This text is an argumentative text therefore Toynbee poses a thesis and uses argumentations and data to support it. The thesis posed is that "free competition may produce wealth without producing well-being". To reach his target the essayist divides his essay into paragraphs each one having a clear function.

The first paragraph is a declaration of intentions, then Toynbee defines what the Industrial Revolution is: "the substitution of competition for the medieval regulations which had previously controlled the production ad distribution of wealth". According to the author the Industrial Revolution was a process that involved not only England, but the entire western world, therefore it can be defined as one of the most important facts in history.
In the following lines the birth of two new systems of thoughts (Economic Science and Socialism) is analysed. To better understand the steps that led to the development of these two systems of thought Toynbee quotes four important economists. Firstly is quoted Adam Smith's essay "Wealth of Nations" published in 1776, which is aimed at investigating the causes of wealth, then Malthus' work "Essay on Population" (1798) is reported to underline the causes of poverty. The third book quoted is Ricardo's "Principles of Political Economy and Taxation" written in 1817 that wants to analyse the laws of distribution of wealth, lastly is proposed Mill's book "Principles of Political Economy". Mill's essay is very important to understand the consequences of free competition because he wrote his essay 100 years later than Smith, therefore he had a privileged position to see contradictions caused by the Revolution. In fact he reached the conclusion that States have to intervene to limit problems which depend to free competition, providing a clear anticipation of Socialism.

Going on with the essay Toynbee explains that in a wrong way people believe that the Industrial Revolution involved only manufacturing world, but his purpose is to underline how the Agricultural Revolution is as important as the revolution in manufactures. Therefore he analyses the increase of the population and the diminishing in rural population through quantity data that are aimed at convincing the reader. The diminishing in rural population was caused by the unemployment in the country that led many people to move near factories and pit-coals where a lot of manufacture was required. Other causes listed in the text to justify the decrease in rural population are the enclosure, the consolidation of farms and the destruction of common field system of cultivation. These causes are supported by quotations that analyse the situation of English fields during the Revolution.
A last important aspect of the Agrarian Revolution analysed by Toynbee in his essay is the substitution of scientific for unscientific culture that marked this period. To underline this aspect of the Revolution mechanical discoveries (such as the steam-plough) and innovations (such as the rotation of crops), that changed the life of farmers are listed.

Then the attention of the writer shift to cotton manufacture, in particular to the substitution of factory system for the domestic system. According to Toynbee mechanical discoveries led to this change. To support this thesis the writer lists four inventions patented during this period: the spinning-jenny (1770), the water-frame (1769), the mule (1779) and the self-acting mule (invented in 1792 but used for the first time in 1825). In the following lines Toynbee highlights Watt's role in the growth of industry: the patent of the steam-engine (1796) that was applied to cotton manufacture sixteen years later the invention and caused the introduction of factory system. However, the patent most strike Toynbee is the power-loom because led to a "golden age" for trades that is shown by quantity data.
The cotton-manufacture was not the only area of the industry revolutionised by new discovers and inventions; the steam-engine used to blast furnaces and the invention of smelting by pit-coal changed the iron industry, doubling iron manufactured in eight years.

The next Revolution analysed is the Transport Revolution: expansion of trades caused a need of connection firstly between pit-coals and factories then from factories to markets, therefore miles of roads, canals and railroads were constructed.

The last part of the essay deals with a negative aspects of the Revolution: wealth that is not equally distributed. This aspect is analysed by Toynbee through data that highlight the causes of rise in rents; according to the essayist the causes are the money invested in improvements, enclosures, consolidation of farms and high price of corn.
The consequence of the unfair distribution of wealth is the birth of new social classes: factory owners and employers. These two classes do not have anything to share: factory owners are rich and have a lot of power, on the contrary workers are exploited and their misery is carefully analysed by Toynbee; the causes of their misery found by the writer are low wages and high prices.

The conclusion of the essay is aimed at posing explicitly Toynbee's thesis and summing up the consequences of the Revolution.