Defining the word "industrialization" is impossible without mentioning the massive economic growth this process leads to. As the incomes of industrial workers rise, markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds tend to expand and provide additional incentive for industrial investment and further economic growth.
First Industrial Revolution
One of the brief definitions of industrialization is an economic (industrial) revolution. However, in history there were only two events with this name. The first transformation to an industrial economy from an agricultural one, known as the Industrial Revolution, took place from the mid-18th century to the early 19th century in North America and parts of Europe, beginning with Great Britain. It is followed by Belgium, Germany and France. The salient features of this early industrialization weretechnological progress, transition from rural work to industrial work, financial investment in a new industrial structure, early signs of class consciousness and related theories. Later publicists, economists, historians and philosophers called this event the First Industrial Revolution. No definition of industrialization is complete without mentioning this event.
Second Industrial Revolution
This concept refers to later changes that occurred in the middle of the 19th 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, iron and steel works and textile factories became the place of work for millions of people. If I try to formulate the definition briefly, industrialization is in history the process of transition from an agrarian-type economy to industrial production.
Third Industrial Revolution
By the end of the 20th century, East Asia had become one of the most advanced industrialized regions in 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 that contribute to industrial modernization and enterprise development. The causes of this phenomenon must be understood in order to determine industrialization and its features in a single country.
Because the Industrial Revolution was a transition from an agrarian society, people moved from the countryside in search of jobs to the cities where factories were established. This social shift led to urbanization and population growth in cities. The concentration of labor in factories led to an increase in the size of settlements. They created new structures that were designed to serve and support factory workers.
Some consequences
Industrialization is also a source of change in family structure. Sociologist Talcott Parsons noted that pre-industrial societies had an extended family structure spanning many generations, who probably lived in the same place for several generations. Industrialized societies are dominated by the nuclear family, consisting only of parents and their growing children. Families and children who have reached adulthood are more mobile and tend to move to where jobs exist. Extended family bonds are getting weaker.
UN position
As of 2018, the international development community (World Bank, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), many United Nations departments and some other organizations) endorses a development policy that includes points for water treatment, universal primary education, cooperation between third world communities. Some members of economic communities do not consider modern industrialization policies adequate forglobal south (Third World countries) or profitable in the long run, realizing that they can create inefficient local industries that are not able to compete in a free trade environment.
Environmentalism and green politics may represent more visceral responses to industrial growth. However, examples of industrialization success stories (UK, Soviet Union, South Korea, China, etc.) may make traditional industrialization an attractive or even natural way forward, especially as population grows, consumer expectations rise, and agricultural production shrinks. opportunities.
Possible problems
The relationship between economic growth, employment and poverty reduction is complex. Higher productivity (as some economists argue) can lead to lower employment. More than 40% of the world's workers are the "working poor", whose incomes do not allow them to provide for themselves and their families, living below the poverty line. There is also the phenomenon of deindustrialization that has accompanied the transition to a market economy in some countries of the former Soviet Union, with agriculture being a key sector in absorbing emerging unemployment.
Recently industrialized countries
The Newly Industrialized Country (NIC) category is a socio-economic classification applied by political scientists and economists to some modern countries. NICs are countries, economieswhich has not yet reached the status of a developed country, but in macroeconomic terms is ahead of its developing partners. Such countries are still considered developing countries and differ from other developing countries only in the rate at which their economies grow. Rapid industrialization is the main marker by which these countries can be distinguished.
In many transition countries, social upheavals can affect both rural areas and urban areas, the population of which eventually migrates to industrial centers, where the growth of manufacturing enterprises and factories requires thousands of workers. NIC countries often host many new immigrants seeking to improve their social and political status, earning higher wages than in their home countries.
Any definition of industrialization includes examples of countries that have gone through this process. Young industrialized nations can achieve stabilization in socio-economic status by allowing people living in other countries to begin to improve their conditions and lifestyle by working in industrial enterprises. Another characteristic that appears in the newly 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 of history, what isindustrialization is, in essence, only a short list of the advantages of industrial countries over agrarian ones.
