In the earlier post we tried to understand what is learning. We had a glimpse of tribal and agrarian society. This post deals with industrial society. Characteristics of industrial society are usage of coal, petroleum, steam engine and urban dwelling.
The objective of this three-part post is to understand the motives behind the veneration of gadgets (i.e. smart phones) usage, and education that emphasize reading and writing skills.
Genesis of industrial society
Extensive use of coal and steam engine by the society can be regarded as the starting point industrialization. Earlier times steam engines were used to draw water from iron mines. Their efficiency improved and used in locomotives. First successful locomotive using steam engine was devised by James Watt.
Britain was in the forefront in industrial revolution as iron and coal was extensively available. Climate conditions in England helped to start textile industry. People used to spun, and then weave it to make cloth at home. It was a labour intensive task. In a textile factory, conversion of cotton into cloth was carried out with machines with the help of few workers. Textile mills were very productive and were able to produce cloth economically. The machines like spinning jenny, water frame, flying shuttle, spinning mule required huge space to house them. Thus buildings were exclusively built. Thus first time in history mass production of goods was carried out. Till then it was production of goods by masses. (Above statement is an adaptation from Mahatma Gandhi's famous quote “We don't require mass production but production by masses”).
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| A mill engine from Stott Park Bobbin Mill, Cumbria, England. Image source: Wikipedia |
Explosion of trade
Coal and steam engine enabled to produce large amount of goods. Locomotives fitted with steam engines were able to carry people and goods. Thus railways were born. Until then people used horse drawn carriages. Those who were associated with horse drawn carriages faced risk of job loss. Railways created a market for iron rails, crushed stones (to be used as ballast), and wooden logs. It helped the industries cater to far off markets. In 1860s itself, travel from Chicago to New York (a distance of 1300 km) within 24 hours became a reality by train. Like railways, ships fitted with steam engines made tremendous impact in sea trade. Advent of petroleum helped to make car, truck etc and road and rail transport become very convenient.
As there was a rise in production and movement of goods, businesses flourished. This in turn increased the business correspondence. Typewriters were extensively used to make invoices, bills and agreements.
Huge capital was required to start an industry. Therefore, corporations were formed. Financial institutions like banks and stock exchanges were created to mobilize required capital for industries. Every business firm hired a lawyer or law firm to safeguard it from litigations. Due to rise in export and imports, customs duty became important revenue for governments.
Each industrial country wanted to safeguard and to expand their markets. From third world countries, raw materials were procured. They were converted into goods and re-exported to the third world countries. This process produced huge profits for industrial countries like Britain. This was also a main reason for World War I and II.
Emergence of cities and its perils
The industrialization created many new cities and enlarged population of existing cities. Growth of city is due to two factors. Farm productivity improved and farm labourers were forced to seek jobs in cities. Industry required unskilled workers to work for long hours. This village-push and city-pull made city to grow. Population of Bradford city in Britain increased by more than 50 percent for two decades starting from 1810 [2]. Thus, the early cities were faced overcrowding, poor sanitation facility, rapid disease spread, oppression and crime.
Workers lived in one-room apartments, which had poor ventilation and sanitary conditions. Foodstuffs were adulterated and drinking water was contaminated. This created diseases. The working conditions in factories were very horrible. Accidents occurred very frequently in factories. The unemployed workers did menial jobs. Some of them involved in petty crimes for want of money. Drunken brawls were norm.
Writers wrote stories with poverty as central theme in the industrial era. Out of which Victor Hugo's Les Misérables was the best. In that novel, author showered empathy on the poor. Newspapers carried political news, business intelligence and entertainment (crosswords and puzzles). Editors of newspaper tried to cater the public aspirations.
Change in social order
The phrase “Industrial revolution” is widely used in history textbooks. The word ‘revolution’ is used to describe a phenomenon, which had influence on every human being.
After industrial revolution, existing social order had a severe jolt. Earlier social order had kings, provincial heads, clergy, feudal lords (i.e. landowners), soldiers, artisans and peasants. The artisans like weavers, and smiths were skilled persons and had the control over their craft. Even though peasants were poor, they lived with the nature. Industrialists made lot of money and become richer the feudal lords. The advent of machines loosened the control of artisans on their trade. Poor peasants moved to cities and confronted with the new urban culture. This created turbulence in traditional agrarian society.
In the stratified agrarian society, birth determined his or her lifestyle. Few persons who joined army and excelled may move in the social ladder. For others lifestyle is more or less constant throughout the life. Urban environment offered a chance for smart poor people to become rich. Industrial society was non-stratified society. Thus, rich were required to flaunt their luxury lifestyles to prove they are VIPs. Rags to riches stories inspired many villagers to migrate to cities. By believing in hope, they were able to withstand the harsh realities of cities. Industrial society needed educated persons like accountants, lawyers, engineers and teachers. Thus, education becomes another key for upward mobility.
Mean while Adam Smith wrote a book named “Wealth of nations,” in which he describes the need for free market and list its benefits to humanity. Unfortunately, this helped the capitalist to pursue their goal of making money without any guilt.
Rise of communism
Carl Marx analyzed the plight of poor in industrial era and offered solution via his book “The Capital.” He asked the workers to unite and take over the industries. He said all the wealth in the nation should be equally shared among the people. He felt religion is a drug. Instead of curing the disease (poverty), it just alleviates the pain of poverty (i.e. by talking about heaven). It had a great impact on the workers. They formed labour unions and indulged in strikes. The atheistic face of communist philosophy threatened clergy and kings.
Communist leaders used newspapers and pamphlets to convey their ideas to workers and students. Written medium was very effective to pass their viewpoint across the country within short time. It also helped to evade the restrictions of capitalist government. Russia became a communist country by overthrowing the Czar (Emperor of Russia). Communists made a point that every child had school education. Communist ideology was indoctrinated in children minds. Concept of social welfare states, industrial safety and labour rights crept throughout the world and life pattern of workers slowly improved. Communist governments suppressed liberty and were very harsh on their dissidents.
Man vs. man made environment
As human population migrated to urban environment, their ancestor knowledge on nature was near useless and lost the ability to co-exist with nature. They adapted themselves to human made artefacts surrounded environment. They gave more emphasis for rational thinking than experiential learning. Therefore, slowly religions started loosing its relevance. Women were mocked for lack of rationalistic thinking. Women had to fight for equal status. Generation gap was accepted. Unlike in tribal society, knowledge of old people is irrelevant to urban dwellers. They lived in a society where information was abstract, to be learnt from books and semi-permanent.
All over the world, children were sent to school. They learnt to read and write. Abstract concepts like nation-state, political ideologies were subtly introduced to them. The natural learning (i.e. learning from environment, learning through experience) was pushed out and those who cope with artificialness were celebrated as learnt. They were groomed to fit into industrial society.
Source
[1] Industrialisation,
[2] Crime and industrialisation in England,
[3] BBC News - Meghalaya, India: Where women rule, and men are suffragettes,
Note
I am not a social scientist. I have taken enough care not to get biased. Even with my best intentions, error may have crept in. So, use the article to get a idea about industrial society and don't take it as an authentic well researched source.
