• Industrial Revolution, a term usually applied to the social and economic changes that mark the transition from a stable agricultural and commercial society to a modern industrial society relying on complex machinery rather than tools.major-inventions-of-industrial-revolution
  • Dramatic changes in the social and economic structure took place as inventions and technological innovations created the factory system of large-scale machine production and greater economic specialization, and as the laboring population, formerly employed predominantly in agriculture (in which production had also increased as a result of technological improvements), increasingly gathered in great urban factory centers

Effects

  • The Industrial Revolution has changed the face of nations, giving rise to urban centers requiring vast municipal services.
  • It created a specialized and interdependent economic life and made the urban worker more completely dependent on the will of the employer than the rural worker had been
  • The picture to the right shows several major inventions that were created during the Industrial Revolution. Are any of them still used today?

Economic Changes

  • As economic activities in many communities moved from agriculture to manufacturing, production shifted from its traditional locations in the home and the small workshop to factories.
  • Large portions of the population relocated from the countryside to the towns and cities where manufacturing centers were found.
  • The overall amount of goods and services produced expanded dramatically, and the proportion of capital invested per worker grew.
  • New groups of investors, business people, and managers took financial risks and reaped great rewards.

Consumer Demand

  • The existing system could not keep up with the demand of goods
  • More consumers had sufficient income to afford exotic goods such as cotton cloth and china
  • These were the rising “middle class”
  • Traders realized that if they could produce goods in greater quantity at a cheaper price, they could find more consumers and make a higher profit.

Multiplier Effect

  • Refers to the cycle of consumer demand, investment and innovations that drove the Industrial Revolution
  • Cycle works as follows: increased consumer demand prompts entrepreneurs to invest in machines to speed up production, and thereby increase profit
  • Faster production in one area of manufacturing prompts investment in another area. (example?)
  • Example: Faster methods of spinning cotton requires faster methods of weaving cloth
  • Profit from increase production used to invest further innovations and inventions
  • Multiplier effect caused Industrial Revolution to gather momentum and prompt new technologies
  • The cotton industry becomes the largest single employer of industrial labour, and cotton cloth became the most valued commodity in Britain’s export trade.
  • In the realm of technical innovations and in the number of people employed, the combination of coal, iron, and steam had an even greater multiplier effect than the cotton industry.
  • Impact would become visible in the 1830s and 1840s with the introduction of steam locomotion and the boom in railroad construction.

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Wade J.
Wade J.
7 years ago

this info helped a lot

Jaden
Jaden
7 years ago

this website really help my son is his homework thank you

Inga N,
Inga N,
Reply to  Jaden
7 years ago

it helped me too very much, good resource

T. Joseph
T. Joseph
7 years ago

What is the economic impact of industrial revolution?

Gabe Miller
Gabe Miller
Reply to  T. Joseph
5 years ago

I am doing a project right now and was wondering the same exact thing!!! Isn’t that crazy!!!

Swarnjeet T.
Swarnjeet T.
6 years ago

Nice, it helped me a lot and made my work 10 times easier!
The social impacts of the industrial revolution were quite vast.

pritam
pritam
4 years ago

awesome
my teacher gave me a A+ grade in my project

jasmine
jasmine
2 years ago

where is the evidence. 🙁

Anonymous
Anonymous
Reply to  jasmine
2 years ago

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ryan
ryan
3 years ago

Who ever made this, thank you very much!

ranita wallace
ranita wallace
8 years ago

what were some major economic and technological changes with the industrial revolution?

Aaron W.
Aaron W.
Reply to  ranita wallace
5 years ago

This helped me so much with my AP assignment

Jackson
Jackson
7 years ago

This helped me on my assignment, thank you

Stewart F.
Stewart F.
7 years ago

Thanks for the help. Will help with my son’s homework!

Vamsi
Vamsi
6 years ago

Good

Susan
Susan
8 years ago

thx for the help:)

William G.
William G.
4 years ago

Help me

Maili L.
Maili L.
7 years ago

what is the citation format

Rola
Rola
7 years ago

This helped so much, thanks school work helper

Hasinii
Hasinii
8 years ago

Precise and very helpful. Thanks alot

Helaena Rose
Helaena Rose
Reply to  Hasinii
5 years ago

I agree!

hallel
8 years ago

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Bill
Bill
Reply to  hallel
7 years ago

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Sai Anoop
Sai Anoop
8 years ago

Thanks for the info.It helped my History Project a lot.

Nancy P.
Nancy P.
8 years ago

This is so helpful!