Activities

 

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

The essence of the Industrial Revolution is the substitution of competition for the mediaeval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth.

 

Led to growth of two systems of thought: 

1) Economic science                      2) Socialism

 

a) Adam Smith

b) Malthus

c) Ricardo

d) John Stuart Mill

 

 

 • (par. 2-3) Facts of Industrial Revolution.

 

1) the far greater rapidity which marks the growth of population

2) relative and positive decline in the agricultural population

 

• (par. 4) Decrease in rural population.

causes:     1)  the destruction of the common-field system of cultivation

     2)   the enclosure, on a large scale, of common and waste lands

     3)   the consolidation of small farms into large

 

• (par. 5) Agricultural advance.

cause — more scientific approach:

e.g.

the breed of cattle was improved

rotation of crops was generally introduced

the steam-plough was invented

agricultural societies were instituted

 

• (par. 6-7) Growth of industry.

causes;

1) mechanical inventions in textile industry

e.g.  

the spinning-jenny patented by Hargreaves in 1770

the water-frame invented by Arkwright in 1769

Crompton's mule introduced in 1779

the self-acting mule first invented by Kelly in 1792

most important:

steam engine

power-loom

2) mechanical revolution in iron industry

e.g.  

by the invention of smelting by pit-coal brought into use between 1740 and 1750

by the application in 1788 of the steam-engine to blast furnaces

3) improved means of communication

e.g.  

in 1777 the Grand Trunk canal, 96 miles in length, connecting the Trent and Mersey, was finished

in 1792 the Grand Junction canal, 90 miles in length, made a water-way from London through Oxford to the chief midland towns

the 1830 saw the opening of the first 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) consolidation of small farms into large

4) high price of corn

social changes in country life:

• (par. 9) Social changes in manufacturing world:

The new class of great capitalist employers made enormous fortunes, they took little or no part personally in the work of their factories, their hundreds of workmen were individually unknown to them

consequences:

1)    the old relations between masters and men disappeared

2)    a "cash nexus" was substituted for the human tie

3)     class conflict

• (par. 10) Misery of working people often caused by:

 

1) the conditions of labour under the factory system

2) the rise of prices

3) the sudden fluctuations of trade

 

Conclusion:

The effects of the Industrial Revolution prove that free competition may produce wealth without producing well-being.