The Effect of Industrial Revolution on Britain

1506 Words4 Pages

The Effect of Industrial Revolution on Britain

"An industrial revolution is the term generally applied to the complex

of economic changes which are involved in the transformation of a

pre-industrial, traditional type of economy, characterized by low

productivity and normally stagnant growth rates, to a modern

industrialized stage of economic development, in which output per head

and standards of living are relatively high, and economic growth is

normally sustained."

CIPOLLA, C.M. (1975).

This essay will critically examine a number of reasons for the take

off of the industrial revolution in Britain. It will critically

explain a number of social changes which took place within Britain due

to industrialisation. The essay will then analyse the reasons why the

state and industry would wish to work together and will analyse the

consequences if the industrial system for the role of the state.

Rural Life & New Techniques

Life in rural England was hard. Poverty was rife. It was an effort to

make ends meet and people were looking for ways of easing the

pressures of the struggle to survive. Land enclosure had been taking

place for centuries, and only now was it showing signs of it having

had any real effect. The enclosures had allowed land to be reclaimed

from pasture (and had taken away the rights to land from the peasants)

so that it would eventually be in shape for production.

Along with the implementation of the new machinery came the incentives

gained from new idea on crop rotation and animal husbandry, a follow

on from the earliest of times when the first people settled with their

crops and their animals, claiming patches...

... middle of paper ...

...y

from a pre-historic attitude to one of technological, commercial and

economical values. The revolution brought with it a fresh approach to

personal human ethics and to the way people look upon each other and

to the way the State viewed both.

The drive in technology created the beginnings of a societal structure

that was now able, at least in principle, to provide for its citizens.

The State had become paternalistic. The State was now looking towards

its people as being part of the communal set up, and not simply as

individual entities best left to fend for them selves.

The country had begun to pull together, and as a result was becoming a

nation of forward thinkers. This was the beginning of the welfare

state that has avoided definition since its inception following this

massive turnaround in British history.

Open Document