Rehabilitating the Industrial Revolution

1992/02/01 by Maxine Berg, Pat Hudson · 4 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Historical Economic and Social Studies

paper · doi:10.2307/2598327

openalex publication_date 1992/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15

Abstract

Rehabilitating the industrial revolution. Gradualist perspectives now dominate economic and social histories of the industrial revolution. Analyses of economic change which rely on growth accounting and macroeconomic estimates of productivity indicate continuity with the past; social historians have followed in turning aside from the analysis of new class formations. This article challenges these perspectives. Currently accepted economic indicators and recent social history underplay the extent and uniqueness of economic and social transformation. The article emphasizes change in technology, the use of a female and child labour force, regional specialization, demographic behaviour, and political change.

Citations

• Gender antagonism and class conflict: Exclusionary strategies of male trade unionists in nineteenth‐century Britain∗

Cited by

• Golden age to separate spheres? A review of the categories and chronology of English women's history
• Scottish, Irish, and imperial connections: Parliament, the three kingdoms, and the mechanization of cotton spinning in eighteenth‐century Britain1
• Textile industry [wikipedia]
• Western culture [wikipedia]