Reference.com

Machine Age

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Machine Age is a term associated with the early 20th Century. Considered to be at a peak in the time between the first and second World Wars it forms a late part of the Industrial Age and was utimately eclipsed by the Atomic Age beginning in 1945.

Artifacts of the Machine Age include:

  • Mass production of high volume goods on moving assembly lines, particularly of the automobile
  • Gigantic production machinery, especially for producing and working metal, such as steel rolling mills, bridge component fabrication, and automobile body presses
  • Powerful earthmoving equipment
  • Steel framed buildings of great height (the skyscraper)
  • Radio and phonograph technology
  • High speed printing presses, enabling the production of low cost newspapers and mass market magazines
  • Large hydroelectric and thermal electric power production plants and distribution systems
  • Low cost appliances for the mass market that employ fractional horsepower electric motors, such as the vacuum cleaner and the washing machine
  • Fast and comfortable long distance travel by railroad, automobile, and aircraft
  • Development and employment of modern war machines such as tanks, aircraft, submarines and the modern battleship

Social influence

  • The rise of mass market advertising and consumerism
  • Nationwide branding and distribution of goods, replacing local arts and crafts
  • Nationwide cultural leveling due to exposure to movies and network broadcasting
  • Replacement of skilled crafts with low skilled labor
  • Growth of strong corporations through their abilities to exploit economies of scale in materials and equipment acqusition, manufacturing, and distribution
  • Corporate exploitation of labor leading to the creation of strong trade unions as a countervailing force

Environmental influence

  • Exploitation of natural resources with little concern for the ecological consequences; a continuation of 19th century practices but at a larger scale
  • Release of synthetic dyes, artificial flavorings, and toxic materials into the consumption stream without adequate testing for adverse health effects

International relations

  • Conflicts between nations regarding access to energy sources (particularly oil) and material resources (particularly iron and various metals with which it is alloyed) required to ensure national self-sufficiency. Such conflicts were contributory to two devastating world wars.

Arts and architecture

The Machine Age is considered to have influenced:



Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Monday February 11, 2008 at 09:52:53 PST (GMT -0800)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation