Chapter 17: Revolutions of Industrialization

Inspired by the legacies of the French and Scientific Revolutions, the Industrial Revolution transformed human society. It began as a quest for greater amounts of energy sources and was sustained agriculturally through seabird feces as fertilizer. The consequences of this movement included an increase in the rise of technological innovation, harm on the environment, capitalism, and globalization. 

The Industrial Revolution was another European event that placed Europe in the center of global dominance. This is because its makeup of competitive rivalry states called for innovation, and their states' monarchs needed a way to obtain revenue. Europe's new global network brought them into cross cultural exchange with global people. However, its roots have long been a controversial debate. As Strayer puts it, "other areas of the world experienced times of great technological and scientific flourishing" besides Europe, (741) so it is Eurocentric to give them all the credit. India, China, and the Islamic world had many advances of sources in production and energy powers. Japan, India, and China too developed market-based economies. Also, Europe didn't necessarily have an economic lead in comparison with other areas of the world, and industrialization rooted in other areas of the world besides Europe. 

Britain became the world's first industrialized society because they were the most commercialized European country, their political life and religious tolerance welcomed economic innovation, its unique scientific perspective, and geography. Production, especially in textiles increased significantly and new ways of life replaced the old. The British aristocracy declined because entrepreneurs were on the rise, and the middle classes benefitted and increased the most, but laboring classes worked in difficult factory conditions. Karl Marx was huge inspiration in the working-class revolution because he pointed out the unfairness of capitalism and encouraged socialism. I am interested in Marxist and conflict theories after learning about them in my Deviant Behavior class and reading it here. In order to get the most profit, the entrepreneurs must find the cheapest way to pay the workers. Moved by what I read, I attached an image of the unequal distribution of wealth in the world below. The Industrial Revolution spread Europeans globally.

The Industrial Revolution spread to other parts of the world, especially in the United States and Russia. U.S. government favored capitalist industrialization and as entrepreneurs rose, so did division between classes. In sociology, this is the core of the Marxist and conflict theory, which asserts that conflict in a society is normal because all members of a society are at conflict with one another for scarce resources. This became the development of the myth of the American Dream, that hard work will lead to success and happiness, and the truth of social Darwinism: "survival of the fittest." There was little political support for socialism. Russia, on the other hand was ruled by the monarch and nobility, no leaders as representation of people, and industrialization took shape in Russia because the state began to see serfdom as outdated. The absence of good working conditions and legal representation resulted in large-scale strikes. There was growing support for Marxist socialism that led up to the Russian Revolution.

After independence in Latin America, there was much political instability but then linkage to the global economy that led to industrial production of natural resources such as silver in Mexico and "large-scale investment of European capital in America". Inspired by the Industrial Revolution, Latin America wanted their society to reflect Europe and the United States through urbanization and an attempt to increase the white population in the area, the lower classes erupting into the Mexican Revolution and "dependent development" on Europe as a new form of colonialism.

The Global Wealth Gap