And the technologies and systems involved in this latest revolution mean that individuals and groups could win — or lose — a lot. While the fact that we are still at the beginning of this revolution means that it is impossible to know the precise impact on different groups, there are three big areas of concern: inequality, security and identity.
This is stunning gap — particularly given that researchers such as Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett have found that unequal societies tend to be more violent, have higher numbers of people in prison, experience greater levels of mental illness and have lower life expectancies and lower levels of trust.
History indicates that consumers tend to gain a lot from industrial revolutions as the cost of goods falls while quality increases, and it seems this is holding true for the latest. Both the Third and Fourth Industrial Revolutions are making possible products and services that increase the efficiency and enjoyability of our lives, while also reducing costs.
Organizing transport, booking restaurants, buying groceries and other goods, making payments, listening to music, reading books or watching films — these tasks can now be done instantly, at any time and in almost any place. But what if these benefits fail to contribute materially to broad-based economic growth?
Will everyone truly be able to access, afford and enjoy these innovations? An important potential driver of increased inequality is our reliance on digital markets. As Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee point out in The Second Machine Age , globally connected digital platforms tend to grant outsized rewards to a small number of star products and services, which are in turn able to be delivered at almost zero marginal cost.
In addition, the dominance of digital platforms themselves, given their power, influence and profitability, is concerning to many, including the European Commission. Research shows that in , 14 of the top 30 brands were platform-oriented companies.
Perhaps the most discussed driver of inequality is the potential for the Fourth Industrial Revolution to increase unemployment. All industrial revolutions create and destroy jobs, but unfortunately there is evidence that new industries are creating relatively fewer positions than in the past.
Furthermore, the type of jobs being created in these industries tend to require higher levels of education and specialized study, while those being destroyed involve physical or routine tasks. An upward bias to skill requirements disproportionally affect older and lower-income cohorts and those working in industries most prone to automation by new technologies. Source: The Future of Jobs Report. Shifts in employment and skills may also increase gender inequality.
Unemployment due to automation has in the past concentrated in sectors that mostly employ men, such as manufacturing and construction. The sharp increase in the number of factories led to an increase in urban pollution.
Pollution wasn't contained only in the factories; as people flocked to the cities, the living conditions became deplorable as the urban resources were overwhelmed. Sewage flowed in the streets in some cities while manufacturers dumped waste from factories into rivers. Water supplies were not tested and protected as they are today. As a result, regulations, and laws were enacted to protect the population.
The Industrial Revolution provided an incentive to increase profits, and as a result, working conditions in factories deteriorated. Long hours, inadequate remuneration, and minimal breaks became the norm. Child labor was a significant issue. Health issues arose for many of the factory workers giving rise to the labor movement throughout the U. The first cotton mill was built after Samuel Slater brought Britain's manufacturing technology to the United States.
The mill was powered by water bringing jobs and commerce to the Northeast. In the following years, many factories and mills were built using the same technologies. The Industrial Revolution was primarily driven by the use of coal as an energy source. Before the use of coal, wood was the primary energy source; coal provided three times more energy than wood, and Britain had large coal deposits.
In , the first transcontinental railroad was completed and was a major accomplishment for the U. Also, during the American Industrial Revolution, Samuel Morse created the telegraph, which sent electric signals over a wire allowing the nation to communicate. Andrew Carnegie built the first steel mills in the U. The Industrial Revolution shifted from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy where products were no longer made solely by hand but by machines. This led to increased production and efficiency, lower prices, more goods, improved wages, and migration from rural areas to urban areas.
The first Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the mid-to-late s, when innovation led to goods being produced in large quantities due to machine manufacturing. This spread around the globe, and the Second Industrial Revolution began in the U. The first Industrial Revolution began in the second half of the 18th century while the Second Industrial Revolution began in the late 19th century. Technological changes, such as the use of iron and steel, and new energy sources such as coal and steam, and the factory system, which led to a division of labor and specialization, which increased efficiency.
The three most important inventions of the first Industrial Revolution include the steam engine, the spinning jenny, and the telegraph. The three most important inventions of the Second Industrial Revolution include the combustible engine, electricity, and the lightbulb.
This was why the United Kingdom dictated the rhythm of progress to the rest of Europe from onwards for the next century or so. The first spinning frames were created on the British Isles. These were followed by mechanical weaving looms, and it was not long before textile factories were shooting out of the ground. At the same time a boom in the iron industry broke out. As soon as people discovered how to turn coal into coke iron manufacturers had excellent, almost unlimited reserves of fuel at their disposal with which to process iron ore.
Once steam engines were introduced to heat the furnace ovens more quickly and effectively, the skylines in the coal regions were quickly covered in colliery towers and the chimney stacks of iron works. Workers poured into the new industrial centres and in a few years villages exploded into major cities: here the masses were forced to live under appalling conditions in crowded slums and damp cellars.
Working hours were around 14 hours a day and the workers were slaves to the rhythm of the machines. Women were expected to work just as hard for less pay, especially in the collieries and textile factories. Children too were unscrupulously exploited.
The workers lived in constant fear of unemployment and hunger. Their desperation often exploded into bloody acts of rebellion. Machine-breakers tried in vain to put a brake on developments, but the new inventions fitted together like cogs in a wheel.
Improved steel production led to more rails with which to transport steel steam locomotives drawing wagons full of coke and steel. Industrial cities such as Manchester and Leeds grew dramatically in just a few decades. In , only one in five Britons lived in a city. By the middle of the 19 th century, that number had risen to half. Other Western European nations, including France, the Netherlands, and Germany, also saw an increase in their urban populations.
Before the Industrial Revolutions, most goods were made by craftsmen, including jewelers and blacksmiths. The dawn of industrialization came alongside inventions such as the coal-powered steam engine, and the pace of work increased.
In factories, coal mines and other workplaces, people worked long hours in miserable conditions. As countries industrialized, factories became larger and produced more goods.
Earlier forms of work and ways of life began to disappear. Perhaps the most harmful consequences of industrialization were those affecting families.
Throughout history, most people worked with their families. Married couples and their children often worked together on farms or in shops. In 18 th -century Great Britain, women and men performed jobs like spinning wool into textiles and weaving textiles into cloth. This system was called the "putting-out" or domestic system.
Once factories were built, most men no longer worked at home. Some left their families behind in the country for jobs in the city.
Sometimes, an entire family moved to the city to remain together. Even when men stayed with their families, factory jobs were so difficult that they had little time to relax and enjoy family life. Unmarried women worked as servants in other families' homes, and many others worked in textile mills. During the first century of industrialization, children worked in factories. Factory owners wanted workers whose fingers were small enough to weave thin threads.
Despite their importance and hard labor, women and children received low pay. They were forced to work 16 hours per day or longer. Although their work conditions could be very dangerous, women's jobs were seen as less skilled than those of their male co-workers.
Industrialization caused similar changes in the United States.
0コメント