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We, people of the 21 st century, cannot imagine our life without modern conveniences and new technological invention. They do not surprise us; we take them for grand. It goes without saying that the great and impetuous progress have been made for less than two centuries. It seems that before the Industrial revolution, during 18 centuries, humankind had been staggering behind.
The 19 th century opened the era of great developments in transportation, construction, and communication technologies. Technological changes dated back to 1830 s. The term Industrial Revolution often means major technological, socioeconomic and cultural changes of that time. The Industrial Revolution was considered to begin in Britain; and later grasped the whole world.
Up to the present, scientists, historians and others have been arguing about the causes of the Industrial Revolution. A lot of them consider that it was the result of social and institutional changes that had been provoked with the English Civil War, in Britain. Those changes marked the end of feudalism. Most of all, historians give an explanation why the Revolution occurred in Britain.
They think it happened because the country had a large domestic market and it was necessary to extend its trade links and markets. Before the 19 th century, an economy was based on manual labor. It was replaced by machinery. The process started in the textile industries. People began to use iron-making techniques widely.
A lot of canals were built as well as roads and railways were improved. Though the steam engine had been invented in the early 18 th century, it became widely used for both steamboat and railway transportation only in the 19 th century. It speeded up extending of the Industrial Revolution in Britain and the world. At the same time telegraphy became commonly used.
So, though the Revolution captured almost all spheres of human activity, it was generally characterized by developments in the areas of textile manufacturing, metallurgy and transport driven by the development of the steam engine. In the first decade of the century, machine tools were used by engineers to produce other machines. The pioneers of such technology were Richard Roberts and Joseph Whitworth. It should be said that the Industrial Revolution had a great impact on society. The change was great. The Industrial Revolution marked the break of a middle class.
It consisted with industrialists and businessmen. Before the Revolution the most powerful class was of landowners. Most of all, The Industrial Revolution gave great opportunities to a working class. People could work in the new mills and factories. But as a rule, they had to work under bad working conditions. It should be pointed that The Industrial Revolution changed the structure of society greatly.
The bigger part of incomes came from men. Usually, women depended on men's income. The roles of gender in families were redistributed; and it was the first model of the traditional family. The Second Industrial Revolution followed the first Industrial Revolution and had its beginning in around 1850. It was marked with quick technological and economic progress due to wider use of steam-powered ships and railways. In the late nineteenth, the internal combustion engine and electrical power generation caused a lot of great changes and prompt progress.
The Second Industrial Revolution was followed with the significant development of chemical, electrical, petroleum, and steel technologies. Most of all, it caused the new wave in highly structured technology research. The Second Industrial Revolution was the beginning of new social relationships and the rise of a capitalist class. The modern capitalist economy emerged and was used widely in capitalist countries. In the beginning of the 1890 s, hydroelectric power was introduced in northern Italy. It caused rapid development of coal industry.
But soon, petroleum products were introduced to the market; and later it reduced the importance of coal. By the 1890 s, the first giant industrial corporations emerged. There were companies of global interests such as U. S. Steel, General Electric, and Bayer AG. The 20 th century was marked with high development of technology.
In the beginning of the century, Radio, and Radar became used widely. Though the century was full of conflicts that caused wars, but electronic computing developed rapidly. Another important but controversial technology was usage of nuclear power. Such scientists as Goddard (the U. S. ), Tsiolkovsky (Russia) and Oberth (Germany) made a great contribution into transport by rocketry. Later, scientists introduced Recombinant DNA.
It was possible with the help of computers and advanced research labs. In the late 1970 s, scientists Alvin Toffler, Daniel Bell and John Naisbitt developed the theory of post-industrial societies. According to the theory, the era of industrial societies is coming to an end because services and information occupy the main position than industry and goods. The scientists pointed some features of post-industrial societies.
As it was said, the service sector increases greatly in such societies instead of manufacturing. Information technology is of great importance in post-industrial societies and even one of the causes of The Scientific Revolution. Information, knowledge and creativity become the new raw materials. During the 19 th century, science was professionalized and institutionalized. In the 20 th century, the role of scientific knowledge became more important than ever. Scientists gave the definition to the process.
It was called The Scientific Revolution. As the result of it, a lot of interdisciplinary scientific fields have appeared. Among them there is computer science that includes theoretical linguistics, discrete mathematics, and electrical engineering, etc. For a period of many millennia mans inquisitive mind strove to penetrate into the depth of the Universe and examine the secrets of humans body and mind.
This expresses mans unquenchable thirst for knowledge; his strive to understand his role in the world. Man always tries to penetrate directly into a new sphere, which involves frequently unpredictable discoveries. It goes without saying that rapid development of new technologies has played an important role in the process. But there is a question: how does technological progress influences the world around us? Bibliography: Business and Economics. Leading Issues in Economic Development.
Oxford University Press, 1997. C. , Singer, E. J. , Holmyard. A History of Technology. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 7 vols. , 1978. Industrial Revolution.
Wikipedia, free encyclopedia, 2006. web Jeremy, Greenwood. The Third Industrial Revolution: Technology, Productivity and Income Inequality. AEI Press, 1997.
R. M. , Hartwell. The Industrial Revolution and Economic Growth. Methuen and Co. , page 339 - 341, 1971.
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Research essay sample on Second Industrial Revolution 19 Th Century
