What Are the Positive Effects of Industrialization?
Industrialization offered gains in efficiency that affected almost every facet of life in society. Industrialization increased agricultural and manufacturing output, allowing people to take jobs in other sectors and increasing the amount of consumer goods and food available to the populace. Industrialization created significant population growth, as well as increases in economic output. It also spurred technological development, enabling scientific advances that changed the world.
Before the Industrial Revolution, most people were farmers, and most economic activity centered around small towns and villages. This left communities isolated from one another even when the distances between them were relatively small. Industrialization concentrated populations in cities, which soon became dependent on rural communities for food. The rural communities, in turn, became dependent on the cities for manufactured goods and tools to make their lives easier. In this way, industrialization tied countries together and created a more cohesive national identity.
Freeing workers from agricultural jobs also aided the development of technology. Children of urban citizens had better educational opportunities than those on farms, allowing more students to enter institutions of higher learning and become scientists, engineers and doctors. This led to the rapid scientific and technological advancements in the 19th and 20th centuries.
