Unit 3: Economics: Capitalism, Industrialization and Reform

In the years from the 1600's through the 1800's, major changes occurred in the way goods were produced and distributed. The economies of the nations of Europe went through a dramatic transformation from feudalism to capitalism.

Economic System Change

Feudalism è Capitalism

Before this transformation, the huge majority of people worked in agriculture as serfs. Often, common people had no choice of where to work. There was very little social mobility. Feudal lords became wealthy by taxing their serfs.

After the transformation, people were able to choose where they wanted to work. Landowners had to pay people to work because new laws outlawed serfdom. Increasingly, the upper class used their land in new ways to make as much money as possible.

In the 1700's, beginning in Great Britain and spreading to Europe and the United States, machines began to replace human and animal muscle in the production of goods. Factories spread around the world and common people no longer worked only in the fields. People moved to the cities to find work in industry.

The new industries created new prosperity as well as many new problems. Factories were dangerous, workers were mistreated, pay was low and many people could not find jobs. These problems led to new ideas about what government should do to make life better for workers and poor people.

Central questions of this unit are the following:

Does free market capitalism provide opportunities for wealth to most people, or does it leave far too many in poverty?

What laws and policies should governments enact to extend the benefits of modernization and industrialization to everyone in our society or in the world?

On the political spectrum, are you liberal, moderate or conservative?

Assignments

1) _____/20 Beginnings of Industrialization, (pages 253-257)

a) Define the Industrial Revolution.

b) What were enclosures? What were the effects of the Enclosure Movement?

c) List the factors that caused industrialization to happen in England first.

d) Define Factors of Production.

e) What industry was the first to be transformed in the Industrial Revolution? What was the Spinning Jenny?

f) Where were the first factories located? Why?

g) What is an entrepreneur?

h) What invention slashed the costs of transporting goods over water?

i) Where were the worlds’ first railroads built.

2) _____/20 Industrialization, Case Study: Manchester Quiz (Pages 258-262)

a) What is urbanization, and what caused it? Which cities were the largest in Europe in 1800?

b) Describe living conditions in early industrial cities?

c) Describe working conditions in early factories?

d) What kinds of work made someone middle class in industrial areas?

e) What did landowning noble lords think about the new rich industrial capitalists?

f) What were Luddites?

g) Describe the positive effects of industrialization.

h) List some details about life in Manchester in the Early 1800’s.

3) _____/15 An Age of Reform, (pages 267 - 272)

a) Define laissez faire. What did Adam Smith argue in his book? What was the book called? What is capitalism?

b) What did Malthus argue?

c) Utilitarianism is a philosophy that argues that government should promote what?

d) What is socialism? What do socialists say the government should do in the economy?

e) What did Karl Marx write? What did he say the Industrial Revolution was causing? What is communism?

f) What are unions? What is collective bargaining? What do workers do in a strike?

g) What did the Factory Act of 1833 prohibit?

h) Describe what other kinds of reform movements came about in response to the changes of industrialization? What did Jane Addams do? Horace Mann?

4) _____/45 Three Stages of Economic Change Poster

5) _____/45 Economic Change Written Test (open note)

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