Textuality » 5BSU Interacting
Complete the following notes. They will give you an outline of the information contained in the passage. The main points, relations of cause-effect, illustrations etc. are clearly indicated in the text by logical connectors. Look out for them.
• (par. 1) The Industrial Revolution consist in the substitution of completion for the medieval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth. It led to growth of two systems of thought:
1) Economic science 2) Socialism
The Socialism is the antithesis of economic science. In England the economic science had four chief landmarks, each connected to the name of the 4 economists.
a) Adam Smith: he writes the “Wealth of Nations” in 1776, in which
The first is the publication of Adam Smith'sWealth of Nations in 1776 in which he investigated the causes of wealth and aimed at the substitution of industrial freedom for a system of restriction. He thought the production of wealth was more important than the welfare of man. In fact he told "the great object of the Political Economy of every country is to increase the riches and power of that country".
b) Malthus: he wrote the “Essay on population” in 1798. Differently from Smith, who only focused on a large production, Malthus directed his inquiries to the causes of poverty instead of to the causes of wealth and he found them in his theory of population
c) Ricardo: he wrote “Principles of Political Economy and Taxation” in 1817, in which he sought to ascertain the laws of the distribution of wealth. Differently from Smith, who showed how wealth could be produced under a system of industrial freedom, he showed wealth is distributed under such a system.
d) John Stuart Mill: he published “Principles of Political Economy” in 1848. He asserted that "the chief merit of his treatise" was the distinction drawn between the laws of production and those of distribution, and that he was trying to solve a problem, that is how wealth ought to be distributed. He showed what was and what was not inevitable under a system of free competition. His words are evident influenced by the system of Socialism. The book also contains the admission that the distribution of wealth is the result of '' particular social arrangements", and it recognised that competition alone is not a satisfactory basis of society.
• (par. 2-3) Facts of Industrial Revolution.
1) There was a large increase of population
2) There is an agrarian revolution, which culminates in enclosures, that is the destruction of common field and so the privatization of lands by nobles. So there were lots of workers without any work, who emigrates from the countrysides to the cities
• (par. 4) Decrease in rural population.
causes:
1) The destruction of the common-field system of cultivation.
2) The enclosure on a large scale.
3) The consolidation of small farms into large.
• (par. 5) Agricultural advance.
cause — more scientific approach:
e.g.
Small farms became larger (substitution of large for small farms)
The conversion of arable to pasture
Rotation of crops
agricultural societies
• (par. 6-7) Growth of industry.
causes;
1) mechanical inventions in textile industry
e.g.
The spinning-jenny by Hargreaves in 1770
The water-frame by Arkwright in 1769
Crompton's mule in 1779
The self-acting mule by Kelly in 1792 and improved by Roberts in 1825
most important:
Steam engine
Power-loom
2) mechanical revolution in iron industry
e.g.
Smelting by pit-coal
Application of the steam-engine to blast furnaces
3) improved means of communication
e.g.
Canal system
Road
Railroad
results:
1) The regular recurrence of periods of over-production and of depression
2) Substitution of factory system for domestic system.
• (par. 8) Revolution in distribution of wealth:
rise in rents caused by
1) Money invested in improvements
2) Enclosure system
3) The consolidation of farms
4) High price of corn
social changes in country life:
• (par. 9) Social changes in manufacturing world: the farmers shared in the prosperity of the landlords; for many of them held their farms under beneficial leases, and made large profits by them.
consequences:
1) Alienation between farmer and labourer
2) The prices rose, the salary fell
3) Class conflict.
• (par. 10) Misery of working people often caused by:
1) The conditions of labour in the factories
2) The rise of prices
3) The sudden fluctuations of trade
Conclusion:
The consequences of the industrial revolution prove that free competition (typical of liberalism) often produce wealth without producing well-being.
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