Lesson7 On the Industrialization
The process of industrialization involved the harnessing of inanimate sources of energy, the replacement of handicraft production with machine-based manufacturing, and the generation of new forms of business and labor organization.
Along with industrialization came demographic growth, large-scale migration, and rapid urbanization, which increased the demand for manufactured goods by the masses of working people. Societies that underwent industrialization enjoyed sharp increases in economic productivity: they produced large quantities of high-quality goods at low prices, and their increased productivity translated into higher material standards of living. Yet industrialization brought costs, in the form of unsettling social problems, as well as benefits. Family life changed dramatically in the industrial age as men, women, and children increasingly left their homes to work in factories and mines, often under appalling condition.
Socialist critics sought to bring about a more just and equitable society and government authorities curtailed the worst abuses of the early industrial era. Governments and labor unions both worked to raise living standards and provide security for working people.
Meanwhile, industrialization increasingly touched the lives of peoples around the world. Western European, North American, and Japanese societies followed Britain's lead into industrialization, while many African, Asian, and Latin American land become dependent on the export of raw materials to industrial societies.
inanimate 无生命的；无生气的
demographic 人口的；人口统计学的
urbanization 城市化
curtail 缩短；减缩；限制
论工业化
工业化进程包括利用无生命的能源、以机器生产代替手工业生产以及产生新的商业和劳动组织形式。伴随着工业化会出现人口增长、大规模移民和快速城市化，这加剧了劳动大众对工业制成品的需求。在经历工业化的社会里，经济生产率急速增长：以低廉的价格生产出大量的优质商品，而生产率的增长提高了物质生活水平。然而，在带来福利的同时，工业化也带来了成本，其体现是那些随之产生的令人不安的社会问题。工业化时代的家庭生活发生了急剧的变化，越来越多的男人、女人和儿童离开家园到工厂和矿山工作，他们的工作条件通常极差。社会主义批判家们试图建立一个更公平和平等的社会，政府部门制止了早期工业时代最严重的弊端。政府和工会都努力提高人们的生活水平，为劳动人民提供保障。同时，工业化越来越多地触及到世界各地人们的生活。在英国的带领下，西欧、北美、和日本的社会相继进入了工业化时代，而许多非洲、亚洲，和拉丁美洲的国家依赖于向工业社会出口原材料。 |