The definition of the word “industrialization” is impossible without mentioning what large-scale economic growth this process leads to. As incomes of industrial workers grow, markets for all kinds of consumer goods and services tend to expand and provide an additional incentive for industrial investment and further economic growth.
First industrial revolution
One of the brief definitions of industrialization is the economic (industrial) revolution. However, in history there were only two events with that name. The first transformation into an industrial economy from agriculture, known as the Industrial Revolution, took place from the mid-18th to the early 19th centuries in North America and parts of Europe, starting in the UK. It is followed by Belgium, Germany and France. The characteristic features of this early industrialization were technological progress, the transition from rural work to industrial labor, financial investments in the new industrial structure, early signs of class consciousness and related theories. Later, publicists, economists, historians and philosophers called this event the First Industrial Revolution. Not a single definition of industrialization is complete without mention of this event.
Second industrial revolution
This concept implies later changes that occurred in the middle of the XIX century after the improvement of the steam engine, the invention of the internal combustion engine, the use of electricity, the construction of canals, railways and power lines. Coal mines, steel mills and textile mills have become the workplace of millions of people. If you try to formulate the definition briefly, industrialization is in history the process of transition from an agrarian economy to industrial production.
Third Industrial Revolution
By the end of the 20th century, East Asia became one of the most advanced industrialized regions of the world. The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are undergoing the process of industrialization, as defined above.
Reasons for Industrialization
There is a huge amount of literature on the factors contributing to industrial modernization and enterprise development. The causes of this phenomenon must be understood to determine industrialization and its features in a single country.
Since the Industrial Revolution was a transition from an agrarian society, people moved from villages in search of jobs to the cities where factories were created. This social shift has led to urbanization and urban population growth. The concentration of labor in factories has led to an increase in the size of settlements. New structures were created in them that were called upon to service and maintain working factories.
Some consequences
Industrialization is also a source of change in family structure. Sociologist Talcott Parsons noted that in pre-industrial societies there is an extended family structure spanning many generations that probably lived in the same place for several generations. In industrialized societies, the nuclear family, consisting only of parents and their growing children, predominates. Families and children who have reached adulthood are more mobile and tend to move where jobs exist. Extended family bonds are becoming weaker.
UN position
As of 2018, the international development community (World Bank, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), many departments of the United Nations and several other organizations) has approved a development policy that includes items on water treatment, universal primary education, and cooperation between third world communities. Some members of economic communities do not consider modern industrialization policies adequate for the global south (third world countries) or long-term profitable, realizing that they can create inefficient local industries that are not able to compete in free trade.
Environmentalism and green policies may represent more visceral responses to industrial growth. However, examples of the history of successful industrialization (Great Britain, the Soviet Union, South Korea, China, etc.) can lead to the fact that traditional industrialization will become an attractive or even natural way of moving forward, especially as the population grows, consumer expectations increase, and agricultural of opportunities.
Possible problems
The relationship between economic growth, employment and poverty reduction is complex. Higher productivity (some economists claim) can lead to lower employment. More than 40% of workers in the world are “working poor,” whose incomes do not allow themselves and their families to live below the poverty line. There is also the phenomenon of de-industrialization that accompanied the transition to a market economy in some countries of the former USSR, while agriculture is a key sector in absorbing emerging unemployment.
Recently industrialized countries
The category of the newly industrialized country (NIC) is a socio-economic classification used by political scientists and economists in relation to some modern countries. NICs are countries whose economies have not yet reached the status of a developed country, but in macroeconomic terms they are ahead of their developing partners. Such countries are still considered developing and differ from other developing countries only in the pace at which their economies are growing. Rapid industrialization is the main marker by which these countries can be distinguished.
In many countries with economies in transition, social upheavals can affect both rural areas and urban settlements, whose populations eventually migrate to industrial centers, where the growth of manufacturing enterprises and factories requires thousands of workers. NIC countries often receive many new immigrants who seek to improve their social and political status by earning more wages than in their homeland.
Any definition of industrialization includes examples of countries that have gone through this process. Young industrialized countries can achieve stabilization in socio-economic status, allowing people living in other countries to begin to improve conditions and lifestyles while working in industrial enterprises. Another characteristic that appears in new industrialized countries is the further development of state institutions such as democracy, the rule of law and the fight against corruption. Other advantages of such countries compared to less developed neighbors may be the availability of hygiene, good medicine and the absence of problems with fresh water. Any definition in history of what industrialization is, in essence, is just a short list of the advantages of industrial countries over agricultural ones.