: Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, which deals with causes of wealth; Malthus' Essay on Population which describes causes of poverty; Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy and Taxation about the law of the distribution of wealth; Mill's Principles of Political Economy with the distinction draw between the production and distribution of wealth.
The fourth paragraphs declears the two consequences of the Industrial Revolution: growth of population and decline in agricultural population. In addition to these points Toynbee gives some quantitative data of the decrease and increase of number of people
The causes of the decrease in rural population are theme of the fifth paragraph. The destruction of common-field system of cultivation, the enclosure and the consolidation of small farms into large are the most effective agricultural chenges which led to this noticeable decrease. in order to enphatise these aspects the author provides some extracts of Laurence and Cobbett, two famouse writers of that time.
While the last paragraph examines the causes, this one shows changes due to Agrarian Revolution: rotation of crops, improvement of breed of cattle, invention of steam-plough, birth of agricultural societies.
The seventh and eight paragraphs present the growth of industry trought: the mechanical inventions in textile industry (spinning jenny, water frame, mule, self-acting mule, steam engine, power loom); the mechanical revolution in iron industry (like smelting of iron by pit coal or steam engine applicated to blast furnaces); and the improved means of communication (as canal system, roads, railroads). Thanks to these events the commerce incresed and there was a substition of factory system for domestic one.
The last two paragraphs are about revolution in distribution of wealth caused by money invested in improvements, enclosures, high prices of corn and the consolidation of farms. Moreover there was a social change in country life: farms became a rich, distinct class relation between masters and men disappeared.
The text is organized into 10 paragraphs. Each one provides all aspects characterizing the historical event.
The first three lines are Arnold's declaration of intention and so he gives a little introduction: he wants to give a clear and detail account of the Revolution process.
The second and third paragraphs are organized into different arguments. First of all author defines his idea of Industrial Revolution: in his opinion it is the substitution of competition for mediaeval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth. After having passed a judgment on this important fact, the writer explains the growth of two systems of thought, born by the same Revolution: Economic Science and Socialism. To analyse the first one, he uses four chief landmarks, linked to four great English economists: Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, which deals with causes of wealth; Malthus' Essay on Population which describes causes of poverty; Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy and Taxation about the law of the distribution of wealth; Mill's Principles of Political Economy with the distinction draw between the production and distribution of wealth.
The fourth paragraphs declears the two consequences of the Industrial Revolution: growth of population and decline in agricultural population. In addition to these points Toynbee gives some quantitative data of the decrease and increase of number of people
The causes of the decrease in rural population are theme of the fifth paragraph. The destruction of common-field system of cultivation, the enclosure and the consolidation of small farms into large are the most effective agricultural chenges which led to this noticeable decrease. in order to enphatise these aspects the author provides some extracts of Laurence and Cobbett, two famouse writers of that time.
While the last paragraph examines the causes, this one shows changes due to Agrarian Revolution: rotation of crops, improvement of breed of cattle, invention of steam-plough, birth of agricultural societies.
The seventh and eight paragraphs present the growth of industry trought: the mechanical inventions in textile industry (spinning jenny, water frame, mule, self-acting mule, steam engine, power loom); the mechanical revolution in iron industry (like smelting of iron by pit coal or steam engine applicated to blast furnaces); and the improved means of communication (as canal system, roads, railroads). Thanks to these events the commerce incresed and there was a substition of factory system for domestic one.
The last two paragraphs are about revolution in distribution of wealth caused by money invested in improvements, enclosures, high prices of corn and the consolidation of farms. Moreover there was a social change in country life: farms became a rich, distinct class relation between masters and men disappeared.