Main Points

History is Now

Expanding economic opportunities in the Renaissance saw the emergence of the middle class as a major force in society. However, the Industrial Era is primarily defined by the emergence of the middle class as The major force in society. It is therefore ironic that the other defining characteristic of the Industrial Era, the Industrial Revolution, created pressures in society diametrically opposed to the survival of the middle class. Despite the simplicity of this struggle, discussing the Industrial Era poses a particularly unique and intractable problem. Only one region has gone through the Industrial Era as any kind of natural process.

While China at least went through the Renaissance (twice actually) and can provide some basis for comparison with Europe's development in the Renaissance, only Europe progressed through the Industrial Era. The ensuing European expeditions, trading companies, and colonial conquests imposed the Industrial Era on every other corner of the globe. This makes the Industrial Era the most difficult of all eras to discuss.

Emergence of Realism

The beginning of the 18th century (1700 - 1800 AD) was a natural conclusion of the trends of the Renaissance. The Medieval period had held everything in lower esteem than spiritual truth, art included. The Renaissance had brought a new passion to art and a focus on naturalness and beauty, ideals which resonated with and celebrated the aristocracy and their lifestyle. This trend climaxed in 1700 with the introduction of the Rococo style, a highly ornate style which prized gaudy displays of exceptional size entirely filled with a visual explosion of minute detail which consumed even the smallest spaces of the canvas. The Rococo dominated sculpture, painting, and the crown jewel of the Rococo period, architecture. Favorite subjects included nudes, people juxtaposed with fantastic landscapes, and most popularly mythological themes. Elaborate use of gold and mirrors were juxtaposed to create stunning effects, perfectly expressing the twin obsessions of wealth and self-gratification so dear to the hearts of the Renaissance aristocracy in Europe.

After 1750 AD, everything changed. Watching European artwork of the period transform is simply breath-taking. Overnight, ornate yields to simple, airy lightness to boldness, pastels to bright colors. Favorite subjects are dominated by real world motifs: landscapes / seascapes, portraits, and historical paintings. The middle class was interested in the things which related to them. It was the artistic expression of the philosophical and soon political realities of the continent. Yet even before any of the social changes which were about to rock the continent, you can see the revolution occuring in people's minds expressed visually in the transformation of European art.

The dominance of the aristocrats was waning; in the next 50 years, both the American and then the French Revolution would violently overturn monarchies and put power in the hands of the people (though the revolutions diverged radically from there). A booming new business in art catering to the middle class emerged first in the wealthy Netherlands from whence it spread across Europe. Here at least, late Song China does give us some corroboration; the arts patronized by the middle class were emerging as important new trends in Chinese culture before it fell to the Mongols. Economic power was a driving force in the expanding power of the middle class, and it was transforming both philosophy and the arts in China.

The variety of Industrial Era art was unique as well. The aristocratic or monarchical elite were frequently a closed, relatively homogenous group throughout history; on the other hand, the middle class was a stunningly diverse group and the art they liked was equally diverse. Thus, the dominant realism shared the spotlight with the related movement towards rationalism, the belief that truth made logical "sense". This was very similar to, even modeled on, the ideas of Aristotle, so there's no surprise that rationalists supported an alternative school of art called Neoclassical. Classical subjects were dominant (though primarily historical, not mythological) and demonstrated a minimalist, very clean, bright style.

Naturally, the twin schools of realism and rationalism were linked by their emphasis on cold dry facts whether the "natural science" of the realists or the intellectual abstractions of the rationalists. It was therefore only a matter of time before an artistic reaction emerged championing emotion and human intuition over logic; thus romanticism was born. Moreover, the artists of each school – especially the realists and romantics – expressed a diversity of viewpoints and a depth of individuality which had rarely been seen in previous schools of art. The abundance and creativity of Industrial Era art demonstrates the vitality and breadth of the interests of the middle class as they emerged from the shadows of the aristocrats.

Popular Governance

The emergence of the middle class was not only seen in art but an explosion of dialogue throughout Europe concerning basic fundamental questions about humanity, its nature, and its relationships. Social philosophy emerged in a thousand different forms, three principle forms of which we've already discussed: realism, rationalism, and romanticism. This was just the tip of the iceberg, however. In one way or another, virtually every major change that separated the Industrial Era from the Renaissance was rooted either the Industrial Revolution or in these philosophies.

One of the key areas of discussion that emerged was the proper relationships that people have, or ought to have, with one another, ie political philosophy. And so for the first time since the Ancient Era alternative forms of government were in the air, especially discussions of popular government which was largely inspired by stories of the Ancient Greek and Roman states. Democracy and Republican government were seriously discussed and would soon generate the first revolutions against the concept of monarchical rule since the advent of the Medieval Era. Nor were these the only governments discussed, Karl Marx would forward his theories on Communism and a reaction against logical, rational government pushed Anarchy into prominence.

Not that the process was easy. On the contrary; the American Revolution was frequently fought as a guerilla war with all the consequences that style of fighting implies. And yet the French Revolution was far messier, quickly degenerating into bloodletting. With the fall of the monarchy, students of philsophy wrote beautiful documents like the Declaration of the Universal Rights of Man in 1789 AD, rather than grasp the reigns of government. The lack of experience, and interest in the day to day work of running the country led to the Reign of Terror, the corrupt Directory, and finally the empire of Napoleon. This was a theme. The attempts to establish these revolutionary forms of government – or in the case of anarchy, a revolutionary lack of government – created a backlash among conservatives. The result was a strong push for monarchy especially among the aristocracy and the ruling elite.

Nevertheless, the middle class dominated society and so popular government survived. Slowly the monarchists fell. The French struggled for and finally won their freedom despite all setbacks. The revolutionary spirit was championed and fanned by the Americans' success winning their independence in 1783 AD. And with the ratification of the US Constitution in 1787 AD, the US established the first democracy since the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. It would be the first of many as democracy henceforth proved capable of spreading by war or peace across the globe, one of the most unstoppable forces of recent times. The obvious theme was that with economic and social dominance already in their hands, the middle class was determined to do anything required, including war, to seize hold of political authority as well.

The Industrial Revolution

It is ironic that the dominance of the middle class while in some ways so complete was in other ways so short. While the power of the middle class initiated the Industrial Era, the development of machines to do the work previously done by men inaugurated the Industrial Revolution. It broke the middle class into factions and pitted them against one another; this was ultimately far more successful at suppressing the middle class than aristocrats and monarchs had ever been able to. Industrial Era businesses were so successful at consolidating money that they split the middle class literally into haves (the captains of industry / robber barons who owned the factories) and have nots (the factory workers and unemployed). Thus the rise of the Medieval and Renaissance Eras can be seen as the rise of the middle class to power, and the Industrial Era can be seen as the peak of that authority and then it's almost total collapse as the middle class eviscerated itself once more into upper, middle, and lower classes now based almost exclusively on material wealth.

As middle class power peaked, middle class businessmen and entrepreneurs were trying to adapt the power of science to make money. The application of science, called technology, helped to transform the economy in many ways. Machines have always been used by people, but science actively empowered the creation of machines never before seen. James Watt's invention of the steam engine in 1769 AD was probably the most important single development of the time. It trumpeted the power which science could bring to economic development.

Machines gradually took on more and more jobs which had once required skilled manual labor. However, the steam engine trumped them all. Businessmen had been developing water powered machines to replace people in the late Renaissance and early Industrial Era. Therefore, they had been limited by the size and existence of rivers. In the blink of an eye, those restrictions were lifted because the steam engine could power the same machines anywhere. The result was an explosion of labor-saving factories producing goods. Scientific advances continued unabated and technological innovations continued to follow, but this was the basic pattern of the Industrial Era; wherever men were needed, especially skilled high-wage jobs, business looked for ways to save money by replacing them with machines.

Intersecting with these trends were the continuing growth and innovation of the economy. Stock markets were created to provide venture capital for new endeavors. Economic theory advanced to new levels of sophistication both among its supporters – Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations in 1776 AD – and its detractors – Frederich Engels's Conditions of the Working Class in England in 1844 AD. The needs of the new industrialists drove a revolution in transportation. Canals were built across Europe and later railroads built in the new factories themselves in order to transport the swelling numbers of factory materials and finished goods; nowhere was this more evident than in Britain which built as many or more canals and railroads as the rest of the continent. In every aspect of the Industrial Revolution, technological, political, and social, Britain was at the extreme edge of the transformation.

Powered by swelling coffers, the industrialists could purchase laws and political power and one of their first innovations was critical. New laws invented the "corporation", a legal entity which assumed responsibility for all the actions of its members. Corporations would become a major engine for economic development. They had the ability to streamline production and sales to generate massive profits which could then be directed into further economic growth. And yet the primary purpose of the corporation was as a legal shield to prevent the powerful owners of these entities from having to answer for any crimes they might commit in pursuit of their business or pleasure. As corporations drained money from the shrinking middle and swelling lower classes, a powerful new aristocracy of upper class businessmen and owners, called industrialists, emerged with the ability to control economic and political power in their home countries and across the globe.

Social Transformations

Nor were the corporations the only challenges facing Industrial society. A firm line should be drawn here. The European experience of the Industrial Era, though it shaped civilization around the globe cannot be seen as the only way in which the Industrial Revolution could have unfolded. The deliberate criminal protection afforded to industrialists, if cynically predictable, was a glaring invitation to criminals to exploit the system both at home and abroad. Thus – from its very beginnings – technology has demonstrated that its power is only as noble as the people who put it to use.

With machines replacing workers, unemployment rose. Moreover, machines were of highest priority and most cost-effective where they could replace high-wage skilled workers. The result was large numbers of previously high-paying jobs were eliminated and replaced with a small number of jobs as unskilled machine tenders. With a large pool of unemployed from which to draw, wages in many places collapsed entirely, and the money which the new corporations could wield slowed government intervention to a crawl or shielded them entirely. Workplace safety was non-existent. Enclosing dangerous machine parts was deemed irrelevant when the lives lost and workers maimed could be so easily replaced. Families were so desperate that women and children accepted factory work; industrialists took advantage of this desperation, paying women and children less for the same work and preferring to hire them over men. Twelve hour days (and longer) were normal which resulted in the virtual destruction of the family unit who no longer had time during the day to see each other, much less interact.

Rarely these conditions spawned labor unions (which were frequently outlawed, in 1800 AD in Britain) or unrest, most famously the Luddite revolts of 1811 AD which damaged machines. The British government sided with business and declared damaging factory equipment to be a death penalty offense; British courts followed through on these threats hanging individuals who were caught and deporting many suspected revolutionaries to Australia. Thus, significant resistance failed to gain traction, and there were no effective remedies to the social ills of the Industrial Era in Europe but the slow turning of the wheels of government. By the 1850 children were still employed in factories though with some regulation of their hours and men and women still worked more than 12 hour days, with no discussion of workplace safety even on the horizon. Industrialization showed that while science and technology were tremendously powerful, they were not forces for good, only for change. The consequences of scientific advancement were only as good or evil as the actions of the people who applied that knowledge. And while the Industrial Revolution provided the opportunities for a rising standard of living, for most people until the end of the Industrial Era, it was a social disaster.

Colonialism

Given the antagonism of science and religion during the Industrial Era, it is ironic that science and religion mutually backed Europe's economic and political drive to global conquest. Between the surge of religious fervor and the belief that European science was the crowning achievement in world history, Europeans believed that they were distinctly superior to the peoples who inhabited the rest of the Earth. Everyone from a devout Catholic Frenchman to an atheist English scientist could agree that Europe was enlightened beyond the imaginings of any previous civilization or any contemporary nation. Europeans told themselves they had the light (whether it be Christianity or science) which would raise the rest of the world from darkness. And so it was seen as the European duty to spread that light across the world. And if they oppressed native civilizations to enrich Europe, that just meant Europeans were smart enough to see the economic opportunities which the benighted natives were too stupid to appreciate.

European missionaries spread European religion to heathens across the globe, and colonial governors brought the benefits of a logical scientific society to natives of all skin colors whether they liked it or not. That they did not understand or appreciate Europe's gift was simply seen as confirmation of the poor education and inferior mental capacity of these peoples.

Colonialism offered this as the universal excuse for all its activities. Corporations pursued full-scale national economic exploitation of peoples who in some cases had no concept of nationhood with which to combat them. Bureaucratic and military governors used the doctrine of inferiority as justification for political conquest around the globe. Nor were these institutions interested in benefiting anyone except for Europeans; a fact most graphically demonstrated in the proliferation of populations of mixed-race children when European courts turned a blind eye to the European acceptance of the rape of native women. And the practice of irrational native traditions became the justification for the destruction of native cultures.

The dominance of the middle class was the primary engine that drove the Industrial Era, but it was the rise of industrialization which would end it. Among the industrialist elite, those who owned factories and businesses, the slow development of newer and larger factories were transforming the ways in which they saw business, the ways they saw themselves. Developments in electricity and steel production in the late Industrial Era provided the tools for the next generation of changes. However, it was the industrialists' new thoughts and big ideas which would entirely transform the relationship between man and machine. With grand plans that fed their own egos, the industrialists began building machines on a scale never before dreamed of. And this transformation ushered in the Mechanized Era.