Blackwell Reference Online

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Industrialization is the process by which an economy shifts from an agricultural to a manufacturing base during a period of sustained change and growth, eventually creating a higher standard of living. Sociology's founders were keenly interested in the causes, correlates, and consequences of industrialization, which they considered a major development in the broader social transformation producing modern society. For much of the twentieth century, however, broad analyses by classical sociologists such as Marx and Weber were overshadowed by narrow accounts featuring technology or efficiency. Sociologists often deferred to economic historians, accepting determinist narratives of a singular path of industrialization marked by a flurry of new gadgets, energy sources, and processes unleashed by laissez-faire policies. Sociologists drew on miscellaneous concepts and observations to compile profiles of industrial society featuring traits such as a division of labor, rationalization, the systematic application of science, urbanization, increased life expectancy, literacy, higher standards of living, and democracy. More recently, the humbling of western industry by newly industrialized countries (NICs) has led sociologists to examine how interactions of political, cultural, and economic factors in different contexts produce multiple paths of industrialization. A key influence on discussion ... log in or subscribe to read full text