▲ Plows, essential for agricultural societies to develop, were pushed by people and then pulled by animals and later machines. Harnessing energy ever more effectively is a prerequisite to a society becoming more complex.
© Getty/Bloomberg/Contributor
© Getty/Loop Images/Contributor
▼ Figure 3.1 Timeline of the Industrial Revolution, 1712–1903
Industrial Societies.
The Industrial Revolution involved the harnessing of steam power and the manufacture of gasoline engines, permitting machines to replace human and animal power. A tractor can plow far more land in a week than a horse, and an electric pump can irrigate more acres than an ox-driven pump. As a result of such new technologies, raw mineral products such as ores, raw plant products such as rubber, and raw animal products such as hides could be transformed into mass-produced consumer goods. The Industrial Revolution brought about enormous changes in occupations, the division of labor, production of goods, and social structures.
Industrial societies rely primarily on mechanized production resulting in greater division of labor based on expertise. Economic resources were distributed more widely among individuals in industrial societies, but inequities between owners and laborers persisted. Wage earning gradually replaced slavery and serfdom, and highly skilled workers earned higher wages, leading to the rise of a middle class. Farm workers moved from rural areas to cities to find work in factories that produced consumer goods. Cities grew, and many became populated by millions of people.
Family and kinship patterns at the micro level also changed. Agricultural societies need large, land-based extended family units to do the work of farming (recall how the Ramirez parents, grandparents, and children in Nicaragua all help out at harvest time), but industrial societies need individuals with specific skills, the ability to move to where the jobs are, and smaller families to support. Family roles change. Children are an asset in agricultural societies and begin work at an early age. However, from a purely economic perspective, children become a liability in an industrial society because they contribute less to the finances of the family.
Meso- and macro-level dimensions of social life expand in industrializing societies and become more influential in the lives of individuals. National institutions and multinational organizations develop. Today, for example, global organizations such as the World Bank, the World Court, the United Nations, and the World Health Organization address social problems and sometimes even make decisions that change national boundaries or national policies. Corporations such as Nike and Gap are multinational organizations (located in many countries). Some voluntary associations—such as Doctors without Borders, which serves medical needs, and Amnesty International, which lobbies for human rights—do their work across the globe.
Perhaps the most notable characteristic of the industrial age is the rapid rate of change compared with other stages of societal development. The beginning of industrialization in Europe was gradual, based on years of population movement, urbanization, technological development, and other factors of modernization. Today, however, societal change occurs so rapidly that societies at all levels of development are being drawn together into a new age—the postindustrial era. As you will see, this rapid change and globalization have caused disruption in many societies, and reactions to the change vary widely.
Postindustrial or Information Societies.
Postindustrial societies are those that have moved from human labor and manufacturing to automated production and service jobs, largely processing information. Postindustrial societies require workers with high levels of technical and professional education. Those without technical education are less likely to find rewarding employment in the technological revolution. This results in new class lines being drawn, based in part on skills and education in new technologies, and can influence political participation and voting preferences, attitudes toward technology, and other factors of modern life.
The shift to an information-based society has also enhanced cross-border workplaces. As your authors finished chapters for this book, they were sent to India for typesetting in the evening; due to the time change with India being 9 hours and 30 minutes ahead of the U.S. East Coast, chapters were returned to the United States by the next morning. Technology, the efficiency of overnight delivery, and the lower cost of production have led many publishing companies to turn to businesses halfway around the world for much of the book production process. As India and other developing countries increase their trained, skilled labor force, they are being called on by national and multinational companies to carry out global manufacturing processes. India has some of the world’s best technical training institutes and modern technology—the practical application of tools, skills, and knowledge to meet human needs and extend human abilities. Although many people in India live in poverty, a relatively new middle class is rapidly emerging in major business centers around the country.
▲ This Buddhist monk uses modern technology, including a laptop that can connect him with colleagues on the other side of the globe.
© Reuters/Mike Segar
After World War II, starting in the 1950s, the transition from industrial to postindustrial society began in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. This shift was characterized by movement from human labor to automated production and from a predominance of manufacturing jobs to a growth in service jobs, such as computer operators, bankers, scientists, teachers, public relations workers, stockbrokers, and salespeople. More than two thirds of all jobs in the United States now reside in organizations that produce and transmit information, thus the reference to an information age. Daniel Bell describes this transformation of work, information, and communication as the third technological revolution after industrialization based on steam (the first technological revolution) and the invention of electricity (the second technological revolution) (Bell 1973). According to Bell, the third technological revolution was the development of the computer, which has led to this postindustrial era or information age. To examine this transformation, see Table 3.2 in the Engaging Sociology feature on the opposite page.
Engaging Sociology
Demographics of Internet Users
The following is the percentage of each group of U.S. adults who use the Internet, according to the Pew Internet/Broadband Fact Sheet. For instance, 88% of women and 89% of men use the Internet.
▼ Table 3.2
Source: The Pew Research Center’s Internet/Broadband Fact Sheet 2018.
Note: Surveys conducted 2000–2018. Data for each year based on a pooled analysis of all surveys conducted during that year. Data for Hispanics includes only surveys that included Spanish-language interviews.
Engaging Sociology
Interview 10 people you know to find out about their Internet use, keeping records on the gender, age, race or ethnicity, educational attainment, and income bracket of each. Then compare your figures with those in Table 3.2. Are they similar? If not, what possible geographic, social