Download but much more rigorously than had been attempted before. He tried

Unit 2- The Pioneers of Sociology
Topic 1- Auguste Comte- positivism
Auguste Comte (19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher, a founder of the
discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism. He may be regarded as the first philosopher of
science in the modern sense of the term.
Strongly influenced by the Utopian socialist, Henri de Saint-Simon, Comte developed the positive
philosophy in an attempt to remedy the social malaise of the French revolution, calling for a new social
paradigm based on the sciences
Comte first described the epistemological perspective of positivism in The Course in Positive Philosophy, a
series of texts published between 1830 and 1842. These texts were followed by the 1848 work, A General
View of Positivism (published in English in 1865). The first three volumes of the Course dealt chiefly with
the physical sciences already in existence (mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology), whereas
the latter two emphasised the inevitable coming of social science. Observing the circular dependence of
theory and observation in science, and classifying the sciences in this way, Comte may be regarded as the
first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term. For him, the physical sciences had
necessarily to arrive first, before humanity could adequately channel its efforts into the most challenging
and complex "Queen science" of human society itself. His View of Positivism would therefore set-out to
define, in more detail, the empirical goals of sociological method.
Comte offered an account of social evolution, proposing that society undergoes three phases in its quest
for the truth according to a general 'law of three stages'. The idea bears some similarity to Marx's view
that human society would progress toward a communist peak. This is perhaps unsurprising as both were
profoundly influenced by the early Utopian socialist, Henri de Saint-Simon, who was at one time Comte's
teacher and mentor. Both Comte and Marx intended to develop, scientifically, a new secular ideology in
the wake of European secularisation.
Comte's stages were (1) the theological, (2) the metaphysical, and (3) the positive. The Theological phase was
seen from the perspective of 19th century France as preceding the Enlightenment, in which man's place in
society and society's restrictions upon man were referenced to God. Man blindly believed in whatever he
was taught by his ancestors. He believed in a supernatural power. Fetishism played a significant role
during this time. By the "Metaphysical" phase, he referred not to the Metaphysics of Aristotle or other
ancient Greek philosophers. Rather, the idea was rooted in the problems of French society subsequent to
the revolution of 1789. This Metaphysical phase involved the justification of universal rights as being on a
vauntedly higher plane than the authority of any human ruler to countermand, although said rights were
not referenced to the sacred beyond mere metaphor. This stage is known as the stage of investigation,
because people started reasoning and questioning although no solid evidence was laid. The stage of
investigation was the beginning of a world that questioned authority and religion. In the Scientific phase,
which came into being after the failure of the revolution and of Napoleon, people could find solutions to
social problems and bring them into force despite the proclamations of human rights or prophecy of the
will of God. Science started to answer questions in full stretch. In this regard he was similar to Karl
Marx and Jeremy Bentham. For its time, this idea of a Scientific phase was considered up-to-date,
although from a later standpoint it is too derivative of classical physics and academic history.
Comte's law of three stages was one of the first theories of social evolutionism.
The other universal law he called the "encyclopedic law." By combining these laws, Comte developed a
systematic and hierarchical classification of all sciences, including inorganic physics (astronomy, earth
science and chemistry) and organic physics (biology and, for the first time, physique sociale, later
renamed sociologie). Independently from Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès's introduction of the term in 1780,
Comte re-invented "sociologie," and introduced the term as a neologism, in 1838. Comte had earlier used
the term "social physics," but that term had been appropriated by others, notablyAdolphe Quetelet.
This idea of a special science—not the humanities, not metaphysics—for the social was prominent in the
19th century and not unique to Comte. It has recently been discovered that the term "sociology" - a term
considered coined by Comte - had already been introduced in 1780, albeit with a different meaning, by
the French essayist Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès(1748-1836). The ambitious—many would say grandiose—
way that Comte conceived of this special science of the social, however, was unique. Comte saw this new
science, sociology, as the last and greatest of all sciences, one which would include all other sciences and
integrate and relate their findings into a cohesive whole. It has to be pointed out, however, that there was
a seventh science, one even greater than sociology. Namely, Comte considered "Anthropology, or true
science of Man [to be] the last gradation in the Grand Hierarchy of Abstract Science."
Comte’s explanation of the Positive philosophy introduced the important relationship between theory,
practice and human understanding of the world. On page 27 of the 1855 printing of Harriet Martineau’s
translation of The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte, we see his observation that, “If it is true that every
theory must be based upon observed facts, it is equally true that facts can not be observed without the
guidance of some theories. Without such guidance, our facts would be desultory and fruitless; we could
not retain them: for the most part we could not even perceive them."
Comte is generally regarded as the first Western sociologist (Ibn Khaldun having preceded him in North
Africa by nearly four centuries). Comte's emphasis on the interconnectedness of social elements was a
forerunner of modern functionalism. Nevertheless, as with many others of Comte's time, certain elements
of his work are now viewed as eccentric and unscientific, and his grand vision of sociology as the
centerpiece of all the sciences has not come to fruition.
His emphasis on a quantitative, mathematical basis for decision-making remains with us today. It is a
foundation of the modern notion of Positivism, modern quantitative statistical analysis, and business
decision-making. His description of the continuing cyclical relationship between theory and practice is
seen in modern business systems of Total Quality Management and Continuous Quality Improvement
where advocates describe a continuous cycle of theory and practice through the four-part cycle of plan,
do, check, and act. Despite his advocacy of quantitative analysis, Comte saw a limit in its ability to help
explain social phenomena.
The early sociology of Herbert Spencer came about broadly as a reaction to Comte; writing after various
developments in evolutionary biology, Spencer attempted (in vain) to reformulate the discipline in what
we might now describe as socially Darwinistic terms. (Spencer was in actual fact a proponent
of Lamarckism rather than Darwinism).
Topic 3- Emile Durkheim- Suicide
Suicide (Latin suicidium, from sui caedere, "to kill oneself") is the act of a human being intentionally
causing his or her own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair, or attributed to some
underlying mental
disorder which
includes depression, bipolar
disorder,
schizophrenia, alcoholism and drug abuse. Financial difficulties, interpersonal relationships and other
undesirable situations play a significant role.
Suicide (French: Le Suicide) was one of the groundbreaking books in the field of sociology. Written by
French sociologist Émile Durkheim and published in 1897 it was a case study of suicide, a publication
unique for its time which provided an example of what the sociological monograph should look like.
Findings
Durkheim established that:


Suicide rates are higher in men than women (although married women who remained childless
for a number of years ended up with a high suicide rate)
Suicide rates are higher for those who are single than those who are married






Suicide rates are higher for persons without children than persons with children
Suicide rates are higher among Protestants than Catholics and Jews
Suicide rates are higher among soldiers than civilians
Suicide rates are higher in times of peace than in times of war (the suicide rate in France fell after
the coup d'etat of Louis Bonaparte, for example. War also reduced the suicide rate, after war broke out
in 1866 between Austria and Italy, the suicide rate fell by 14% in both countries.)
Suicide rates are higher in Scandinavian countries
the higher the education level, the more likely it was that an individual would commit suicide,
however Durkheim established that religion was more important than education; Jewish people were
generally highly educated but had a low suicide rate.
Types of Suicide




Egoistic suicide is committed when the given individual uses suicide as a means to escape facing
the consequences of his actions. Hermann Göring for example committed suicide before he was to be
executed.
Altruistic suicide: The person is so embedded into society that they are convinced that suicide is
the only means to contribute to the given social group's existence. For example, Japanese harakiri.
Anomic suicide: The person has lost all their social contacts, and commits suicide as the result of
not belonging anywhere.
Fatalistic suicide: The person is convinced that they cannot abide by the rules of the given social
group, which they view as unchangeable and irrefutable.
Topic 4- Max Weber- Social Action
In sociology, social action refers to an act which takes into account the actions and reactions
of individuals (or 'agents'). According to Max Weber, "an Action is 'social' if the acting individual takes
account of the behavior of others and is thereby oriented in its course".
The concept was primarily developed in the non-positivist theory of Max Weber to observe how human
behaviours relate to cause and effect in the social realm. For Weber, sociology is the study of society and
behaviour and must therefore look at the heart of interaction. The theory of social action, more
than structural functionalist positions, accepts and assumes that humans vary their actions according to
social contexts and how it will affect other people; when a potential reaction is not desirable, the action is
modified accordingly. Action can mean either a basic action (one that has a meaning) or an advanced
social action, which not only has a meaning but is directed at other actors and causes action (or,
perhaps, inaction).
Types of Social Action

Rational actions (also known as value-rational ones, wertrational): actions which are taken
because it leads to a valued goal, but with no thought of its consequences and often without
consideration of the appropriateness of the means chosen to achieve it ('the end justifies the means').
Value rational or Instrumentally rational social action is divided into two groups: rational
consideration and rational orientation. Rational Orientation comes into account when secondary
results are taken into account rationally. This is also considered alternative means when secondary
consequences have ended. Determining this mean of action is quite hard and even incompatible.
Rational orientation is being able to recognize and understand certain mediums under common
conditions. According to Weber, heterogeneous actors and groups that are competing, find it hard to
settle on a certain medium and understand the common social action;

Instrumental action (also known as value relation, goal-instrumental ones, zweckrational): actions
which are planned and taken after evaluating the goal in relation to other goals, and after thorough
consideration of various means (and consequences) to achieve it. An example would be a high school
student preparing for life as a lawyer. The student knows that in order to get into college, he/she
must take the appropriate tests and fill out the proper forms to get into college and then do well in
college in order to get into law school and ultimately realize his/her goal of becoming a lawyer. If the
student chooses not to do well in college, he/she knows that it will be difficult to get into law school
and ultimately achieve the goal of being a lawyer. Thus the student must take the appropriate steps
to reach the ultimate goal.

Affectional action (also known as emotional actions): actions which are taken due to one's
emotions, to express personal feelings. For examples, cheering after a victory, crying at a funeral
would be affectional actions. Affectional is divided into two subgroups: uncontrolled reaction and
emotional tension. In uncontrolled reaction there is no restraint and there is lack of discretion. A
person with an uncontrolled reaction becomes less inclined to consider other peoples’ feelings as
much as their own. Emotional tension comes from a basic belief that a person is unworthy or
powerless to obtain his/her deepest aspirations. When aspirations are not fulfilled there is internal
unrest. It is often difficult to be productive in society because of the unfulfilled life. Emotion is often
neglected because of concepts at the core of exchange theory. A common example is behavioural and
rational choice assumptions. From the behavioural view, emotions are often inseparable from
punishments.

Traditional actions: actions which are carried out due to tradition, because they are always
carried out in a particular manner for certain situations. An example would be putting on clothes or
relaxing on Sundays. Some traditional actions can become a cultural artefact Traditional is divided
into two subgroups: customs and habit. A custom is a practice that rests among familiarity. It is
continually perpetuated and is ingrained in a culture. Customs usually last for generations. A habit is
a series of steps learned gradually and sometimes without conscious awareness. As the old cliché
goes, “old habits are hard to break” and new habits are difficult to form.
Unit 1- Foundations of Sociological Thought
Topic 2- Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment (or simply the Enlightenment) is the era in Western philosophy and
intellectual, scientific, and cultural life, centered upon the 18th century, in which reason was
advocated as the primary source for legitimacy and authority.
Developing simultaneously in France, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain,
the American colonies, and Portugal, the movement was buoyed by Atlantic Revolutions, especially
the success of the American Revolution, in breaking free of the British Empire. Most of Europe was
caught up, including the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia, and Scandinavia, along
with Latin America in instigating the Haitian Revolution. The authors of the American Declaration of
Independence, the United States Bill of Rights, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen, and the Polish-Lithuanian Constitution of May 3, 1791, were motivated by Enlightenment
principles.
The "Enlightenment" was not a single movement or school of thought, for these philosophies were
often mutually contradictory or divergent. The Enlightenment was less a set of ideas than it was a set
of values. At its core was a critical questioning of traditional institutions, customs, and morals, and a
strong belief in rationality and science. Thus, there was still a considerable degree of similarity
between competing philosophies.[2]Some historians also include the late 17th century, which is
typically known as the Age of Reason or Age of Rationalism, as part of the Enlightenment; however,
most historians consider the Age of Reason to be a prelude to the ideas of the
Enlightenment. Modernity, by contrast, is used to refer to the period after The Enlightenment; albeit
generally emphasizing social conditions rather than specific philosophies.
Although the intellectual movement called "The Enlightenment" is usually associated with the 18th
century, its roots in fact go back much further. But before we explore those roots, we need to define
the term. This is one of those rare historical movements which in fact named itself. Certain thinkers
and writers, primarily in London and Paris, believed that they were more enlightened than their
compatriots and set out to enlighten them. They believed that human reason could be used to combat
ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to build a better world. Their principal targets were religion
(embodied in France in the Catholic Church) and the domination of society by a hereditary
aristocracy.
René Descartes, in the 17th century, attempted to use reason as the schoolmen had, to shore up his
faith; but much more rigorously than had been attempted before. He tried to begin with a blank slate,
with the bare minimum of knowledge: the knowledge of his own existence ("I think, therefore I am").
From there he attempted to reason his way to a complete defense of Christianity, but to do so he
committed so many logical faults that his successors over the centuries were to slowly disintegrate
his gains, even finally challenging the notion of selfhood with which he had begun. The history of
philosophy from his time to the early 20th century is partly the story of more and more ingenious
logic proving less and less, until Ludwig Wittgenstein succeeded in undermining the very bases of
philosophy itself.
But that is a story for a different course. Here we are concerned with early stages in the process in
which it seemed that logic could be a powerful avenue to truth. To be sure, logic alone could be used
to defend all sorts of absurd notions; and Enlightenment thinkers insisted on combining it with
something they called "reason" which consisted of common sense, observation, and their own
unacknowledged prejudices in favor of skepticism and freedom.
We have been focusing closely on a thin trickle of thought which traveled through an era
otherwise dominated by dogma and fanaticism. The 17th century was torn by witch-hunts and wars
of religion and imperial conquest. Protestants and Catholics denounced each other as followers of
Satan, and people could be imprisoned for attending the wrong church, or for not attending any. All
publications, whether pamphlets or scholarly volumes, were subject to prior censorship by both
church and state, often working hand in hand. Slavery was widely practiced, especially in the
colonial plantations of the Western Hemisphere, and its cruelties frequently defended by leading
religious figures. The despotism of monarchs exercising far greater powers than any medieval king
was supported by the doctrine of the "divine right of kings," and scripture quoted to show that
revolution was detested by God. Speakers of sedition or blasphemy quickly found themselves
imprisoned, or even executed. Organizations which tried to challenge the twin authorities of church
and state were banned. There had been plenty of intolerance and dogma to go around in the Middle
Ages, but the emergence of the modern state made its tyranny much more efficient and powerful.
The Political and Economic Background
During the late Middle Ages, peasants had begun to move from rural estates to the towns in
search of increased freedom and prosperity. As trade and communication improved during the
Renaissance, the ordinary town-dweller began to realize that things need not always go on as they
had for centuries. New charters could be written, new governments formed, new laws passed, new
businesses begun. Although each changed institution quickly tried to stabilize its power by claiming
the support of tradition, the pressure for change continued to mount. It was not only contact with
alien cultural patterns which influenced Europeans, it was the wealth brought back from Asia and
the Americas which catapulted a new class of merchants into prominence, partially displacing the old
aristocracy whose power had been rooted in the ownership of land. These merchants had their own
ideas about the sort of world they wanted to inhabit, and they became major agents of change, in the
arts, in government, and in the economy.
They were naturally convinced that their earnings were the result of their individual merit and
hard work, unlike the inherited wealth of traditional aristocrats. Whereas individualism had been
chiefly emphasized in the Renaissance by artists, especially visual artists, it now became a core value.
The ability of individual effort to transform the world became a European dogma, lasting to this day.
But the chief obstacles to the reshaping of Europe by the merchant class were the same as those
faced by the rationalist philosophers: absolutist kings and dogmatic churches. The struggle was
complex and many-sided, with each participant absorbing many of the others' values; but the general
trend is clear: individualism, freedom and change replaced community, authority, and tradition as
core European values. Religion survived, but weakened and often transformed almost beyond
recognition; the monarchy was to dwindle over the course of the hundred years beginning in the
mid-18th century to a pale shadow of its former self.
This is the background of the 18th-century Enlightenment. Europeans were changing, but Europe's
institutions were not keeping pace with that change. The Church insisted that it was the only source
of truth, that all who lived outside its bounds were damned, while it was apparent to any reasonably
sophisticated person that most human beings on earth were not and had never been Christians--yet
they had built great and inspiring civilizations. Writers and speakers grew restive at the omnipresent
censorship and sought whatever means they could to evade or even denounce it.
Most important, the middle classes--the bourgeoisie--were painfully aware that they were paying
taxes to support a fabulously expensive aristocracy which contributed nothing of value to society
(beyond, perhaps, its patronage of the arts, which the burghers of Holland had shown could be
equally well exercised by themselves), and that those useless aristocrats were unwilling to share
power with those who actually managed and--to their way of thinking,--created the national wealth.
They were to find ready allies in France among the impoverished masses who may have lived and
thought much like their ancestors, but who were all too aware that with each passing year they were
paying higher and higher taxes to support a few thousand at Versailles in idle dissipation.
The Heritage of the Enlightenment
Today the Enlightenment is often viewed as a historical anomaly, a brief moment when a number
of thinkers infatuated with reason vainly supposed that the perfect society could be built on common
sense and tolerance, a fantasy which collapsed amid the Terror of the French Revolution and the
triumphal sweep of Romanticism. Religious thinkers repeatedly proclaim the Enlightenment dead,
Marxists denounce it for promoting the ideals and power of the bourgeoisie at the expense of the
working classes, postcolonial critics reject its idealization of specifically European notions as
universal truths, and postructuralists reject its entire concept of rational thought.
Yet in many ways, the Enlightenment has never been more alive. The notions of human rights it
developed are powerfully attractive to oppressed peoples everywhere, who appeal to the same
notion of natural law that so inspired Voltaire and Jefferson. Wherever religious conflicts erupt,
mutual religious tolerance is counseled as a solution. Rousseau's notions of self-rule are ideals so
universal that the worst tyrant has to disguise his tyrannies by claiming to be acting on their behalf.
European these ideas may be, but they have also become global. Whatever their limits, they have
formed the consensus of international ideals by which modern states are judged.
If our world seems little closer to perfection than that of 18th-century France, that is partly due to
our failure to appreciate gains we take for granted. But it is also the case that many of the enemies of
the Enlightenment are demolishing a straw man: it was never as simple-mindedly optimistic as it has
often been portrayed. Certainly Voltaire was no facile optimist. He distrusted utopianism, instead
trying to cajole Europeans out of their more harmful stupidities. Whether we acknowledge his
influence or not, we still think today more like him than like his enemies.
Topic 3- French Revolution
The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a period of radical social and political upheaval
in French and European history. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in
three
years.
French society underwent
an
epic
transformation
as feudal,
aristocratic,
and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from liberal political groups and the masses
on the streets. Old ideas about hierarchy and tradition succumbed to new Enlightenment principles
of citizenship and inalienable rights.
The French Revolution began in 1789 with the convocation of the Estates-General in May. The first year of
the Revolution witnessed members of the Third Estate proclaiming the Tennis Court Oath in June,
the assault on the Bastille in July, the passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in
August, and an epic march on Versailles that forced the royal court back to Paris in October. The next few
years were dominated by tensions between various liberal assemblies and a conservative monarchy
intent on thwarting major reforms. A republic was proclaimed in September 1792 and King Louis
XVI was executed the next year. External threats also played a dominant role in the development of the
Revolution. The French Revolutionary Wars started in 1792 and ultimately featured spectacular French
victories that facilitated the conquest of the Italian peninsula, the Low Countries, and most territories
west of the Rhine—achievements that had defied previous French governments for centuries. Internally,
popular sentiments radicalized the Revolution significantly, culminating in the Reign of Terror from 1793
until 1794 during which between 16,000 and 40,000 people were killed.[1] After the fall of Robespierre and
the Jacobins, the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795 and held power until 1799, when it
was replaced by the Consulate under Napoleon Bonaparte.
The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution. The growth of republics
and liberal democracies, the spread of secularism, the development of modern ideologies, and the
invention of total war all mark their birth during the Revolution. Subsequent events that can be traced to
the Revolution include the Napoleonic Wars, two separate restorations of the monarchy, and two
additional revolutions as modern France took shape. In the following century, France would be governed
at one point or another as a republic, constitutional
Causes
Adherents of most historical models identify many of the same features of the Ancien Régime as being
among the causes of the Revolution. Economic factors included widespread famine and malnutrition, due
to rising bread prices (from a normal 8 sous for a 4-pound loaf to 12 sous by the end of 1789), which
increased the likelihood of disease and death, and intentional starvation in the most destitute segments of
the population in the months immediately before the Revolution. The famine extended even to other
parts of Europe, and was not helped by a poor transportation infrastructure for bulk foods.
Another cause may have been France's near bankruptcy as a result of the many wars fought by Louis
XV as well as financial strain caused by French participation in the American Revolutionary War. The
national debt amounted to almost two billion livres. The social burdens caused by war included the huge
war debt, made worse by the monarchy's military failures and ineptitude, and the lack of social services
for war veterans. The inefficient and antiquated financial system was unable to manage the national debt,
something which was both partially caused and exacerbated by the burden of a grossly inequitable (and
inadequate) system of taxation. To obtain new money to head off default the government called
an Assembly of Notables in (1787).
Meanwhile the conspicuous consumption of the noble class, especially the court of Louis XVI and MarieAntoinette at Versailles continued despite the financial burden on the populace. High unemployment and
high bread prices caused more money to be spent on food and less in other areas of the economy.
The Roman Catholic Church, the largest landowner in the country, levied a tax on crops known as
the dîme or tithe. While the dîme lessened the severity of the monarchy's tax increases, it worsened the
plight of the poorest who faced a daily struggle with malnutrition. Internal customs barriers caused
serious problems for internal trade, as well as periodic grain shortages.
Many other factors involved resentments and aspirations given focus by the rise of Enlightenment ideals.
These included resentment of royal absolutism; resentment by the ambitious professional and mercantile
classes towards noble privileges and dominance in public life, as many of these classes were familiar with
the lives of their peers in commercial cities in the Netherlands and Great Britain; resentment by peasants,
wage-earners, and the bourgeoisie toward the traditional seigneurial privileges possessed by nobles;
resentment of clerical advantage (anti-clericalism) and aspirations for freedom of religion, resentment of
aristocratic bishops by the poorer rural clergy, continued hatred for Catholic control, and influence on
institutions of all kinds by the large Protestant minorities; aspirations for liberty and (especially as the
Revolution progressed) republicanism; and anger toward the King for firing Jacques Necker and A.R.J.
Turgot (among other financial advisors), who were popularly seen as representatives of the people.
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in
agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport, and technology had a profound effect on
the socioeconomic and cultural conditions starting in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spreading
throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The Industrial Revolution marks a major
turning point in human history; almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way.
Most notably, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. In the
two centuries following 1800, the world's average income increased over 10-fold, while the world's
population increased over 6-fold. In the words of Nobel Prize winning Robert E. Lucas, Jr., "For the first
time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained
growth. ... Nothing remotely like this economic behavior has happened before."
Starting in the later part of the 18th century there began a transition in parts of Great Britain's previously
manual labour and draft-animal–based economy towards machine-based manufacturing. It started with
the mechanization of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased
use of refined coal. Trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads
and railways. The introduction of steam power fuelled primarily by coal, wider utilisation of water
wheels and powered machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing) underpinned the dramatic increases in
production capacity. The development of all-metal machine tools in the first two decades of the 19th
century facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries.
The effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, eventually
affecting most of the world, a process that continues as industrialisation. The impact of this change on
society was enormous.
The first Industrial Revolution, which began in the 18th century, merged into the Second Industrial
Revolution around 1850, when technological and economic progress gained momentum with the
development of steam-powered ships, railways, and later in the 19th century with the internal
combustion engine and electrical power generation. The period of time covered by the Industrial
Revolution varies with different historians. Eric Hobsbawm held that it 'broke out' in Britain in the 1780s
and was not fully felt until the 1830s or 1840s, while T. S. Ashtonheld that it occurred roughly between
1760 and 1830. Some 20th century historians such as John Clapham and Nicholas Crafts have argued that
the process of economic and social change took place gradually and the term revolution is a misnomer.
This is still a subject of debate among historians. GDP per capita was broadly stable before the Industrial
Revolution and the emergence of the modern capitalist economy. The Industrial Revolution began an era
of per-capita economic growth in capitalist economies. Economic historians are in agreement that the
onset of the Industrial Revolution is the most important event in the history of humanity since the
domestication of animals and plants.