industrialization

Process of converting to a socioeconomic order in which industry is dominant. The changes that took place in Britain during the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th century led the way for the early industrializing nations of western Europe and North America. Industrialization entailed both technology and profound social developments. The freeing of labourers from feudal and customary obligations created a free market in labour, with a pivotal role for the entrepreneur. Cities attracted large numbers of people, massing workers in new industrial towns and factories. Later industrializers attempted to manipulate some of the elements: the Soviet Union eliminated the entrepreneur; Japan stimulated and sustained the entrepreneur's role; Denmark and New Zealand industrialized primarily by commercializing and mechanizing agriculture.

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Proto-industrialisation (also spelled proto-industrialization) is a phase in the development of modern industrial economies that preceded, and created conditions for, the establishment of fully industrial societies. Proto-industrialization was marked by the increasing involvement of agrarian families in market-oriented craft production, mainly through the putting-out system organized by merchant capitalists.

Initially using surplus labor available during slow periods of the agricultural seasons, proto-industrialization led to specialization in both industrial production as well as commercial agricultural production. This allowed reciprocal trade favored by regional economies of scale. It resulted in accumulation of capital and the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills by merchant capitalists, which facilitated the development of large-scale, capital-intensive production methods in the full industrialization phase that followed.

Proto-industrialization sparked social changes in traditional agrarian societies that would become more marked during full industrialization, such as greater independence of women and children who gained a means of income separate from the family subsistence farm.

References

• Mendels, F.F. 1972. Proto-industrialization: The first phase of the industrialization process. Journal of Economic History 32: 241-261.
• Hudson, P. 1990. Proto-industrialisation. Recent Findings of Research in Economics and Social History 10: 1-4.