Social Impacts of the Industrial Revolution
Social Impacts of the Industrial Revolution
Economic History
The most intriguing to me and the most important to the society, as many historians agree was the social impact of Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century. In fact, some historians like Rondo Cameron and R. M. Hartwell have ended up debating whether Industrial Revolution was an appropriate term for this revolution. Harold Perkin is another historian who shares the same viewpoint about Industrial Revolution as Cameron and Hartwell. Perkin says that “the Industrial Revolution was no mere sequence of changes in industrial techniques and production, but a social revolution with social causes and a social process as well as profound social effects” in the preface of his book, The Origins of Modern English Society. This is one of the two books I’ll be using as reference for the purpose of this essay. The other book is titled, The Industrial Revolution in World History and is written by Peter Stearns. The aspects of social impacts of Industrial Revolution that I will examine in this essay include changes in standards of living and family structure. Both the aforementioned books discuss these topics under a separate chapter. Perkin’s book solely discusses the Britain Industrial Revolution with facts and cited sources in the form of notes at the bottom of almost every page. It discusses a single aspect under a topic and how it progressed over a period of time. On the other hand, Stearns’ book is an account of all the processes that took place during Industrial Revolution internationally. The book is more of a social account of industrialization while Perkin gives us a detailed economic analysis. Stearns cites no sources and doesn’t use any figures to convince the reader but does a very good job in writing an easy to read book.
Harold Perkin jumps straight to the issue of the changing living standards and realizes that it is a controversial issue in the sense that the short run changes in
Economic History
The most intriguing to me and the most important to the society, as many historians agree was the social impact of Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century. In fact, some historians like Rondo Cameron and R. M. Hartwell have ended up debating whether Industrial Revolution was an appropriate term for this revolution. Harold Perkin is another historian who shares the same viewpoint about Industrial Revolution as Cameron and Hartwell. Perkin says that “the Industrial Revolution was no mere sequence of changes in industrial techniques and production, but a social revolution with social causes and a social process as well as profound social effects” in the preface of his book, The Origins of Modern English Society. This is one of the two books I’ll be using as reference for the purpose of this essay. The other book is titled, The Industrial Revolution in World History and is written by Peter Stearns. The aspects of social impacts of Industrial Revolution that I will examine in this essay include changes in standards of living and family structure. Both the aforementioned books discuss these topics under a separate chapter. Perkin’s book solely discusses the Britain Industrial Revolution with facts and cited sources in the form of notes at the bottom of almost every page. It discusses a single aspect under a topic and how it progressed over a period of time. On the other hand, Stearns’ book is an account of all the processes that took place during Industrial Revolution internationally. The book is more of a social account of industrialization while Perkin gives us a detailed economic analysis. Stearns cites no sources and doesn’t use any figures to convince the reader but does a very good job in writing an easy to read book.
Harold Perkin jumps straight to the issue of the changing living standards and realizes that it is a controversial issue in the sense that the short run changes in
Cited: Perkin, Harold. The Origins of Modern English Society. New York: Routledge, 2002. Stearns, Peter N. The Industrial Revolution in World History (second edition). Colorado: Westview Press, 1998.