The Industrial Revolution, which began in England in the 1760s, spread individualism as technological innovation and urbanization disrupted traditional agriculture and communities. This led to the state and markets of modern society taking control of individual lives, but it also led to increased individual alienation. We need to take a critical look at these changes.
The Industrial Revolution in England around the 1760s
Around the 1760s, Britain experienced a technological revolution that transformed its social and economic structure, which we call the Industrial Revolution, and it spread to the United States, Russia, and other countries. It then spread to many other countries, including Southeast Asia and Africa. There are several reasons why the Industrial Revolution started in different places.
First, the enclosure movement began in England, where landowners and the government took away farmland, forcing peasants to flock to the cities, leading to urbanization. This urbanization had a profound effect on the economy and social structure of England. As peasants who had previously relied on subsistence farming moved to the cities, they were forced to find new forms of labor, resulting in the formation of a new working class. These changes laid the groundwork for subsequent economic growth and technological advances.
In addition, the invention of a new type of steam engine used coke instead of coal as a power source, making energy more efficient and paving the way for mass production and export. In addition, intellectuals, aristocrats, and capitalists in various fields created societies where they could communicate with each other to quickly apply technologies and capital that they thought would be beneficial to society, and their activities and the above-mentioned backgrounds led to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
The impact of the Industrial Revolution was not limited to England. Technological innovations and new economic structures quickly spread around the world, and other countries, including the United States and Russia, joined in. The United States, in particular, experienced rapid industrialization as large factories were built and new modes of transportation, such as railroads, were introduced. Russia also gradually industrialized, but at a slower pace and to a lesser extent than the West. Eventually, however, these countries were also affected by the Industrial Revolution, which led to significant changes in their social and economic structures.
Changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution: the decline of traditional agriculture
First of all, the Industrial Revolution contributed to the decline of traditional agriculture. Originally, traditional agriculture relied on natural time and organic growth cycles. However, the introduction of machines in factories allowed for mass production that was not dependent on the sun or the seasons, and as a result, the decline of traditional agriculture was replaced by modern industry. This led to a way of life where people lived according to factory schedules, and the government forced people to live according to clocks instead of the rising and setting of the sun, as time was set according to Greenwich Mean Time.
In addition to the proliferation of timetables, the Industrial Revolution brought about a number of other changes to human society, including a social revolution that led to the breakdown of the family and local communities and the rise of the state and market in their place. As historian Yuval Harari writes in Chapter 18 of his book Homo sapiens, “The Collapse of the Family and Community,” the Industrial Revolution shattered the family and community, the basic units of all human societies, in just over two centuries. Harari defines a community as a group of people who know each other well and depend on each other for survival.
Social revolution: from community to state and market
Since the beginning of time, humans have lived in three frameworks: the nuclear family, the extended family, and local, intimate communities. This didn’t change much after the Cognitive and Agricultural Revolutions. Communities helped each other without expecting anything in return, and local problems were solved by local communities. In some cases, kingdoms or empires existed and were ruled by kings, but in many cases, as in the Ottoman Empire, the most basic prerogatives of kings were ceded to communities to work out among themselves. Community cohesion was strong, and society was run by family and community care, and people followed suit.
As a result, prior to the mid-18th century, people lived in groups, created and built ceremonial houses, and lived within them, bartering when necessary. Over the past two centuries, however, the Industrial Revolution has transformed this communal way of life. The Industrial Revolution gave markets enormous new power, and it gave nations new means of communication and transportation. The state created systems to protect and care for individuals in the community, such as teachers, police, and social workers, and created institutions such as courts, parliaments, and banks, so that issues that were once resolved by community elders were now decided by state-appointed people in state-created institutions. While the state and the market have weakened community cohesion, they have also provided us with food, shelter, education, healthcare, welfare, jobs, pensions, and insurance, ensuring that every individual is protected even if he or she does not belong to a community. Thus, while they have solved the problems caused by the coercion of pre-industrial communities, they have also led to their collapse as the meaning and necessity of community has faded.
The breakdown of community and its cost: individual alienation
State institutions, such as tax authorities and courts, treat us as individuals, and as a result, the modern state defines people as individuals who are independent of the community and can enjoy economic and legal rights. But this individual liberation comes at a cost: grief over the loss of family and community, and a sense of personal alienation due to the influence of the state and the market on our lives. While pre-industrial herding may have had its dysfunctions, the net benefits of cohesion, unity, and closeness among community members were often outweighed by the dysfunctions. But as the unit of modern society became the individual, we often began to feel alienated, like we didn’t belong somewhere, which made it easier for the state and the market to intervene in our lives.
The social implications of the Industrial Revolution
Since the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th century, science and technology have advanced and our way of life has changed dramatically. But the Industrial Revolution wasn’t just about science and technology; it was also about society, and it manifested itself in the breakdown of the family and local community in favor of the state and the market. While the state was able to solve the problems of the previous community by providing welfare services such as clerks, teachers, and police, it also weakened cohesion by removing the needs and meaning of the community, causing individuals to feel alienated. Therefore, while there are benefits to the breakdown of the community, the problems are also a big part of our lives, and we need to develop a critical eye to look at the breakdown of the community rather than accepting it unconditionally.
In modern society, the nuclear family still exists, and it has provided the emotional support that the state and the market cannot provide while taking over the economic and political roles. However, even this is increasingly being intervened in, for example, marriage, which used to be arranged by the family, but is now controlled by the market, including marriage information companies. Family relationships used to be handled within the community, but now the state steps in when child abuse occurs. In the future, there will be more interventions in various forms, and we need to think about how to respond to these issues while being careful that there are not more problems caused by the breakdown of community, such as individual alienation.
