Stearns Peter N. The Industrial Revolution in World History

Fifth Edition. — Routledge, 2021. — 305 p. — ISBN 9781000227123.Now in its fifth edition, this book explores the ways in which the industrial revolution reshaped world history,covering the international factors that helped launch the industrial revolution, its global spread and its impact from the end of the eighteenth century to the present day. The single most important development in human history over the past three centuries, the industrial revolution continues to shape the contemporary world. Revised and brought into the present, this fifth edition of Peter N. Stearns' The Industrial Revolution in World History extends his global analysis of the industrial revolution. Looking beyond the West, the book considers India, the Middle East and China and now includes more on key Latin American economies and Africa as well as the heightened tensions, since 2008, about the economic aspects of globalization and the decline of manufacturing in the West. This edition also features a new chapter on key historiographical debates, updated suggestions for further reading and boxed debate features that encourage the reader to consider diversity and different viewpoints in their own analysis, and pays increased attention to the environmental impacts. Illustrating the contemporary relevance of the industrial revolution's history, this is essential reading for students of world history and economics, as well as for those seeking to know more about the global implications of what is arguably the defining socioeconomic event of modern times.List of Illustrations
Introduction: Defining the Industrial Revolution
Technology and Work Organization
Issues in Interpretation
The Range of the Industrial Revolution
Chronology and Geography
The First Phase, 1760– 1880
Western Primacy, Global Contexts, and Global Results
Britain’s Revolution
New Processes and Economic Transformation
Britain Becomes the Workshop of the World
Industrialization Exacts a Price
Change Generates Change
New Causes
Why Did the Industrial Revolution Happen, and Why Did It Happen in Eighteenth-Century Britain?
Three Approaches: Minimal, Western, and Global
Trigger: Why the Eighteenth Century?
Britain as a Special Case
The Industrial Revolution in Western Society
France: An Eclectic Course
Germany: Trend to Big Business
The United States: Dynamism of a New Nation
The Industrial West by the 1880s
The Social Impact of the Industrial Revolution
Life on the Job
Forging the Industrial Family
Social Divisions and Protest
A New Political and Cultural Context
The Industrial Revolution Outside the West
Pilot Projects: Russia
Pilot Projects: Asia, Latin America, and Africa
India and the Middle East
Latin America and Africa
China
Restructuring the International Economy
The Two Faces of International Impact
The Second Phase, 1880– 1950
The New International Cast
The Industrial Revolution Changes Stripes, 1880– 1950
Second-Phase Trends
Why Japan and Russia?
The Industrial Revolution in Russia
Early Industrialization: Before the Revolution
Social Impacts: Industrialization and Revolution
The Industrial Revolution Under Communism
The Industrial Revolution in Japan
The Context for Industrialization
The Early Stages
Social Impacts
The Industrial Economy Matures: 1920s– 1950s
New Developments in Western Societies: A Second Revolution?
Redefinitions of the Industrial Economy
Machines and the Drive for Organizational Change
The Service Sector
Leisure and the Consumer Economy
Class Warfare
Redefining the Scope of Industrialization
The West as New Model
The Industrial Revolution in International Context
The Expansion of Commercial Exploitation
Environmental Change
Factory Expansion
Industrial Sectors: Change amid Tradition
Economies of the British Dominions
At the Brink of Global Change
The Third Phase, 1950s– 2000s
The Industrialization of the World
The Industrial Revolution in the Past Half Century
New Members of the Industrial Club: The 1960s
The New Wave: The 1980s and 1990s and Beyond
The Postindustrial Concept
Globalization
Deepening Diversity
New Industrial Revolutions
Israel: Development in the Desert
The Pacific Rim
Industrial Growth in the Pacific Rim
Expanding the Rim?
Brazil, Mexico, and Turkey: The Next Wave
China and India
Waves of Change
The Less Industrial World
Evolution and Exploitation
The Long Reach of the Industrial Powers
Resource Producers: Some New Bargaining Power
Patterns of Dependency
Variety and Inequality
Postindustrial Societies and Global Balance
Growth Rates
Structural Changes: The Postindustrial Thesis
The New Industrial Balance
Global Industry and the Environment
The Pace Quickens
Attempts at Addressing a Large-Scale Problem
Globalization and Global Industrial Societies 1880– 1950
The Multinationals
Labor Migration
Regionalism and International Forces
An International Approach to Policy
Global Societies
Inequalities
Conclusions
Precedent as a Guide to Prediction
History and Changing Contexts
The Balance Sheet
The Ongoing ExperienceSuggestions for Further Reading