Industrial Revolution: Economic Shifts and Social Structures

c) The Economic Environment

Britain possessed a national market: there were no internal customs borders and a single currency. Furthermore, Britain controlled a vast empire, enabling British companies to obtain raw materials and sell manufactured goods globally.

d) The Intellectual Environment

Adam Smith, a Scottish economist, was the most important economic philosopher of the Enlightenment. In 1776, he published The Wealth of Nations. In this book, he defended three main ideas:

• Anti-mercantilism: The wealth of a nation is not its gold reserves, but the goods and services it produces.

5. Consequences of the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution (IR) was not only a technical and economic process; it also transformed society. The main social changes were:

5.1 The Rural Exodus and Factories

Factories required a large workforce. As a result, many people left the countryside and moved to industrial cities. Cities grew very quickly due to the arrival of rural migrants. These migrants became poor urban workers, living in overcrowded and unhealthy neighbourhoods.

5.2 The Rise of a Class Society

Karl Marx, a German philosopher and author of the book Capital, stated that the new industrial society was divided into two classes:

• The bourgeoisie (capitalists): They own the means of production (land, capital, factories).
• The proletariat: They do not own the means of production, so they had to sell their labour for a wage.

Friedrich Engels, another German social thinker, wrote The Condition of the Working Class in England. He described the hard reality of workers’ lives and concluded that capitalism led to poverty and exploitation.

The Communist Manifesto

In 1848, Marx and Engels published The Communist Manifesto. Its main ideas are:

• “The history of society is the history of class struggle.” Since complex societies appeared, there has always been a ruling class and an oppressed class.
• Workers create wealth but do not benefit from it. They live in poverty while the capitalists accumulate profits. To end this, it is necessary to socialize the means of production. This is the central idea of communism.
• “Workers of the world, unite!” A call for all workers worldwide to join the fight and take part in a social revolution.