The Second Industrial Revolution: Opening the Door to the Modern Era

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The initial Industrial Revolution sparked the engine that began driving humanity into a new age of technological, economic, political, and social advancements. The Second Industrial revolution propelled society even further in these areas. It brought about innovation in steel production through the Bessemer system, a growing usage of electricity, scientific discoveries such as synthetic dyes, transportation systems, and communication. These innovation, unbeknownst to many, were the keys to driving society into the modern era. The world was becoming smaller and smaller with the new developments in transporting goods and travel. This shrinking world led to massive changes in the makeup of society as well. The Second Industrial revolution impacted the cultural, political, and social aspects of 19th century society and inherently impacted gender and class relation standards of the time as well. To begin, as businesses began to become manufacturing oriented, fewer people were needed to work the land. This had major political effects, for less political emphasis was put onto property ownership and inherited titles. The aristocracy “had to find new channels through which they could exercise coal and political influence” (Noble 661), and in order to do so the social hierarchy required change. The need to find these new channels led to the expansion of what was to be called “the middle class”. This created opportunities for an increased percentage of the population to garner some of the same freedoms, which in the past, used to be only guaranteed to the aristocracy. Individuals within the middle class ranged from wealthy manufacturers to bank tellers. The middle class began to grow rapidly in the 1870’s as “about 10 percent of the wor... ... middle of paper ... ...the quantity of duels held. On a larger scale, the middle class also led to challenges in class relations. In conclusion, the Second Industrial Revolution created massive changes which led not only to technological and scientific advancements, but also created an entirely new social class, a new culture, and social norms. The impact can be seen today through some of our own modern industry and our use of developments made during this time period, such as medicine. It shrunk the world and made to world feel the impact of humanity. The Second Industrial Revolution forever marks the period where the world began to change into what it is today. Works Cited Noble , Thomas, Barry Stauss, Duane Osheim , Kristen Neushel, Elinor Accampo, David Roberts, and William Cohen . History of Western Civilizations. 7th Edition. Boston, Massachusetts Library of Congress, Print.

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