How Did The Industrial Revolution Affect Great Britain

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Great Britain’s Industrial Revolution dramatically revolutionized the means of production and labor. Human workers were replaced by powerful new industrial equipment which could do jobs several workers took to complete. The new machines were more consistent and quicker at producing goods than human workers; this began the rise of factories. British goods became cheaper to produce, sending prices down substantially. Industries throughout the rest of the world and Europe struggled to compete. Increased demand and competition throughout Britain and the world lead to unhealthy and unsafe working conditions for workers, a paramount issue at the very center of the revolution. The industrial revolution had several significant political, economic, social, and environmental effects on Great Britain and the world. …show more content…

Two primary theories emerged -- socialism and capitalism. Socialism is a system that has the means of production, distribution, and exchange owned and regulated by the public and capitalism is a system that has a country’s trade and industry controlled by private owners for profit. Another theory similar to capitalism, laissez faire, is an economic system where transactions between companies are free from government taxes and subsidies. The test of time has not been kind to socialist ideals, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the Soviet Union, fell after the Cold War against the United States, a war where capitalism was put against socialism. On the other hand, the United States, where the free market prevails, has been the world’s richest country and home of the world’s largest economy (by nominal GDP) for over a century. These different economic and political ideals were layered on top of a country’s utilization of industry and dramatically affected the economic result of a country’s transition to

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