Was industrialization good for everyone? If so, why? If not, who benefited from it, and who suffered because of it?
The XIX century is the period of the establishment of a new, industrial society. This technique was significantly influenced by the Industrial Revolution. By the 1830s it was completed in England, in the 1870s it happened in France, Germany and Austria (Locke and Wright 176). As a result of the industrialization process, the strict restrictions of pre-industrial society were eliminated, which led to dependence on natural and climatic conditions, when the imperfection of technologies could not help in eliminating hunger and epidemics (Locke and Wright 180). Therefore, even while industrialization had some short-term drawbacks, such as a decline in employment, from a global viewpoint it was for the advantage of all.
Population growth stimulated the development of the economy. The industrial state can be characterized by the emergence of a large working class. In the 1860s and 1880s, political parties took shape in most European countries, which turned into mass political organizations, including workers who benefited from it (Cleveland para. 20). The first Liberal Party was formed in England in 1861 (Locke and Wright 183). There were two-party systems in England and the USA, liberals and conservatives in the UK, and Republican and Democrat parties appeared in the USA (Locke and Wright 184). A two-party system was absolutely necessary for the implementation of the changes that guaranteed the nation’s political evolution would be very stable and predictable.
The prevalence of capital export over products export was a defining trait of industrialization. These processes led to the internationalization of economic life (Cleveland para. 12). In turn, this was the impetus for lifestyle changes. The appearance of cars, trams, telephones and cinema changed people’s way of life.
Works Cited
Cleveland, Grover. Veto of the Texas Seed Bill. 1887.
Locke, Joseph, and Ben Wright. The American Yawp: A Massively Collaborative Open U.S. History Textbook, Vol. 1: To 1877. Stanford University Press, 2019.