Day 4 – Q 1.The Industrial Revolution caused many politico-economic principles to evolve in the due course of time. Do you agree? Substantiate.

1. The Industrial Revolution caused many politico-economic principles to evolve in the due course of time. Do you agree? Substantiate.

औद्योगिक क्रांति ने कई राजनीतिक-आर्थिक सिद्धांतों को विकसित किया। क्या आप सहमत हैं? पुष्टि करें।

Introduction

The desire to produce more goods at low cost to make higher profits led to the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution began in England in about 1750. It was then that machines began to take over some of the work of men and animals in the production of goods and commodities.

Body

New Economic principles:

• The factory system– It replaced the cottage industry which was more autonomous with individual workers using hand tools. It developed as a result of innovations like steam engine and power looms.
• Capitalism– Private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit as well as the concentration of economic power in a few hands was the result of industrial revolution.
• New economic structure– The economy underwent a structural change from being agriculture based to manufacturing based.
• Urbanization– Most of the industries were setup in urban centres with all basic amenities. This resulted in large-scale urban migration and urban expansion, which continues to this day.
• Banking and finance– Industrialized economy led to expansion of banking facilities to finance new projects by using the money multiplier effect.
• Globalisation– Increased production corresponded to increasing access to new markets via growth of trade worldwide.
• Materialism and consumerism– As production kept on increasing over decades and centuries, it required a proportional increase in demand. Feeding on the basic human desire to have more, a cycle of more consumption and more production was fired up which led to rise of materialism and consumerism.
• Technological advancement– Industrial Revolution itself was primarily driven by the rise in technology which forever changed the face of the world leading us into the modern era. Today it has its influence in every sector from travel, transport, agriculture to the food we consume.
• Environmental neglect– The revolution was based on increased exploitation of resources, which had a tremendous impact on environment and ecology.

New Political principles:

• Pro worker movements– Rise of reformers and social reform movements such as utilitarianism, utopianism, socialism and Marxism as an alternative to capitalism and to provide better living standards to the workers.
• Inequality– Concentration of wealth and power in few hands led to unequal political divisions where few took the decisions for all without being responsible to them.
• Dominance of west– The revolution began in Europe and helped the western economies gain prominence through policies like imperialism, mercantilism and cultural subjugation, all of which were indirectly connected with the industrial revolution.
• International consciousness– The Industrial Revolution created an international consciousness among peoples because the developments in one place began to influence the developments in other places.
• Changed demographics– The society was divided into have and have nots. In order to increase their income, the have nots increase their population. Improved medical facilities helped prolong the life. All this resulted in population explosion, forcing Europeans to settle in other nations changing the demographic profiles.

Conclusion

The above changes show how IR led to complete transformation across the world. Every part of the world underwent IR sooner or later. But the ones to get into the race sooner became developed nations and nations like India and African countries that underwent IR later remained developing and under developed.