THE INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION IN
ENGLAND
 WHY "REVOLUTION"?

NOT because it's sudden

BUT because it brings, within a few

decades, a radical and profound

change from an economic and social
point of view
 WHY IN ENGLAND?

Demographic increase from 6 to 9 million

Great colonial empire commercial expansion

Internal economic events

Agricultural development
Work division and the phenomenon of
enclusures
Technologic innovations
innovative momentum
cultural context
political context freedom and tolerance
 Population density in the main
English cities

Città Popolazione
1600 1750 1800
Londra 200.000 575.000 948.000
Manchester 1500 14.000 84.000
Liverpool 8.000 22.000 83.000
Birmingham 2500 24.000 71.000
Bristol 12.000 50.000 64.000
Leeds - 16.000 53.000
Sheffield - - 46.000
 TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS
 Inclusion of machines in production
 Great protagonist: textile industry
Spinning machines
1730-33: Kay invents the "flying shuttle" which speeds up
weaving.
1764-67: Hargreaves invents spinning-jenny, a hand-
spinning machine.
1768: Arkwright builds a spinner that requires non-manual
energy.
1784: Cartwright: creates the mechanical frame.
 TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS

 1781 James Watt THE STEAM MACHINE

 More resistant and efficient
 But it needs:
 Charcoal powered major capitals
 Large quantities of iron
 more production momentum
 more investments
 expansion of factories
 greater demand for workers
 Consequences of mechanical
innovation

 Large-scale use of weavers

 All stages of production are mechanized

 Market expansion

 Request growth
 It also influences other sectors

 Need for chemicals to treat cotton

 Chemical industry development

 new research and evolutions in this field

 Need for large quantities of iron

 Evolution of blast furnaces

 Need for coal (for steam engine and blast furnaces)

 Mining activity development (machine use)

 …THEN…

development of the extractive industry

technologic innovations

market evolution
(import ed export)
productive transformations

textile industry development

increased iron production
 Export of cotton products (in
thousands of Pounds)
8000
7050
7000

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000 1875

1000
335
23 46
0
1701 1751 1780 1791 1801
 Crude iron production (in thousands of
tons)

250 244

200

150

109
100

61
50

17 17

0
1720 1740 1788 1796 1806
 SOCIAL
TRANSFORMATIONS
 Traditional ruling classes
 Little interested in new investments
 Landowners - already profitable and demanding
 Merchants - already profitable and demanding
 THE CAPITALIST BOURGEOIS
 From the lower middle classes (craftsmen and
farmers)
 They are more willing to take risks
 Huge initial investments are NOT required
THE INDUSTRIAL PROLETARIAT
The figure of the wage earner assumes importance

Those who were small farmers or small craftsmen are wiped out - they need
a new job
Population expansion - look for an outlet

The workers have no time for anything else

Whole families hired in factories or mines

exploitation of women and children

Total dependence on wages

The discomfort of this new class will be accentuated

 THE CONDITIONS OF THE
WORKERS
 Factory work is different than the others:
 Long shifts (12-14 hours) and uninterrupted
 Tasks:
 Very narrow, specific
 Mechanics (the same gesture is performed continuously)
 Dependent on machines
 Obligation to adapt
 Unhealthy environments
the transport
revolution:
canals and
roads in late
eighteenth
century England
 Growing distinction between industrial areas and

agricultural areas
 Concentration of industrial areas in the plains, near

mines and communication routes

 → industrial cities begin to form

 high concentration of crowded factories

 degraded and overcrowded neighborhoods for workers

The end