Industrialisation

Industrialisation is the transformation of an economy and society through expanding industry, mechanised production, and factory-based work. It shifts production from predominantly household and craft settings toward powered, concentrated, large-scale systems.

Factory system: A mode of production that concentrates workers, machinery, and supervision in a shared workplace. Factories gathered machines and workers into the production units central to industrialisation.
Industrial Revolution: The major shift toward mechanised industry that began in Britain in the eighteenth century. It is the best-known early episode of industrialisation and a model for later transformations.
James Watt: A Scottish engineer whose improvements made the steam engine more efficient and commercially useful. Watt’s engine helped make steam power practical for industrial production.
Urbanisation: The growth of cities as populations and economic activity become more concentrated in urban areas. Factories drew workers into rapidly expanding industrial towns and cities.
Deindustrialisation: The decline of industrial activity in an economy or region, often alongside growth in services. It reverses industrialisation’s expansion of manufacturing and factory employment.
Mechanisation: The use of machines to perform tasks previously done by human or animal labor. Mechanisation increased output and changed the skills and pace demanded of workers.
Great Britain: The island comprising England, Scotland, and Wales, united politically in 1707. Britain was the first country to undergo sustained industrialisation on a large scale.
Richard Arkwright: An English inventor and entrepreneur associated with water-powered cotton spinning and factory organisation. His mills helped establish the factory model in the British cotton industry.
Working class: People whose livelihoods depend mainly on selling their labor for wages. Factory employment enlarged a wage-dependent class with shared economic interests.
Service economy: An economy in which services account for a dominant share of employment or output. Service-led growth can transform society without expanding factory production.

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