The first industrial revolution (mid 1700s –mid 1800s)
As a consequence, work that was previously done by people was now being performed in cities with large factories and on equipment capable of producing a large number of products quickly. The population was negatively impacted including overcrowding in cities due to rapid urbanization, skilled workers were replaced with low-skilled workers from the agricultural sector. These low-skilled workers were underpaid and overworked. The inequality gap that was established in the agricultural age worsened as the rich continued to stockpile resources while the working poor faced poverty.

However, these changes didn’t only bring positive effects to society. During this period, a higher division of labour and status was seen in which the wealthy gained control of the surplus resources and power became more centralized. The wealthy were able to afford a better quality of life and differences in social classes were divided by ethnicity and gender. In Great Britain, the Enclosure Acts were passed that allowed wealthy lords to buy public fields and push out small-scale farmers, causing a migration of men looking for wage labour in the cities. These men would come to provide the labour force for new industries during the reorganization of economies and societies.
The second industrial revolution (mid 1800s – early 1900s)
Almost a century after the start of the first industrial revolution, at the mid to end of the 19th century, the second industrial revolution started. New technological advancements introduced new sources of energy: electricity, gas and oil. The combustion engine set out to use these resources to their full potential and the steel industry began to grow. Chemistry also gave us synthetic fabric, dyes and new fertilizers made easy to use. However, advancements weren’t limited to the laboratory.
Scientific principles were brought into the factories and this way the assembly line was born; this effectively powered mass production.
Moreover, by the early 20th century, Henry Ford’s company was mass producing the ground-breaking FordModel T, a car with a petrol engine built on an assembly line in his factories.
People tend to go where the jobs were offered and in the early 1900s massive amount of workers left their rural homes and moved to urban areas, joining factory jobs. By 1900, 40% of the US population lived in cities, this compared to 6% in 1800. Alongside this, rapid urbanization new methods of communication revolutionized people’s lives, being the radio and television two emblematic symbols of this period.
The third industrial revolution (mid 1900s – 2000)
In a bigger perspective, the wave of digitalization has had profound effects on productivity, growth and employment. However, research has found that digitalization has contributed to slower rates of employment rather than the opposite which is most pronounced in post-war and post-recession environments. Since the 1980s, both low- and high-skill job sectors saw an increase in employment rates while middle-skill jobs have fallen drastically. As automation has reduced the amount of human-operated production, the number of maintenance jobs that involve in-person services have increased because they are required to automation – for now. This may also explain the rise in high-skilled jobs that involve human creativity and problem-solving.
