Arnold Toynbee's essay deals with the Chief Features of the Industrial Revolution.
The text opens with an introduction where the Revolution is defined as an historical process. Also its economic and social consequences are illustrated at a global level.
The essayist goes on developing his argumentation in order to explain the radical change brought about the Industrial Revolution. He explains it mainly consisted in the substitution of competition
"for the medieval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth." The consequences of this process meant the birth of two different systems of thought : Economic Science and Socialism which are exactly the opposite one to another.

Toynbee dives specific info's to esplain exactly what happened in that period.He reports the grat growth of English population  in contrast with the decrease of the agrarian one due to many agricultural changes in Britain.The essayist explain also the innovations in manufacture and iron industry which brought changes in the economy of the country.There was a change from the domestic system from factory system.

Arnold Toynbee deals also with the social changes of the period like the becomming of high class of the farmers.At the end of the essay the autor summarizes all his ideas for better explain that the I.R. pdoduces wealth but not self being infact in that period there was a lot of misery caused by high prizes and by trade's fluctations.