The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. This transition included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, improved efficiency of water power, the increasing use of steam power and the development of machine tools. During the industrial revolution, England witnessed great changes, from economics to social class and some other aspects. As a result, England has become the major workshop of the world by the end of the 19^th century. And what are some of the concrete effects the industrial revolution brought on the english society?

i.                     Economics

　　As an advance on productivity forces, the industrial revolution has a direct influence on english economics: compared with the pre-industrial revolution period, english labour productivity was 20 times higher; productivity of workers in the factory was 266 times higher that that in the manual workshop. And by the middle of the 18^th century, england produced half of the world’s coal and cotton. What’s more, industrial output of england accounted for 51% of that of the world. All of these economic changes enabled british to become the workshop of the world and london the economical center of the world.

ii.                   Politics and social classes

    Although the glorious revolution brought constitutional monarchy to british, the landed aristocracy still controlled the parliament, due to the medieval way of distribution of representation. However, because of the industrial revolution, the more powerful newly-emerging industrial bourgeois appealed for more representatives in the house of commons. For years of political unrest, the reform bill(1832) was enforced, which was the first step toward modern universal suffrage. Followed by several other voting reform bills, the reform bill(1832) distributed more representatives to the industrial bourgeois and newly-developing industrial cities and expand suffrage to include more people.

    After the industrial revolution, intensive industrial manufacture required more investment and labour. And those who invested become the industrial bourgeois and those who were employed in the factory became the proletariat. In this way, the two opposite classes appeared, the bourgeois and the working class.

iii.                  Urbanization and transportation

    Thanks to the new discoveries in power, transportation powered by steam, like train, came into exist,which enabled people to travel more easily. In addition, driven by the need for labour, factory assembled people in some big industrial cities. Then, the two main factors of urbanization, easy transportation and industrialization, appeared.

    Here are a few examples. Glasgow, which was an unknown town in the late 18^th century, became a super city and housed 200,000 people in 1831. And Birmingham, a village with less than 500 people in the 16^th century, turned into a city with the population of 74,000 in 1801, due to its iron manufacture. Also, the population of manchester increased from75,000 in 1801 to 351,000 in 1871, because of manchester’s textile industry.

iv.                 Ideology:

    Because of the ecomomical changes resulting from the industrial revolution, some new economic thoughts and theories appeared. The most important one is adam smith’s laissez faire theory, which wiped out the barriers caused by traditional mercantilism theory and gave rise to british capitalism. In addition, although thomas malthus’ idea on over-population had its weakness, it did point out the importance of controlling over-population for the balance of ecology and the sustainability of the society.

v.                   Environment

    In the industrial revolution, the coal was the main source of energy and the emission of the burning of coal led to serious air pollution which entitled london the city of fog. Also, the waste water produced by the factory contaminated the river and extincted many aquatic living things. What’s more, as a result of urbanization, waste produced by city dwellers increased by leaps and bounds. All of these put much burden on the environment.

vi.                 Social problems

    In the industrial revolution, the relationship between the bourgeois and the working class was very tensive. The bourgeois kept the most profit while the working class shared a little. Thus, the income gap widened and became wider and wider. What’s more, the bourgeois thought little of improving the living and working conditions of the labourer. In order to protect their benefits, the working class launched the movement, Chartism. The turmoil lasted for two decades following the passage of the reform bill of 1832.

    Child labour was another social problem at that time. The Industrial Revolution led to a population increase, but the labour was still badly needed. Employers could pay a child less than an adult even though their productivity was comparable; there was no need for strength to operate an industrial machine, and since the industrial system was completely new there was no experienced adult labourers. This made child labour the labour of choice for manufacturing in the early phases of the Industrial Revolution between the 18th and 19th centuries.

    In conclusion, different from political revolution which was more radical, the industrial revolution was a moderate one which covered a long period of time but had a thorough impact on the english society in many various ways. Although some new social and environmental problems occurred, the merits of the industrial revolution outweighted the demerits. And since the industrial revolution, the english society as well as the whole world has undergone a sustained improvement.