The Industrial Revolution: One Of The Most Important Turning Points In Global History

The Industrial Revolution was one of the most important turning points in global history and it is also one of the main topics discussed in chapter 3 of the textbook, Mass media. It is in this revolutionary era where series of extraordinary innovations altered the ways in which people lived and continued to live for the next 150 years. There were two stages of the industrial revolution, each occurred in different time periods. The first industrial revolution occurred in Britain during the 1830s with the developments of textiles, iron and steam. The second revolution occurred in the US and Germany from the 1850’s and onwards with the innovations of steel, electrics and automobiles. The industrial revolution as a whole refers to a period of massive

Prior to the great industrial revolution, the US and other nations were predominantly an Agrarian economy where people lived in self-sustaining rural communities, working either in agriculture or as a skilled craftsman. With the introduction of the Industrialization, it witnessed an evolutionary change in the advancement of technologies and machineries that forced people to abandon their profession as agricultures and craftsmen. During this era of revolution the major changes that occurred included an increase of population and standard of living which led to urbanization and the development of new social classes of people, the working class. These new developments of machinery made many families move from rural communities and villages of their ancestors to the large massive urban centers and cities in hopes of finding jobs in new factories. The people who worked in the factories for long hours earned very little money. The working conditions at the factories were not the best due to the pollution from coal factories which created the cities black. The conditions of city life were very unpleasant due to the lack of fresh air and little provision of clean water. The demands for goods brought the exploitations of workers, especially among women and children who had the lowest rate of pay. The revolution brought a change in social structure in which the standard of living increased and the enormous gaps between the wealthy and the poor/working classes also increased and became less unified. The divide was clearly evident with the wealthy Bourgeois, who lived in exclusive neighbourhoods and the working class who were forced to live in slums due to lack of