Human facets of the industrious revolution

Every household and the market

Every household in the world produced specifically for their own consumption up until the seventeenth century, selling what was remained to the market. Silver and sugar were the first products in British North America and Europe, but in the middle of the eighteenth century, family members became more committed to creating more goods for the market. Families raised their standard of living by using the money they received.

Shift towards market trade

Families worked harder so they could afford the luxuries that only the wealthy could afford because they were more anxious to wear better clothing, eat a variety of foods, and use luxurious products. By the eighteenth century more staples from other cultures joined the trade business. Tea which is a staple from China, sugar from the Caribbean, slaves to harvest sugarcane from Africa and ceramic cups from the English Midlands.

Specialization in trade

People had shifted from market trade into cross-cultural trade and even went ahead into specialization. An American entrepreneur William Colgate specialized in making aromatic bars of soap by importing palm oil from West Africa, poppy seeds oil from South Asia and coconut oil from Ceylon and Malabar. This paved way for new commodities in the market.

Growth of trading and new services

By the mid eighteenth century Europe had moved far into the new economic order. Trading had grown so immensely that there was need for services such as banking, accounting, insurance, bookkeeping and even legal services. People started walking into new work paths. To support their growing enterprise, the traders needed even more services; this gave rise to a new class of professionals like lawyers and accountants. Most people had changed from famers to traders, some become successful merchants and other people took up the business of service providers.

China and industrialization

Provide possible reasons for the fact that China did not become a center for industrialization in the 1800s.

In the early years China was known to be the home of gunpowder and astronomical water clocks not to mention its supply for tea leaves in the early trade days. However it is quite a surprise that China was not the epicenter of this industrial revolution. Possible reasons why they were not part of the industrial revolution could be because they did not encourage experimental science that could have allowed Watt to discover the possibility of steams ability to be used to move machinery. It did not promote inventors and the link between them and financial investors. China’s dynasty at that time was one that was oppressive; it discouraged experimental science and swept away the great minds. It was under a bureaucratic leadership that was based on peasant exploitation.

Second reason, the Chinese rules were strongly against the western expansion of trade that had helped build a commercial revolution in the western world. China had enforced the agrarian system which oppressed the locals leaving them to be poor peasants; they mostly worked in the farmlands and not on inventing. It gave no favors to the locals and neither did it lock out the imports effectively. This made China vulnerable to European traders as they were backed by their governments on free trade. The Chinese had no option but to buy cheap manufactured goods from the traders as they did not have the goods themselves. The Chinese were resistant to evolve from agrarian era to the industrial era.

Living conditions of urban industrial workers

Urban centers’ health/living conditions, and work routines of the urban industrial workers of the latter 19th century.

The urban centers were not healthy places. First, they did not have clean water; the waterways that provided drinking water were polluted with chemicals used in the dyeing in the textile industry. The houses were overcrowded and had limited bathrooms. Amenities such as underground sewerage system and garbage pick up. The areas where people dwelled were a hub for diseases. The living conditions for children were not conducive as they also had to work in the factories.

Before the industrial revolution was the agrarian revolution where most people were farmers. The transition from agrarian to industrial period highly affected the understanding of time. Farming was seasonal, and each workload had its season. The eighteenth-century industrial revolution gave birth to new work discipline. Workers started work as early as 5.45 A.M with only half an hour for breakfast at 8.30 and another half-hour for lunch at noon. The factory and mill owners had large clocks and bells installed to mark the beginning and end of a works’ day. The laborers’ worked till darkness and went home exhausted. The company owners even came up with a cheating tactic that would make the laborers work long hours. They would turn back the clocks in the morning and forward them at night. The pay was insignificant as the employers paid the laborers according to the number of goods each laborer produces daily or the tasks they perform. This prompted the workers to stay long hours even more than twelve in order to earn subsistence wages.